Rainy day crafts

We are truly into monsoon time. Last night the thunder roared and today there it is tipping it down. A fairly quiet morning on the ward with Neil and I trying to look over the 9 new babies before they went to get their bcg jabs.

In the nursery there is a phototherapy machine that is used to treat neonatal jaundice.  The compound that makes people yellow can cross into the brain which is particularly bad in babies because it can cause permanent brain damage. The light is at a certain wave length to break down this compound in the skin reducing the jaundice and preventing build up in the brain.  The babies that go under the lamp need to wear little masks over their eyes to stop any damage. The masks that are here were clearly made by an adult that hadn't taken into account that the gap between the eyes in babies and the size of the head is much much smaller. This meant that one eye would be covered and the gap for the nose would be over the other eye. Also they just didn't fit. I saw this and mentioned to Shubhro and Elisabeth that it could probably be easily fixed by sticking the gap closed. I was given some needles and thread and this morning I set to it. The nursery is empty at the moment and one of the nurses saw me working and joined in. This made everything so much quicker. It is very satisfying to do something that will last even after we have gone.

J x