Monday, February 25, 2008

Now the real fun begins...

My parents left this morning and now I've sucessfully managed through 2 hours with the two kids by myself. Now, they're both sleeping...

How wonderful is that?

And I don't have much time because I intend to add to the snooze-fest, too.

But, a quick update:

Buttercup had her two week check up last Thursday. Other than the fact that she lost weight, she's great! Her birth weight was 8 pounds. Her discharge weight two days later was 7 lb. 8 oz.; well within the acceptable weightloss range for a baby. At one week, her weight was 7 lb. 11 oz. (and this was using the scale at the doctor's office...so a different scale than the one at the hospital). At her two week check up, she was back down to 7 lb. 8 oz. This concerned the pediatrician enough to schedule me an appointment with a lactation consultant.

I managed to control myself during the appointment, but in my car afterwards, I lost it. After talking with my mom about it, I knew that I wasn't doing anything wrong and neither was Buttercup. I knew that she was eating (apparently she was not eating long enough so she was missing the high-protein, high-fat milk) and you can't force milk, whether given by bottle or breast, to a baby. She was more interested in falling asleep. The main reason I was upset is that I don't like for people to think I'm doing something wrong. I'm a tiny bit of an overachiever and I like to do an A++ job at everything!

Anyway, I had the lactation consult the next day. And on yet a third scale, Ms. Buttercup weighed 7 lb. 11 oz. So, she either gained 3 ounces in a day or more likely, the scales aren't entirely accurate across the hospital (the pediatrician and the lactation nurse also office at the hospital where Buttercup was born). After weighing Buttercup, we undressed her down to her diaper (to make her a little more uncomfortable so she's stay awake...but as warm as that room was, I'd have liked to have stripped down to my undies, too! Man, I was burning up!). She nursed like a champ...longer than she usually nurses. Of course, after she had done a good 30 minutes of nursing, the nurse reached for her to weigh her again (to determine how much milk she had taken in) and Buttercup projectile vomited all over me, the chair and the floor. She had only done that one other time and that was earlier that morning. The nurse thought it looked like about a third of an ounce and we decided that Buttercup was likely over-full. Anyway, Buttercup's weight had gone up two more ounces. And an 8 pound baby "should" take about 3 ounces. So, I nursed her some more and after another 15 minutes, she had taken almost another full ounce. Good for her!

My homework was to feed her every three hours (the nurse wanted me to wake Buttercup up at night to nurse...I had been just letting her sleep and she was getting in one good 5 hour stretch) and to make sure she stayed on each side for at least 15 minutes. And it was better for her to nurse for a long time on one side than to nurse on both sides.

Well, I only set my alarm for the two night feedings one night. Buttercup wasn't interested in waking up to eat and we both got frustrated. So, as C.O.O. of this house, I decided that during awake hours, I'd feed her every 3 hours (or when she was hungry if it were sooner) and at night, I'll feed her when she wakes up to eat.

She's been doing well I think. She has been nursing longer, though sometimes she just falls asleep and I have a hard time waking her up. I have to go back on Thursday to the lactation nurse for a follow-up weight check and I'm hoping that all will be good with that.

I really don't want to go to formula. Aside from all the good benefits of nursing, I have a really selfish reason to continue to nurse: I want to lose some of this weight!

I'm actually down to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I've already lost the 30 pounds I gained while pregnant. And I'd like to be down another 30 pounds since that's my ideal weight for my height. We'll see how it goes.

X-man is still doing well. He still loves his little sister but we've added on some 2-year-old-tantrums...and I don't think they have anything to do with the baby. I'm pretty sure he'd have done the same thing without the baby.

So, this week is going to be a test of my endurance. At home, just me and the two kiddos, and only two hands. I've seen it done so I know it can be done, I'm just a little skeptical! =)

Off to nap!!

3 comments:

SarahB said...

So glad to hear that little Buttercup is back up to her birth weight after all!

I do think that letting her sleep the 5 hour stretch is just fine--her difficulty nursing is only that she's sleepy, and waking up before she's ready isn't going to help that. She'll get more and more active as the next weeks go by too!

Maddie was always really sleepy too, but that was countered by the fact that she seems to nearly always be nursing. I would tickle her cheeks, ears and the back of her neck to wake her up a bit.

If her weight does remain an issue, there's no reason you have to stop nursing. You can just add on a tiny bottle of formula as a supplement after she's spent enough time with you. :)

Chrissie said...

Congratulations on the birth of Buttercup! I know it is really difficult when people are telling you, you are not doing the right thing. Trust your instincts! And NEVER wake a sleeping baby! Are they insane? I am sure you know- especially since it is baby number 2- when things aren't right. My doctor always told me to do nothing, make no major decisions until she is over 6 weeks old! Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your baby girl! My son had the same feeding issues but eventually started gaining very slowly but the dr said not to worry since he was energetic and thriving. So happy to hear X-Man love his little sis! My daughter is 2 1/2 and definately is crying more than she used to so I agree it's probably not because of the baby.
Donna (from BBC)