Thank you for all of the encouragement and tips. Breastfeeding is very dependent on attitude, and it has definitely made a difference to have such great support.
Speaking of.... time to eat!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Quick Update
5 lb 13 oz! Back up to his weight at discharge! Feeding has taken off now that we seem to have a bit better handle on things. Will still doesn't always like to wake up to eat, but in all fairness, mommy generally doesn't like to wake up either. But we have been having our little pep talks, about how we are foodie people in our house, so eating is going to be a big part of life, and I think he is starting to get it.
Thank you for all of the encouragement and tips. Breastfeeding is very dependent on attitude, and it has definitely made a difference to have such great support.
Speaking of.... time to eat!
Thank you for all of the encouragement and tips. Breastfeeding is very dependent on attitude, and it has definitely made a difference to have such great support.
Speaking of.... time to eat!
Feeding
This post is mostly for the new moms and soon-to-be moms.
Breastfeeding is hard! It seems like a miracle that the species survived relying on such a delicate process. Several people had told me to expect challenges, and I did know that it would not be easy. What I did not expect was the crazy, crazy hormones and the primal drive to feed my child that comes aong with them.
Wednesday was a rough day for me. I expect that it was a combination of the tdap vaccine I got before leaving the hospital, the hormone and adreneline crash of post pregnancy and being home, the hormone transition from colostrom to milk, and being tired. Makes for a day.
Will had fed great forthe first 24 hours or so, but at some point we lost him. We didn't get to meet with the lactation specialist until right before we were discharged. Jodi, the LC, was amazing and encouraging, but we ended up with a new feeding system and plan on our way home. He was latching ok, but I couldn't seem to elicit his sucking reflex no matter what we did. We ended up pumping and feeding him from an oral syringe. We still tried him on the breast every feeding, but those experiences got progressively shorter and more frustrating.
This also meant that 1.5 hours out of every 3 hours was spent pumping and feeding, which was a 4 hands task. This got us both tired and stressed quickly.
At our first pediatrician visit on Wednesday afternoon, his weight had continued to drop and had reached a 12% drop from birthweight. He was down to 5lb 9oz. We spent almost two hours at the visit, most of which were with our amazing pediatrician, for a full exam, new parent education, and she observed a feeding. (For my speechie friends - he has a high palate but not abnormally so, frenulum and labial frenulum look ok, good tongue mobility.) He was, however, very lethargic, hard to rouse and generally either asleep or screaming. Not much in between, where good feeding happens.
It seems that his biggest issue was that he was too tired and frustrated to do the work to eat. After much discussion and a real resistance on my part, we ended up giving him a half ounce of formula in the office. As a result we were able to see his energy pick up and that the lethargy was not just his personality. I am so glad that Christian doesn't have the crazy hormones and could see the difference between a half ounce of formula at the doctors' office and giving up on breastfeeding completely. I had a very hard time with that. But that's why we come as a team.
So we met with a local lactation consultant first thing Thursday morning from the pediatrician's recommendation. (For locals, I would generally suggest using the lactation support that works with your pediatrician, but if you need a recommendation, ours is fantastic.) She has an instinct driven approach rather than the more mom-driven approach taught at the hospital, and I like that much better. She got us set up with a plan and some minor interventions (nipple shields w didn't really know what that even was before all this) to help Will learn his job.
Since then it has been amazing. Nursing is SO much better than pumping (although we were happy to do whatever it took to get him through). Will is much more alert and interactive. You can just see him taking it all in and learning. He even seems to recognize the dog. We go in Friday morning to check his weight again, and we hope he hasn't lost any more. We are only 5 days in, and nursing often takes a few weeks to get well established, but we are in a much better place than yesterday.
I wanted to shared the update. The challenges will always come, but we are learning quickly and getting help when we need it. Despite the feeding drama, I feel like Will is a really easy baby so far. I think we sleep moe than most new parent I know, and he is always super easy going.
Now we just have to watch out because with all this new found energy, Will is supporting his own head for brief periods and threatening to roll over!
Breastfeeding is hard! It seems like a miracle that the species survived relying on such a delicate process. Several people had told me to expect challenges, and I did know that it would not be easy. What I did not expect was the crazy, crazy hormones and the primal drive to feed my child that comes aong with them.
Wednesday was a rough day for me. I expect that it was a combination of the tdap vaccine I got before leaving the hospital, the hormone and adreneline crash of post pregnancy and being home, the hormone transition from colostrom to milk, and being tired. Makes for a day.
