Two Months!

First for the good part--We went for Hadley's two-month check-up today, and she weighed in at 8lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. She finally weighs enough to use the Baby Bjorn! Formula feeding is going well. In fact, Hadley seems like a totally different baby. She is much more satisfied, and is not having as many problems with reflux. The doctor, of course, swears it has nothing to do with the fact that I switched to formula, but I am convinced that she just did not like my breast milk for some reason. She is actually awake and happy for several hours a day now. She loves to dance to the mobile in her crib. She is also smiling and cooing up a storm, and has started to reach for her toys. We hang them on her car seat and bouncy chair. She especially likes the ones that chime when she successfully reaches them.

The not-so-good part of the two-month check-up was that we had to get her first immunizations. It just broke my heart that she had to get shots! I think I was more upset than she was. She recovered pretty quickly after the shots and she was fine for several hours afterward, smiling and playing as usual. Then, a few hours after the shots she started to get tired. While I was holding her and while I was changing her diaper I noticed that she was startling a lot. We found out the startling was probably her having chills because when we checked her temperature it was 103. The on-call nurse that evening at the Doctor's office said that was too high for her age, so we had to take her to the ER so that they could make sure it was not some other kind of infection that was causing the fever. Luckily, everything was okay, and it was just the shots causing the high fever. But it was a little traumatic for all of us. I'm so glad Atlanta has such a wonderful children's hospital that we were able to take her to. They got us in and out relatively quickly for an ER, and they have specially trained staff and specially sized instruments so that the trauma of the tests was minimized. Hopefully nobody else will have this experience with immunizations! I guess she takes after her mommy on that one. They said we will have to pre-medicate her next time and give her Tylenol before the shots. They don't usually recommend giving it until the child starts running a fever, but in her case they said it might keep the fever from getting so high.

Have you noticed...?

Babies spit up out of their noses some times!!!! I feel like I have lots of experience with babies but never have I ever seen milk come out of a baby's nose....until I had my own! She doesn't do it every time she spits up but I've definitely noticed on several occasions. I finally asked the lactation consultant about it because it was so odd but she said it's normal. So if you've noticed it, fear not....if you haven't noticed it, look for it cause now that I know it's fine, it's kinda funny!

Emily

Crib Success!

Last night was Molly's first night in her crib!!! I was fully prepared to be up most of the night and was surprised when I woke up to hearing her on the monitor almost 5 hours after I had last fed her! Of course, I forgot to put down the Ultimate Crib Sheet and she spit up everywhere but I can handle that.

Melissa, I did use your advice of putting down a heating pad first and that really seemed to work well.

I really think our cat will end up being Molly's protector because now when I go into her nursery at night to feed her, Blue will sit in between the chair I nurse in and the door to the room...and she always faces the door like she's on look-out.

Hopefully last night wasn't a fluke and she will continue to lengthen her nighttime sleep duration! Mommy could use the sleep!

Emily

Breastfeeding woes, continued...

I know I left you guys with a teaser a couple of days ago, promising a post about Nipple Yeast Infections. I didn't want y'all to wait too long so here it is! Don't worry, no pictures in this post! :-P

So I described all of the contraptions we went through trying to get the hang of breast feeding but that's not all I've contended with. Here are the physical issues:

I thought I had what is called 'nipple vasospasms.' (http://www.pregnancy-info.net/breastfeeding_nipple_vasospasms.html) My nipples would blanche, turn white, when I would nurse or when they would get cold. Every time Molly would latch on I would feel a sensation similar to a knife going in my nipple and coming out my shoulder blade. I was nauseous every time I nursed.

Greer and I go to a New Mamas group at a place here in Athens on Thursday mornings and I was able to talk to some of them about what I was experiencing. A few of the women thought my symptoms sounded a lot like a yeast infection or Thrush. I called my midwife that day and she agreed that it sounded like yeast and she called in a prescription for me to pick up that day. I started taking Diflucan and using All Purpose Nipple Ointment. 2 days later, I was feeling great! Nursing was getting so much easier...

Of course that couldn't be the end of it. 3 days ago the pain started coming back and now my whole breast will randomly burn and tighten. Fun? Not so much. I called my midwife again and she thinks that Molly probably has thrush, or yeast in her mouth, and we are passing it back and forth. So, I now have to take my medicine for a month, instead of 2 weeks. Molly is now taking Nystatin (which she seems to like) for 2 weeks. And I'm still using the ointment.

The pain has definitely gone back down and nursing is getting easier again. I still feel the burning every once and a while but I'm hopeful that that will subside. I had a meltdown on the phone with my mom cause I found that I was dreading feeding my daughter and I kept wanting her to sleep 'just 30 min more'. Why continue breastfeeding? I don't know, I just feel like during the days and weeks that Molly and I get it right, it's fabulous! I actually enjoy it when all things function correctly. :-D

Hopefully, once over this infection, our breastfeeding woes will come to an end!!!

Emily

Breastfeeding woes....

