Today Cor.ben had his 2 month Well Child Check. He won't be two months old until the 5th, so I'll save all of that for another post. He is 13 lbs 3 oz and 22.5 inches. His doctor said that he's so strong and doing things developmentally that a 4 month old would do. You go boy! He does have a little eczema on his legs, but we expected it because his dad and their family have a strong history of that. I'm just glad it isn't worse and it doesn't bother him. We're just suppose to let him take at least 10 minute baths and apply lotion. We already use hypoallergenic products, so we don't need to worry about adding that into the mix. His reflux is doing amazingly well on the combination of Zan.tac and a little rice cereal in with his milk or formula. (We got off of the Enf.amil AR because it would have broke the bank & his doctor was fine with the rice cereal). However, tomorrow we're going to try cutting out the rice cereal and increasing his medication to a total of 3ml for the day and seeing how he does with that. By 6 months he should be able to get off of the medication. We're doing an alternative vaccine schedule (I'll do another post about that at some point), so today he only got DTaP and he did so good! He did a little cry for 2 seconds and that was it. He's now eating three to four ounces every 3 to 3 1/2 hours during the day and at night he gets up for two feedings, but I suspect that he may start sleeping even longer soon.
I've also just made the expensive decision to switch from Bum.Genius cloth diapers to Fuzzibunz. I tried one on him today and they're just so much better. They fit better, they aren't as bulky, they don't come up as high, and I like the design. Oh well, you live and learn. Not to say anything bad about bum.genius... they work great for my friend's son, just not for mine.
I ended up stopping the Reg.lan to attempt to increase my supply because it made me super sleepy during the day and at night when I would try to go to sleep I would get anxiety attacks. Not fun! Plus I read that it will only work if your prolactin levels are low, which I had checked and they weren't. I finally decided that I needed to stop stressing and feeling so sad about it all and that any amount of breast milk he was able to get was a beneficial blessing. I was getting so down about it that I wanted to completely quit, which is ridiculous! Him getting anything is better than getting nothing if it's not harming me. Buuuuuut, now I have hope again. I have a friend who had her son a month after I had mine. She had an over supply of milk and on top of breastfeeding had a fully stocked freezer! She started exclusively pumping with the same brand of pump that I use (Amed.a) and her supply went down so much that she had to give her son formula. She saw our lactation consultant (whom we both use and rent our pumps from) and the LC told her that the pump is the problem because of the limited cycles it has (or something like that) and that if she was going to exclusively pump (which I pretty much do) she need to switch to the Med.ela Pump in Style. Umm thanks lady! I talked to you several times about my supply issues and you never told me about how important it was to switch pumps! So basically Jenn you were right in everything that you said and hopefully it will work and I will say that I should have listened to you sooner! The super great news is that my sister-in-law just sent me her Med.ela pump! She only used it a few times before she had to stop. So it's basically brand new! What an awesome coincidence that she sent me the same one I need! We asked her for it so we can save on the rental fee that we've been paying. I always assumed that my pump was better than hers because it is hospital grade, but it turns out that hers is better than mine. Oooooh I really hope that this works and that I'm not setting myself up for disappointment again. I just need to practice gratitude and contentment when things are outside of my control. Lord, I really am grateful that I'm able to provide my child with breast milk. I'm so grateful for even the smallest amount that I'm able to give.
I promise that I won't have anymore long posts about my boobs! Whether this new attempt works or not you won't hear more that a little peep about it from me.
Much love and a happy week to you all!
