Which only 1 of the 4 of us finds amusing. Although, if M. was being honest, he would probably admit to being a little proud/entertained.
In the last 48 hours, Finn has put the following items in his nose:
1 corn kernel (cooked, sweet)
1 glow stick (green)
1 yogurt-covered raisin (large)
We have tweezers and needle-nose pliers at the ready in the event he sticks something up there that he cannot retrieve himself. But Lord help us, I predict an emergency room visit in the near future for some kind of nostril extraction.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
And The Winner Is...
A little belated, I admit, but the results of our online baby guessing game have been tallied (for several days now). Expectnet.com has a scoring system and a formula to determine the winner automatically (good thing, as it's too much for my brain to handle right now). And the winner is:
Wendy and Jon!!
Their guess:
Gender - girl
Birthdate/time - April 26th, 5:10 pm (off by only 21 hours)
Weight - 7 lbs, 12 oz (off by 9 oz)
Length - 20 inches (off by only 1/2 in)
Wendy and Jon are good friends of ours from graduate school, and they are expecting a surprise bundle of joy of their own any day now. We definitely wish them (and their adorable 2-year-old Matt), lots of luck in the next few weeks!
They smoked the competition with a score of 161 - the next nearest score was 286 (lower is better). Anyone who got the gender wrong was automatically out of the running, as that earns a penalty of 400 points.
Honorable mention goes to Benjamin, the 3-year-old son of Outnumbered Gal. With a score of 500 points, he would have been the clear winner if only he had guessed girl instead of boy. He guessed the weight and length exactly right, and was off on the birth date by only 18 hours. Not too shabby for a 3-year-old!
Wendy and Jon!!
Their guess:
Gender - girl
Birthdate/time - April 26th, 5:10 pm (off by only 21 hours)
Weight - 7 lbs, 12 oz (off by 9 oz)
Length - 20 inches (off by only 1/2 in)
Wendy and Jon are good friends of ours from graduate school, and they are expecting a surprise bundle of joy of their own any day now. We definitely wish them (and their adorable 2-year-old Matt), lots of luck in the next few weeks!
They smoked the competition with a score of 161 - the next nearest score was 286 (lower is better). Anyone who got the gender wrong was automatically out of the running, as that earns a penalty of 400 points.
Honorable mention goes to Benjamin, the 3-year-old son of Outnumbered Gal. With a score of 500 points, he would have been the clear winner if only he had guessed girl instead of boy. He guessed the weight and length exactly right, and was off on the birth date by only 18 hours. Not too shabby for a 3-year-old!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Lucky Number 11!
Lucy's results from her latest bilirubin test are in, and she's down to a count of 11 (from 15.4 on Saturday). And that was without the use of the bili-blanket all weekend. Yay! We can officially return the blanket, and her coloring is slowly returning to a normal pinkish hue.
Lucy as a glow worm - you can kind of see the bright blue lights through the swaddle blanket.
In other good news, her weight is up to 8 pounds, 4 ounces - only an ounce away from her birthweight. She gained almost 6 ounces in only two days!! Of course, this is not entirely unexpected, as we have been trying our best to keep her very well fed. This has meant a lot of bottles, but I am slowly coming to terms with that.
I had a semi-private session (1 other person was present) with a lactation consultant this morning. It was a good, if not entirely encouraging, session. I gave Lucy part of a bottle, then breastfed her. She latched on pretty well, but only managed to take in about half an ounce from me. I explained to the LC that my main goal was to reduce or eliminate the pumping - I don't need to exclusively breastfeed my baby (at this point it seems like an unrealistic goal), but I just cannot spend my time hooked up to a pump, or watching the clock to plan for my next pumping session. The consultant seems to think this is do-able, and I am now moving to a feeding plan where I give Lucy a supplemental bottle BEFORE I breastfeed (a little less than I think she truly needs to be full), and then let her finish at the breast. This should give her the patience and energy to try to get more milk out. Eventually, as she gets stronger and more used to taking in milk from me, I hope to be able to reduce the amount of the pre-breast bottle an increase my supply a bit. I am NOT going to pump after each feeding session, unless I feel uncomfortably full (ha ha, pretty sure that's not going to happen). If I feel like it, I can pump a couple of times a day to have a little extra milk on hand.
I like this plan, it takes a lot of the stress out of feeding sessions. I already feel more relaxed and human. I kept feeling, every time that Lucy fell asleep on me, that I needed to put my baby down and pump. I was feeling guilty for our cuddling time because I knew it was not helping my supply (I felt the same way when we were using the bili-blanket, too - cuddling was a no-no because it meant she wasn't hooked up like a little glow worm). And that's no good - new moms should be able to cuddle their babies as much as they want!!
Well, time to feed Lucy again and then give her her first real bath. Her belly button stump fell off on Saturday, but things have been so hectic over the weekend (Finn at home, the 2-hour feeding and pumping schedule, etc) that we haven't managed to give her a proper dunking. Time to go fix that!
Lucy as a glow worm - you can kind of see the bright blue lights through the swaddle blanket.