Hello ladies...I know it's been so long since I've posted. I naively thought that I'd have so much time to post while I was at home on maternity leave but now I just laugh at myself for that thought! As 4 of us know, and 1 is soon to find out....breastfeeding is probably the most unnatural part of this whole 'mommy' thing.
I thought Molly was going to be a pro. Right after delivery I was able to nurse her and she seemed to do a great job. She would get her mouth open wide and everything. But it seems I was wrong....she sucked at sucking (pun intended!) From Wed (the day she was born) to the following Monday, when we went to the pediatrician for the first time, Molly lost 1lb 3oz. She had gotten down to 5lb 12oz and that really kind of scared me. Our pediatrician was not overly concerned, if things turned around. From that point we had to start supplementing Molly with a bottle at every feeding (every 3 hours or so) We started supplementing with formula but then I got my milk production under way and have been using expressed pump milk to supplement. We had to go back just a few days later to make sure she wasn't continuing to lose weight; she wasn't. The next week her weight gain looked good so he moved us back down to supplementing every 6 hours. We were scheduled to go back the following week. Our pediatrician was so impressed that Molly had gained 2 oz a day (average is 1oz/day) and we haven't had to supplement since! I am still pumping, working on building up freezer supply for when I go back to work.
Ok, so that's our weight story.....breastfeeding has taken its toll on me! When we discovered that she wasn't latching/sucking correctly, the lactation specialists gave me a nipple shield.
The nipple shield is a nifty little attachment that makes it seem like your nipple is longer than it is. The problem they warn you about is that they are 'addictive', meaning that once your baby gets use to it, they won't feed without it and you have to make sure you take it with you where ever you go. Well, Molly already wasn't feeding without it so I was all for trying it. It seemed like a good thing, and Molly seemed to latch better to begin with. But then she learned that if she just hung out long enough, the shield would fill up with milk and she could just suck it out rather than actually nursing. I say she's lazy but Todd things it's smart (less work with the same results).

Well, since she still wasn't gaining enough at this point, the lactation consultants recommended I use an SNS. That's a Supplementary Nursing System.
It's hard to tell in the picture, but it kind of looks like an IV. The bottle holds the milk or formula and then you run the skinny tube and either tape it next to your nipple or run it through the nipple shield. I had to do the latter. Talk about annoying! Poor Todd; he has been so wonderful about cleaning my pump equipment for me and when he saw everything that went into cleaning the SNS I thought he might go on strike! Then the lactation consultant told us we shouldn't use a bottle at all; that we should use the SNS attached to our finger for any supplements! This is the point that our pediatrician said "The LCs are fabulous, but sometimes they forget that you're not just a breast. You're a woman, a wife, a mother." (I'm a big fan of our pediatrician!)
So after all of that, a got home from visiting with the LC one evening, all of my contraptions in hand, ready to feed Molly. The LC had recommended I give Molly some boob time without the shield just to give her exposure. I thought, 'what the heck!' and decided to try to breastfeed her, contraption-free, just to see what would happen....well, that was 2 weeks ago and she has been a pro nurser ever since (with just a small hiccup this past weekend)!!! It's so nice to see the SNS collecting dust in the cabinet.
Now Todd only has to bring me my tray of pump equipment, and even that I only do a few times a day now!

This is not the end of my breastfeeding woes but it's such a long post that I'll write more later so as not to overload you. But I'll leave you with the topic of my next post: Nipple Yeast Infections!!!!

Much love to you all,
Emily

Nesting...burst of energy...or just my imagination?

I think I'm so ready for Isaac to come that I am convincing myself that I am nesting. Is this a real phenomenon? Did any of you go through it, and if yes, how much longer until you gave birth to your bundles of joy?

Maybe its because I actually got good sleep this weekend, but I have all this energy!! The nursery is done, the house is clean (even the cabinets have all been wiped down!,) all the laundry is done, I finished my pregnancy scrap book, wrote 25 thank you cards, and I still had energy left today. I decided that my car just had to be cleaned. After 2 hours of window scrubbing, vacuuming, fabreezing, and glove compartment organizing, the car is officially perfectly polished. So this just leaves me with the question ~ am I nesting or are my crazy obsessive compulsive tendencies just making up for the lost months of me being too tired to function? I'm hoping its all nesting and that this burst of energy means I'm within a week of baby time! I guess only time will tell, but I am hoping for the best!! ~Andrea

ultrasound update

Adam and I got to see our sweet little boy today for the last time (we think,) before he comes this month. This one was so different from our first views of Isaac, because he is obviously too big now to get in one nice clean shot. The great news is that he is head down with his cute little face towards my back. Based on his measurements, he's around 6 lbs, 4 oz, but of course that could be off. If we go the duration (which the doc says I probably will,) he'll be a little over 8 lbs. He has hair!! We figured he would, but its always nice to have it confirmed. I also had my first internal today. It really wasn't too bad! Doc says I'm barely dilated (wouldn't really call it a cm,) but that I am thinning out more than normal at this point. I think Adam's guess of the 27th of Feb. is way closer than mine of the 15th, but a girl can always dream.

I'm still having crazy sleep issues, but the good thing is that I can sleep in now that I have cut my work hours in half. I'm only teaching 10 students a week instead of 25, and that is only through next Friday. I'm just excited that the end is in sight!!