One Month Checkup & Lactation Consultant

Yesterday was a long day so forgive me for no post. The pediatrician appointment went pretty well. We saw a different doctor, who was a lot more thorough and I felt more comfortable with. Ethan seems to be doing well over all, and no immunizations were given! He'll get those at his 2 month checkup, along with the start of Synagis - a monthly shot during fall and winter, to prevent catching RSV (for more information, visit synagis.com). His pulse ox was good - 82% and he weighed in at a whopping 10lb. 3 1/4oz. - a whole 2 pounds heavier than his birth weight!
Also, 2 days ago I mentioned that Ethan was awake almost the entire day and I had hoped he'd sleep well that night and he did - 5.5 hours! But last night was a different story, he was asleep most of the day and then woke up every 2 hours. He's slept about half the day today, so we'll see how tonight goes! :-)

Today was another big day, first we went by my office for a visit with my co-workers and a meeting about the change in insurance that takes effect in October. Then we went to a different branch of Ethan's pediatrician's office to meet with a lactation consultant. To recap, with Ethan's heart problem he burns calories faster so all his feeds have had to be fortified with extra calories - by adding a couple teaspoons of formula to any bottle we give him. As a result, I haven't been allowed to breastfeed, so I've had to exclusively pump. Well as any mom reading this knows, pumping's not the most fun thing in the world, and it takes extra time to pump, then take the time to bottle feed. It's hard to get anything else done during the day! Therefore, I'm getting very frustrated and decided it was time to seek help! My main frustration has been that each pumping session only produces half the amount of milk that Ethan takes at each feeding so I feel like I'm not able to provide, therefore stressing myself out and that's not helping my supply at all!

As a first time mom, this feeding issue has been extremely difficult for me emotionally and physically. I want the special bonding time of nursing that most women get, and the cardiologist has said I can try breastfeeding once a day max, but that he needs the extra calories the rest of the time. Also, with bottle feeding, we know exactly how many ounces he's eating. Plus, because he failed the swallow study a month ago, all his feeds have to be thickened so he doesn't aspirate (let the food go down his windpipe instead of down his throat into his stomach). So at our visit today, Michelle tried to teach Ethan to latch on, but he's spoiled - a bottle is much faster to feed from than me! She has given me tips to try to get Ethan to latch on, which I will try daily, and she's also going to have me come back weekly for a couple of weeks to work on it in the office.

Besides trying to nurse once a day, she's suggested I try the herbal supplement, Fenugreek, to try to help increase my supply. I'm very pleased and encouraged by Michelle's patience and understanding and positive attitude about being able to get him to nurse when he's this old, and also about being able to still increase my milk supply. In adition to the Fenugreek, she told me to relax, get lots of rest and sleep, drink lots of fluids and eat well, continue pumping/nursing and also stop cooking, cleaning, doing dishes and laundry! I'm not going to argue with that!

So anyone wanting to help us out, we've appreciated your financial gifts we've received towards Ethan's medical fund, but what we could really use at this time is some help with meals! Tonight we're having our very first meal brought to us - thanks to Dan's mom!