The Week from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

First, let's focus on the positive. Just check out this beautiful healthy little baby!

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Now, I can think of any number of titles for this post:

-Dolly Is Back
-Breast Is Best
-Bessie Returns
-Drink Milk. It's Good For You.
-My Brest Friend

You notice the one I chose...I think that just underscores how I really feel about it all.

WARNING: this may be long and too detailed for most of you, but I need to decompress.

At Mikayla's 2 week check-up, we learned she was still not up to her birth weight. Up to this point, I had had severe pain while nursing, and had started using a nipple shield, but did not have concerns that she was not eating enough. However, there are big concerns over babies who don't gain weight. So, I scheduled an appointment with a lactation consultant (LC) for Monday first thing.

At this appt., we learned that Mikayla was barely taking in anything. In a 45 minute nursing session, she barely got .5 oz. For her size, based on 10 feedings in 24 hours, she should have been eating at least 1.9 oz in order to gain weight. Had I really been starving my own child? (Insert first sigh here.) The LC suggested we use an SNS to start feeding her, and said to make sure I was pumping at least 10 minutes after each session. Additionally, the root cause of the milk supply issue is that Mikayla seems to have a tongue thrust that interferes with the sucking mechanism. Therefore, she was not stimulating me properly, nor was she able to eat enough. I also started on Fenugreek and Shatavari, herbs that have been shown to increase milk supply.

As a side note, with Mikayla as opposed to the boys, I had made a choice not to pump, as I was hoping to get my body more in synch with hers, and let the laws of supply and demand build my milk supply as appropriate. With TJ and Luka, I was constantly uncomfortable, due to my incessant pumping. This time around, I simply thought that my plan was working, as I wasn't uncomfortable and she seemed to be relatively happy, or so we thought.

Well, start 48 hours of torture now. To use the SNS, and to make sure she was getting a full 2 oz required, it was taking about an hour and a half to go through the feeding process, pumping included. Now, if she is to be fed every 3 hours, that leaves 1 1/2 to eat, sleep, take care of any small business possible, etc. just to start the whole process over again. Additionally, the process of using the SNS was physically exhausting for me. The position that I needed to hold her in took the strength of both my arms the entire time. After 20 minutes on one side, my body literally would start shaking from all the energy I was exerting.

In addition to the herbs, I was trying anything that anyone suggested, including:

-Mother's Milk tea (6- 8 oz. cups a day)

-Brewer's Yeast (twice a day and enough to make anyone gag)

-Dark Beer (suppposedly the hops does something? Scott's home brew has come in quite handy.)

Now, the first thing anyone will tell someone trying to build their milk supply is that you also need lots of rest and no stress. Tell me, how was this situation conducive to that exactly? Bottom line, after 48 hours, I was spent, and a total basket case. I believe I did not receive appropriate direction from the LC. And, my milk supply clearly wasn't improving, and Mikayla soon had to be supplemented with formula.

I went back in the next day on Thursday for a "feed and weigh," and again confirmed that Mikayla was transferring very little from the breast, but she had indeed gained several ounces and was almost back up to her birth weight due to the SNS. (Insert first sigh of relief here.) At home we noticed she had definitely become more content and slept more soundly.

I saw a different LC, and she was quite clear that my first goal needed to be to build back up my milk supply, and that we could work on the suck later. At this point, due to the sheer exhaustion of the the SNS process, we were already bottle feeding, so this plan seemed much more manageable. I could focus on pumping only, and someone else could bottle feed, leaving me feeling much less tired, with time for naps at some point.

Thursday night, on two occasions, I pumped nothing at all. I had severe insomnia, and started letting my mind go down the path of giving up and what that would mean. Was formula the worst thing in the world? Of course not. And the most important thing of course is that we have this beautiful healthy baby. I mean, who couldn't love this face??

But I also decided I wasn't ready to give up, and made a plan for first thing in the morning. I first called Dr. Clothier and made an appt. for acupuncture that same day. Second, I called Melanie, my mid-wife, and asked her about prescribing Motilium, a prescription drug. She called it in right away, but it could only be filled in Dallas, so I had it overnighted to arrive on Saturday.

On Saturday, I was still only pumping at the most 1.5 ounces at a time, and she was eating close to 3 per feeding. The boys had gone camping with Scott, and my dad was coming to help and to stay overnight. Low and behold, that night, there was an obvious change to me, and by morning I had seen a significant increase in my pumping output. Was I really on the uptick?? I didn't let myself get to excited, but I certainly seemed to be on the right track.

So, life started to look a bit more manageable and a bit brighter. At this point, I was mostly pumping, but nursing her in between. The whole process was still taking me about an hour, but as long as someone was there to bottle feed, I was getting enough rest and pumping enough milk to get her off formula and stay ahead. Check mark for the first goal of getting milk supply up!

So, fast forward to today, Tuesday, about one week from when I started all the intervention. I took her in to get weighed, and she has gained over an ounce per day, coming in at 7lbs, 4 oz. Babies typically gain .5-1 oz per day, so this was awesome! Check mark on the second goal of increasing her weight!

Now, on to the "suck" factor. We are pursuing an Occupational Therapist to work with us on Mikayla's sucking issues. I'm hoping to get in this week to start that process.

In the meantime, pump, nurse, sleep, eat. Pump, nurse, sleep, eat.