We came home today. Fry is SO sweet with minnow. Constantly kissing her and cooing over her little ears, little feeties, etc. When we’d left the hospital she’d lost a lot of weight; my milk took 5 days to come in last time, this time might be similar. The pediatrician wasn’t alarmed, but said if there were fewer than 3 wet diapers, give her a bottle of formula. We only hit 2, so decided on formula. I appreciate that the pediatrician didn’t dick around with milk purism, unlike the lactation consultants, whose suggestions were all way more complicated (donor milk, pump like your life depends on it, etc). I know there are awesome LCs out there, and they do a lot of good, but fuck if I was in the same fragile headspace as last time I would be a mess trying to do what the LCs said.
I’m glad to hear that! We supplemented with S when he was in the NICU, while I pumped to bring my milk in. It worked great, and once my milk was in, we moved fully to BFing and didn’t need the formula anymore. I’m glad doctors/LCs are being more realistic for you this time. It’s a hard enough transition as it is!
Our LC's are...not...reasonable like that. It drives me crazy. I'm glad your experience was much better this time @Afishwish !
It’s such a huge difference with the second kid. I was already in therapy and medicated so that helped too, but just knowing I had choices was empowering. LC’s can be a great resource but you have to find the right one. One in the NICU was a huge bitch but a couple of the others were great. I love our Ped who told me to feed him hot Cheetos and root beer if that’s all he’d eat.
Honestly quoting the pediatrician was what did it. I’m not positive on what level of reasonable we’d have had from the LCs otherwise. One told me today I should be pumping ever 3 hours even if I miss a feeding. Lady, if a supplemental feeding allows me to get a full sleep cycle in, I’m doing that.
With C2 I just refused to get up in the middle of the night to pump. Like nfw am I doing every 3 hours all night and 2 during the day like they guilted me into the first time. Yesterday C1 lost his first tooth and C2 got his first tooth poking through the day before. So funny how exactly they synced that up.
I just did the coursework to become an IBCLC (haven’t sat for the exam, still deciding if I want to) and I rolled my eyes so hard at some of the suggestions. They were talking about “problematic” formula donations were in the midst of a natural disaster and... uh... pretty sure that’s nuts?
Today Fry picked out a super girlie pink ruffled onesie for Minnow. She was nursing with this super intense scowl and in that outfit, and for some reason it just looked hilarious to me.
We found out Minnow has Alpha-1. I really thought the odds were in our favor here and she was unlikely to get it. We’ll get her a hepatology referral and monitor her just like we do for Fry. The good news is she’s obviously thriving; she’s plump, rosy, and happy. Still a bummer, though.
I’m sorry fish. That’s hard to find out, especially when you were so hopeful it was otherwise. She seems like such a happy baby and is clearly thriving We are actually waiting to find out news on S. He’s had gross motor delays and low muscle tone (we’ve been working with a pediatric physiotherapist since he was 11 months old). He is happy and doing great with progressing in physio, but is still a small guy. I wasn’t overly worried but we got blood work back recently that shows elevated muscle enzymes. This fits with his gross motor delays and low muscle tone, so we are retesting soon and then if it’s still high, we will get referred to a specialist. They would be looking for indications of some type of genetic muscular dystrophy. So, it’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, but we don’t know anything for sure. He’s happy, he eats lots, he’s doing great with physio, and he’s super chatty and babbles a lot. Just trying to focus on all that, not the potential chronic illness/condition that might or might not be something he (and we) has to live with. And it’s a spectrum so even if he has it, it could be minimal or it could be severe. We just don’t know. It’s hard not to think about though.
guys. Finding out your kid isn’t 100% perfect and set up for an easy life is always a blow. Obviously you are doing absolutely everything to make sure they have the best care and outcomes and are not at all to blame for any issues they will ever face. C2 started daycare this week and is already home sick so that’s how that’s going.
@megatron I’m sorry you guys are going through that. I have to imagine the uncertainty of his situation is maddening. When do you find out more?
He will do another blood test next Friday so probably hear back early the following week on those results. He also will get a urine test so that will be interesting for a baby lol. Then if the numbers are still high, we will get the referral to a specialist, so not sure how long it would take to get that appointment and then it’s more evaluation I guess to see. So it could still be nothing, or it could be something. I’m trying to keep the perspective that it doesn’t change him at all - it’s just a diagnosis (if there is one) that will give us information on a possible path forward. Although it of course means a potentially different life than we expected for him, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad news either. Oh and the doctor also said muscle enzymes can be high from injury and he’s a small guy who regularly gets run over and beat on by the older toddlers at day home or smashes his own head into things as toddlers do, so maybe it’s just that? I’m not getting my hopes up though because with the gross motor delay and low muscle tone, the blood test just supports that, so...we will see I guess.