For about the past two weeks Cor.ben has been crying (in short spurts) and arching his back when he eats. He would also seem to easily "choke" on his milk. At first we just thought he was so hungry that he was over eager when it came to eating. Then two days ago things got worse and it seemed like he was in pain when he was eating and afterwords he seemed utterly miserable and would just cry and cry. The only thing that helped even a little was to sit him completely upright. Sometimes even when he was sleeping he would wake up crying for apparently no reason. What was even more troubling is instead of his usual 4 ounces, he would only eat an ounce or two at a time and wasn't wanting more until a few hours later. I called his doctor and they had me come right in. I was so emotional on the drive there. I was letting my mind run wild and was assuming the worst... I was so afraid that they were going to tell me he had a tumor in his stomach or something horrible like that. Thank God the news we received wasn't so terrible at all. He has reflux!Now that we know what it is, looking back it seems so obvious. It never crossed my mind because he hardly ever spits up and he doesn't have inconsolable crying for hours. I thought that those were the characteristic symptoms of reflux babies. So far he's had two doses of his medication and seems to be doing so much better. He's eating more and hasn't been in any pain. Last night he actually slept for 4 hours straight and probably would have slept for longer, but I panicked and had my husband wake him up to eat. I'm so happy that he's feeling better. It was so heartbreaking yesterday to see him in so much pain. At least this ordeal hasn't made him lose any weight. My hefty boy now weighs 11 lbs 9 oz! He's the same size as his cousin who is 7 weeks older!
So the breastfeeding saga continues... dun dun dun... (see here for what I'm talking about). As if my breast milk supply didn't suck bad enough things have now taken a turn for the worse. After my mastitis issue I had to take the antibiotic bac.trim for a week. I had to pump and dump (which just about killed me) and the medication also made my supply dwindle down even further. I'm now producing next to nothing :(. I've been really upset about this and all of my efforts to get things up again just haven't worked. But today I have some excitement! Two of my husband's co-workers have used the herb fenu.greek and it made their milk supply increase a TON!!!! I'm usually wary about using herbs because I don't want to jack my health up worse than it already is, but being that it comes with 2 great recommendations I feel really good about it. Now I'm super excited and I'm going to go buy some tomorrow. Has anyone else heard of fenu.greek and how well it works???? I really hope that it works! That would be so exciting if I was actually able to produce enough milk!!!!
Lupus you suck! I'm in the midst of a lupus flare. I knew that it would probably happen, but was hoping that it wouldn't. Lupus usually does really well during pregnancy and flares soon after. So what does this mean for me?... constant headaches, fever, completely draining fatigue, bad joint pain, muscle aches, stomach issues that you do not want to know about... luckily I haven't had any lung or kidney involvement yet. I called my rheumatologist and of course they don't have any appointments for about 2 weeks, so I had to leave a message on the nurses line to see if they would be willing to call me in some medication (steroids) in the meantime and of course they didn't call me back today. Being pregnant was so wonderful because I didn't have to deal with lupus and I didn't have to deal with endometriosis. Lol, I told my husband that I just need to be continuously pregnant. Imagine how shocked I was when he said that wasn't going to happen. Hopefully I will get a call back tomorrow and can get started on some treatment soon.
Cor.ben is 1 month old today! Yesterday I went to the hospital to see my friend who just had her baby. She delivered at the same hospital as me and her room was just a few doors down from mine. Lol, I guess my labor experience was pretty memorable because the staff there still remember me. Cor.ben is doing so well and is absolutely adorable. I love his facial expressions and the cute little noises he makes. He loves to smile at us and I'm so excited for him to get the giggles. But did I tell you he still has his umbilical cord stump? I think it's going to fall off soon. It's no longer attached at the edges, just in the center, and it's kinda gooey underneath. Does that sound right? It doesn't smell or anything.
We're going to go get our professional family photos on Saturday and I'm so excited! The hubs and I have NEVER had professional pictures taken together. We've always wanted to, but just have never made it happen. I really hope that they turn out good.
Soooooo... my post-baby body.... it's interesting. As you may remember I gained 53 lbs during pregnancy. Last Saturday I was down 23 lbs. Not bad, but I would have much preferred for it all to have instantly vanished :). After I gave birth I was given false excitement because all of the stretch marks on my butt had COMPLETELY disappeared. I was thinking "YES, thank you Lord, they must have been just hormonal and my butt has now been saved". YEAH RIGHT! They all came back and now I have a few on the boobies as well. I'm guessing from breastfeeding. Super! Of course, as to be expected, my stomach still has a little pooch to it. No big deal, I'll take care of that. My doctor has given me the go ahead to start exercising, YES! What's getting me is the skin on my stomach is still so loose, dry, and wrinkly. Ewwww. I feel like an old lady. For those of you that have children how long did it take for your skin to snap back? Did it?