Will had fed great forthe first 24 hours or so, but at some point we lost him. We didn't get to meet with the lactation specialist until right before we were discharged. Jodi, the LC, was amazing and encouraging, but we ended up with a new feeding system and plan on our way home. He was latching ok, but I couldn't seem to elicit his sucking reflex no matter what we did. We ended up pumping and feeding him from an oral syringe. We still tried him on the breast every feeding, but those experiences got progressively shorter and more frustrating.
This also meant that 1.5 hours out of every 3 hours was spent pumping and feeding, which was a 4 hands task. This got us both tired and stressed quickly.
At our first pediatrician visit on Wednesday afternoon, his weight had continued to drop and had reached a 12% drop from birthweight. He was down to 5lb 9oz. We spent almost two hours at the visit, most of which were with our amazing pediatrician, for a full exam, new parent education, and she observed a feeding. (For my speechie friends - he has a high palate but not abnormally so, frenulum and labial frenulum look ok, good tongue mobility.) He was, however, very lethargic, hard to rouse and generally either asleep or screaming. Not much in between, where good feeding happens.
It seems that his biggest issue was that he was too tired and frustrated to do the work to eat. After much discussion and a real resistance on my part, we ended up giving him a half ounce of formula in the office. As a result we were able to see his energy pick up and that the lethargy was not just his personality. I am so glad that Christian doesn't have the crazy hormones and could see the difference between a half ounce of formula at the doctors' office and giving up on breastfeeding completely. I had a very hard time with that. But that's why we come as a team.
So we met with a local lactation consultant first thing Thursday morning from the pediatrician's recommendation. (For locals, I would generally suggest using the lactation support that works with your pediatrician, but if you need a recommendation, ours is fantastic.) She has an instinct driven approach rather than the more mom-driven approach taught at the hospital, and I like that much better. She got us set up with a plan and some minor interventions (nipple shields w didn't really know what that even was before all this) to help Will learn his job.
Since then it has been amazing. Nursing is SO much better than pumping (although we were happy to do whatever it took to get him through). Will is much more alert and interactive. You can just see him taking it all in and learning. He even seems to recognize the dog. We go in Friday morning to check his weight again, and we hope he hasn't lost any more. We are only 5 days in, and nursing often takes a few weeks to get well established, but we are in a much better place than yesterday.
I wanted to shared the update. The challenges will always come, but we are learning quickly and getting help when we need it. Despite the feeding drama, I feel like Will is a really easy baby so far. I think we sleep moe than most new parent I know, and he is always super easy going.
Now we just have to watch out because with all this new found energy, Will is supporting his own head for brief periods and threatening to roll over!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Home!
We did make it home Tuesday with William. Everybody checked out fine, but we will head to our first visit with the pediatrician Wednesday afternoon since Willim's weight is a bit low and biliruben was borderline (both are only very minor concerns at this point). We are working hard to get feeding established, and we may be hard to reach for another couple of days, but we are very happy to be home!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
William Update
The Cristobals are still at Durham Regional and settling into being a family of three. Christian and William have a special bond, and Christian seems to be able to get baby soothed no matter what. William is very skinny for his height, so the pediatricians here are keeping an eye on him. Feedings are picking up, and we are all learning quickly. William ate hourly on his first full night with us, from 8 to 1, then slept til 5. (Three and a half hours of sleep with a newborn, we are feeling blessed!) Last night he was struggling a bit more to eat like he should, but that is not unusual following circumcision. He is dropping weight, which is very typical, but we don't want him to loose too much. Hopefully we should be heading home today, but we are meeting with a lactation consultant and the pediatricians shortly.
(Passed his newborn hearing screening)
Notice that his hair is LIGHTER than mine! We were quite surprised!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Baby!
What you've all actually been watching the blog for...
William Dominador Cristobal
July 15, 2012
1:41 am
6 lb, 6 oz
20 inches
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Labor!
Quick update... my water broke at 4am this morning and contractions are now up to every 3-4 minutes at 9:20. We just got to Durham Regonal.
I am stil feeling great and we are very excited!
We will have more exciting news soon!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Happy 4th!
We did make it for the big Lehnes family gathering in Pawley's Island South Carolina, this year. It was about 10 degrees warmer than usual and the tides were unusually high due to the moon and the wind, but we had a good time. The beach was gorgeous, and we both got out into the water, and worked on our tans some. It was also wonderful, as usual, to spend time with Shelly's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended clan.
We did engage in a bit of patriot body art, as promised, which made a spash! The floats in the parade were taking pictures of me!
Happy 4th, y'all!
We are home now, and back to baby-prep mode. Our 37 week check is this afternoon!
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