In other good news, her weight is up to 8 pounds, 4 ounces - only an ounce away from her birthweight. She gained almost 6 ounces in only two days!! Of course, this is not entirely unexpected, as we have been trying our best to keep her very well fed. This has meant a lot of bottles, but I am slowly coming to terms with that.
I had a semi-private session (1 other person was present) with a lactation consultant this morning. It was a good, if not entirely encouraging, session. I gave Lucy part of a bottle, then breastfed her. She latched on pretty well, but only managed to take in about half an ounce from me. I explained to the LC that my main goal was to reduce or eliminate the pumping - I don't need to exclusively breastfeed my baby (at this point it seems like an unrealistic goal), but I just cannot spend my time hooked up to a pump, or watching the clock to plan for my next pumping session. The consultant seems to think this is do-able, and I am now moving to a feeding plan where I give Lucy a supplemental bottle BEFORE I breastfeed (a little less than I think she truly needs to be full), and then let her finish at the breast. This should give her the patience and energy to try to get more milk out. Eventually, as she gets stronger and more used to taking in milk from me, I hope to be able to reduce the amount of the pre-breast bottle an increase my supply a bit. I am NOT going to pump after each feeding session, unless I feel uncomfortably full (ha ha, pretty sure that's not going to happen). If I feel like it, I can pump a couple of times a day to have a little extra milk on hand.
I like this plan, it takes a lot of the stress out of feeding sessions. I already feel more relaxed and human. I kept feeling, every time that Lucy fell asleep on me, that I needed to put my baby down and pump. I was feeling guilty for our cuddling time because I knew it was not helping my supply (I felt the same way when we were using the bili-blanket, too - cuddling was a no-no because it meant she wasn't hooked up like a little glow worm). And that's no good - new moms should be able to cuddle their babies as much as they want!!
Well, time to feed Lucy again and then give her her first real bath. Her belly button stump fell off on Saturday, but things have been so hectic over the weekend (Finn at home, the 2-hour feeding and pumping schedule, etc) that we haven't managed to give her a proper dunking. Time to go fix that!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Slave to the Pump
I had hoped to have a nice long post up by now, describing the events leading up to and after Lucy's birth. However, things have not been easy with regard to feeding little Lucy, and I find that I have very little free time on my hands.
Breastfeeding Finn was never an easy thing for me. Though there were many aspects I really enjoyed about it, it was always a struggle. My milk supply was never great, he had reflux that we couldn't get under control for several months, we had initial problems establishing a good latch... it was basically one frustration after another, and I don't think I handled it well mentally. But with the exception of one bedtime bottle each night (while I pumped), I managed to exclusively breastfeed Finn during my maternity leave. I was a slave to the arm chair in the living room where I nursed him but we did manage it. I was very much hoping that nursing would go much better this second time around. I was prepared for the long, never-ending nursing sessions that are required for establishing a good supply. I wasn't going to be shocked by them, and I was going to try my best to stay away from using a bottle for the first few weeks. And hey, maybe I'd even have more milk!
I didn't count on Lucy's jaundice. It's wreaking havoc with my well-laid plans.
Finn had jaundice, and we had to supplement for a day with formula and go in to the pediatrician's office for an extra blood draw. But his levels immediately lowered, and that was the extent of the problem. Lucy has unfortunately been having a much rougher time of it. The hospital barely let us leave on Monday night - they were planning on admitting Lucy to Pediatrics to spend the night under the bili-lights. They let us leave since we agreed to supplement while we waited for my milk to come in, and arranged for a bili-blanket to be delivered to our house the next day (sort of - they were actually rather incompetent regarding this, and I'm sure I'll complain about it in more detail later).
Since then, we have brought Lucy in to the pediatrician 4 extra times for a blood draw, with a 5th one scheduled for Monday. Even with the bili-blanket, her bilirubin levels have not been falling much. And I SO want to get rid of the bili-blanket - it is such a pain to use (don't get me wrong, it's better than having Lucy in the hospital, but it is awkward and keeps us from interacting with her spontaneously).
We HAVE to supplement, just to get Lucy better. My milk came in fairly early, but it came in with a whimper, not with a bang. Lucy started out as a great nurser in the hospital - she was a little rough with her latch, but she sucked well and seemed to enjoy it. Now, either because she's used to the bottles, or because I just have no milk for her, she's just not into breastfeeding. IF I can get her on the breast, she mostly hangs out for a few swallows, then calls it a day. And the sad thing is that, even with a hospital-grade pump (which I frantically sent M. to rent on Wednesday when I decided my super-expensive Pump in Style Advanced wasn't cutting it), I can only pump 1/2 to 1 oz a session IF LUCY HASN'T NURSED AT ALL. This little girl wants to eat between 2-3 ounces every 2-3 hours. How can my chest possibly keep up with that!?!?! It is beyond frustrating.
So for now, each feeding session consists of me TRYING to get Lucy to nurse, then feeding her a bottle, then pumping. The whole process usually takes at least an hour, then we repeat again an hour later. In between, I spend my time washing pump parts and bottles, and peeing like there's no tomorrow. Because new mom's need to drink lots of liquids for, you know, their MILK SUPPLY. I swear, I'm going to the bathroom more now than I did when I was 40 weeks pregnant.
