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Six months after giving birth to Baby Mikaela or Mika, Melissa Ricks looked back to her birthing experience last January on Instagram which she described as a bit more “traumatic.”

Mika is Melissa's first child with her non-showbiz husband Michael Macatangay.

The actress also shared some highlights of her recovery after giving birth and the struggles they went through.

She recalled, “My second Child birth was a little bit more traumatic. This time around I was terrified. Labor was super intense, seemed like it went from 0-100 real quick! A lot of screaming and a lot of apologizing to the doctors and nurses (eksena ako masyado OR)”

“I'll tell you, it was a totally different experience, even though I had a baby na before and I had all the same doctors and same hospital, all birthing stories are a different experience”

But what broke Melissa's heart was when they found out that Mika was diagnosed with infant jaundice and she needed phototherapy.

Mayoclinic.org defines infant jaundice as the yellow discoloration of a newborn baby's skin and eyes. Infant jaundice occurs because the baby's blood contains an excess of bilirubin, a yellow pigment of red blood cells.

Infant jaundice is a common condition, particularly in babies born before 38 weeks' gestation (preterm babies) and some breast-fed babies. Infant jaundice usually occurs because a baby's liver isn't mature enough to get rid of bilirubin in the bloodstream. In some babies, an underlying disease may cause infant jaundice.

“I thought the hard part was over but NO! I stayed 10hrs in the recovery room (mika&I) because rooms were all full. When we did get a room, We ended up staying in the hospital for 6 days after I gave birth.. I thought we were going to go home the next day, since hospital was also full and I was Fine.. We already had our bags packed and ready to go when our Pedia came in and said we had to stay. It broke my heart and I was so scared for Mika, I didn't know anything about this kind of condition, her Bilirubin levels were extremely high and may cause permanent damage.” Melissa added.

She continued, “I didn't know, that what I knew as Jaundice could be dangerous, I thought all we needed was a little sun, which is normal for newborns, but in Mika's case, since me and her father had different blood types and Mika got her dads blood type (ganun pala un) it caused her bilirubin levels to be dangerously high.”

“What we thought was 1-2 days ended up being 6 days. 6 days of holding her in our arms, barely any sleep since I didnt want to drop her, night and day under the Photo light therapy machine, with no air conditioning (because she will get cold and was wearing a diaper only, and couldn't wear clothes for the therapy) It was so hard and lots of tears from this momma, we made it through.. We are stronger than we think Mommas.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melissa Marie Ricks - Macatangay (@mellyricks09)

Melissa already has a daughter named Kiera from her previous partner Charles Togezaki. She tied the knot with Michael in California in May 2021.

SWEETEST MOMENTS DURING MELISSA RICKS' WEDDING HERE: