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?
This past week I've been feeling under the weather, but just thought it was how I was suppose to feel after having a baby. Even with plenty of sleep I was feeling really run down, my breasts were really sore, my appetite was almost non-existent, even though my husband complained that the apartment was really hot I was so freezing cold, and I had a headache that just would not die. Under normal circumstances it would have been "hello dummy, you're sick", but I just didn't put two and two together.
Saturday morning, around 3:30 am, I began to feel really bad and finally took my temperature and of course I had a fever. With medication the fever only went down for a little bit, but then kept climbing all of the way to 102*. I called my ob/gyn and she said that it sounded like I had mastitis and wanted me to go to the ER because "it can get serious fast". Oh joy! Just how I wanted to spend my Saturday. My husband stayed home with baby boy while I spent the next 6 hours in the emergency room. It was seriously ridiculous! They let everyone back before me, even a girl with a not so seriously injured foot who got there way after me. How in the world does an injured foot take precedence over a 102* fever!?!?! I wanted to scream at them "HELLO! Don't you know that I have a 3 week old newborn at home that needs his mommy!". I really hated being away from my little mush mush (Sorry, my family is known for coming up with all kinds of obnoxious nicknames for those we love. We just can't help ourselves. hahaha). At least I got some antibiotics out of the deal and I'm feeling a lot better today. Once my boobies don't hurt anymore I'll be golden. Here's to hoping I never get mastitis again!
I'm feeling really down about not producing enough milk. They said that my milk supply was likely slow because of the medications that I received during my c-section, but that's been over 2 weeks ago now and my supply still isn't up to snuff. I understand that it's good that I'm even producing any and formula isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'm feeling really down that I'm not producing enough to solely feed my son. I really don't like giving him formula and when I pump and see that I don't have enough it breaks my heart. I hate it when I nurse him and then he cries a short while later because he's still hungry. Before I had him I had planned on breast feeding AND formula feeding due to having Lupus. It isn't recommended to breastfeed because it could cause a flare. I thought that I would be okay with this decision, but my feelings completely changed once I had him. I have a deep desire to provide everything that he needs. I'm embarrassed that I am not enough for him. I feel inadequate.
