Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Post Baby

Because Ethan and I had that fever and also because Ethan lost more weight in the hospital than they thought he should, they had us go to the Dr. a couple days after we got home. (We left on Mon, went to the Dr. on Wed. I believe.) They weighed and measured him. He lost more weight and they said that he was actually 19 3/4 ins long, not 23 like they said in the hospital. The Dr. looked at him and said he looked good but we should weight him again in a couple of days.

We went back and he hadn't lost any weight but he hadn't gained any. It was a Saturday and my Dr. wasn't there so they had another Dr. come talk to me. He was much more aggressive than my Dr. He was really concerned and told me to get the baby to Primary Children's for a blood test to make sure that his kidney's were working. I burst into tears, first thinking how terrible that I can't breastfeed, second imagining the time that they had to get blood from a vein in Kennedy's baby head, and third imagining that I was going to be spending more time in the hospital with a post-surgery infant. I'm sure the Dr. thought I was just some scared parent, but it was so much more than that.

He told me to get a breast pump and start pumping after nursing the baby to try to get more milk and to supplement with formula if I had to. We were to do that and weigh him on Monday.

At the hospital much to my relief they just did a small prick on his heel...not so bad. The Dr. called back a bit later and said he was fine. He also called me the next day, a Sunday, to see how it was going. He must have felt really bad for me.

We went back and weighed him Monday and he had gained a whole bunch of weight. We were relieved and we went home.

I continued to pump every two hours for 10-15 minutes, but the milk just never came. We even tried to take a medication which had the side effect of lactation but that didn't do anything but give me a stomach ache and diarrhea. I could never get more than about a half ounce out of each side. So, I'm not meant to breastfeed I guess. Oh well.

2 comments:

Jen said...

I am so glad you are back to blogging!!

Kristi Neeleman said...

Don't beat yourself up about breastfeeding. Some do and some don't. I couldn't with Robee but hey ... I see no difference. He bonded with me with a bottle. So what. Don't feel bad. You are his mom and he knows it and it is what it is.