It sucks, and I don't know how long I can keep it up. I have a pretty good idea of all the work that will be needed to get Lucy breastfeeding well and to a point where it satisfies her, and I just don't know if I want to do it. I really don't want Lucy's babyhood and my entire maternity leave to be focused on my crappy milk supply. I am spending zero time with Finn, and actually very little time with Lucy, too. I'm headed to a session with a lactation consultant on Monday, so I will truck on through the weekend and do my best to get more milk flowing (without putting too much stress on Lucy, which means I will pump, pump, pump). But I need to keep in mind that the main goal is to get Lucy fed and happy the best way I can.
Aside from all of our feeding difficulties, I really have had an easier time bonding with Lucy and enjoying her. So far she is pretty content as long as she is fed, and she has been napping well. A lot of that may be due to jaundice-induced lethargy, and maybe she will "wake up" next week and start showing us her true colors, but so far I have no complaints.
This post is already longer than I have time for :-). I'll just leave you with a couple of cute pictures.
Breastfeeding Finn was never an easy thing for me. Though there were many aspects I really enjoyed about it, it was always a struggle. My milk supply was never great, he had reflux that we couldn't get under control for several months, we had initial problems establishing a good latch... it was basically one frustration after another, and I don't think I handled it well mentally. But with the exception of one bedtime bottle each night (while I pumped), I managed to exclusively breastfeed Finn during my maternity leave. I was a slave to the arm chair in the living room where I nursed him but we did manage it. I was very much hoping that nursing would go much better this second time around. I was prepared for the long, never-ending nursing sessions that are required for establishing a good supply. I wasn't going to be shocked by them, and I was going to try my best to stay away from using a bottle for the first few weeks. And hey, maybe I'd even have more milk!
I didn't count on Lucy's jaundice. It's wreaking havoc with my well-laid plans.
Finn had jaundice, and we had to supplement for a day with formula and go in to the pediatrician's office for an extra blood draw. But his levels immediately lowered, and that was the extent of the problem. Lucy has unfortunately been having a much rougher time of it. The hospital barely let us leave on Monday night - they were planning on admitting Lucy to Pediatrics to spend the night under the bili-lights. They let us leave since we agreed to supplement while we waited for my milk to come in, and arranged for a bili-blanket to be delivered to our house the next day (sort of - they were actually rather incompetent regarding this, and I'm sure I'll complain about it in more detail later).
Since then, we have brought Lucy in to the pediatrician 4 extra times for a blood draw, with a 5th one scheduled for Monday. Even with the bili-blanket, her bilirubin levels have not been falling much. And I SO want to get rid of the bili-blanket - it is such a pain to use (don't get me wrong, it's better than having Lucy in the hospital, but it is awkward and keeps us from interacting with her spontaneously).
We HAVE to supplement, just to get Lucy better. My milk came in fairly early, but it came in with a whimper, not with a bang. Lucy started out as a great nurser in the hospital - she was a little rough with her latch, but she sucked well and seemed to enjoy it. Now, either because she's used to the bottles, or because I just have no milk for her, she's just not into breastfeeding. IF I can get her on the breast, she mostly hangs out for a few swallows, then calls it a day. And the sad thing is that, even with a hospital-grade pump (which I frantically sent M. to rent on Wednesday when I decided my super-expensive Pump in Style Advanced wasn't cutting it), I can only pump 1/2 to 1 oz a session IF LUCY HASN'T NURSED AT ALL. This little girl wants to eat between 2-3 ounces every 2-3 hours. How can my chest possibly keep up with that!?!?! It is beyond frustrating.
So for now, each feeding session consists of me TRYING to get Lucy to nurse, then feeding her a bottle, then pumping. The whole process usually takes at least an hour, then we repeat again an hour later. In between, I spend my time washing pump parts and bottles, and peeing like there's no tomorrow. Because new mom's need to drink lots of liquids for, you know, their MILK SUPPLY. I swear, I'm going to the bathroom more now than I did when I was 40 weeks pregnant.
It sucks, and I don't know how long I can keep it up. I have a pretty good idea of all the work that will be needed to get Lucy breastfeeding well and to a point where it satisfies her, and I just don't know if I want to do it. I really don't want Lucy's babyhood and my entire maternity leave to be focused on my crappy milk supply. I am spending zero time with Finn, and actually very little time with Lucy, too. I'm headed to a session with a lactation consultant on Monday, so I will truck on through the weekend and do my best to get more milk flowing (without putting too much stress on Lucy, which means I will pump, pump, pump). But I need to keep in mind that the main goal is to get Lucy fed and happy the best way I can.
Aside from all of our feeding difficulties, I really have had an easier time bonding with Lucy and enjoying her. So far she is pretty content as long as she is fed, and she has been napping well. A lot of that may be due to jaundice-induced lethargy, and maybe she will "wake up" next week and start showing us her true colors, but so far I have no complaints.
This post is already longer than I have time for :-). I'll just leave you with a couple of cute pictures.
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