BLOG Post #24: CONVERSATIONS WITH (PASCUAL FIGUEROA): Surviving Our First Week as Parents (and Two Hospital Stays!)

When you have a baby, it feels like you’re worried about everything under the sun. You’re constantly on edge, unsure of what you’ll need or what could potentially go wrong. It’s like you’re on a roller coaster and just hoping it doesn’t go off the rails.

After my son was born, my wife and I were thrown into the deep end right away. We were sleeping in two-hour chunks, trying to grab whatever rest we could before the nurses came in to check on the baby and my wife. My wife was having a tough time with breastfeeding, which was stressing her out, and I was struggling with swaddling the baby. Every time I tried, I worried he might suffocate on the blanket. It’s a miracle I didn’t wrap him into a burrito that rolled off the bed.

My wife had hypertension during pregnancy, and we were so focused on the delivery that we didn’t fully grasp the seriousness of it. After 48 hours of minimal sleep and relying on the nursing staff for everything, we were finally discharged and headed home. I meticulously adjusted the baby seat straps, drove at a snail’s pace on the FDR, and felt like a secret agent on a covert mission to transport a newborn through NYC.

Once home, we plunged into “hell week” of new parenthood: two-hour sleep windows, feeding, cleaning pump parts, sanitizing everything, and then trying to sleep again. During this time, I had to monitor my wife’s blood pressure. After two days of recording readings, we were alarmed to find her blood pressure hadn’t returned to normal. The doctor’s response? “You need to go to the hospital now, or she’s at risk of a stroke.” So, without missing a beat, we packed up our newborn and headed back to the hospital, expecting a quick pit stop for monitoring and meds. Spoiler alert: we were wrong. My wife was admitted, and we were back in the same room we had left two days earlier.

In this second stint at the hospital, we were lucky to have a nurse with a fantastic sense of humor who managed to make us laugh despite our exhaustion. She noticed that our son seemed a bit discolored—jaundice can give babies a yellowish tint. Even though two doctors had assured us everything was fine, our nurse’s instinct told her to double-check. We called our pediatrician who said, “If the nurse is concerned, you need to head to the ER.” Cue me, marching off with my three-day-old baby to his first NYC emergency room adventure.

SIDE NOTE: Jaundice in Newborns: The "Why Is My Baby Yellow?" Guide

Jaundice is super common in newborns, and it basically means your baby might look a bit like they've been bingeing on carrots or caught a tan way too early. This yellowish tint happens when there’s a build-up of bilirubin, a yellow substance produced when the body breaks down red blood cells.

Normally, the liver processes bilirubin and helps get rid of it, but newborns' livers are still getting the hang of things, kind of like how you're getting the hang of swaddling. So, instead of filtering it out, bilirubin can build up, giving the skin and eyes that yellow glow.

Now, jaundice usually shows up in the first few days after birth, and most of the time, it’s nothing to panic about. Think of it as the baby’s liver adjusting to life outside the womb—like an orientation phase for their tiny organs. For mild cases, it might just go away on its own as the baby’s liver catches up. The goal is always to keep your baby hydrated and to get them to pee most of it out. But sometimes, if the bilirubin levels get too high, the baby might need some help, like a little spa day under a special blue light (phototherapy) that helps break down the bilirubin.

If jaundice is left untreated and bilirubin levels get too high, it can lead to more serious complications, like brain damage (known as kernicterus). High bilirubin can affect a baby's developing brain and cause long-term problems with movement, hearing, and learning.

NOW BACK TO IT!

The ER was a spectacle. Picture this: a chaos of people, from those dealing with mental health crises to gunshot wounds. As a new dad, I was scanning the room like I was in an action movie, waiting for something unexpected to happen.

Soon, we were directed to a special room for babies. My son needed a bilirubin test, which revealed he was just over the safe limit and needed treatment. He was put under a special light for phototherapy—essentially a baby tanning bed—to help process the bilirubin. I thought, “Great, how do I keep a newborn fed, changed, and under a lamp for 12 hours straight?” Exhausted and resigned, I did just that. My son handled it like a pro.

After the therapy, another test showed his levels were in the safe zone, so we packed up and returned to see my wife. Reuniting felt amazing. Soon, she was discharged, and we headed back to our apartment, retracing the same route we had taken six days earlier.

Every birth story is unique, and this was ours. With the support of incredible nurses and a healthy dose of humor, we just kept taking one step at a time until we made it through.

Stay fresh, have a laugh & join the club!

FRESH DIAPIE SOCIAL CLUB