People usually say that the third baby comes earlier than the others. They say the baby just slides right out.
Those people are liars.
Here's the truth. It gets harder. So.much.harder.
This baby is, by far, the hardest one yet.
11 days late. Suuuuper long labor. "Sunny-side up". And that's just the beginning...
When we went for his first check up with the pediatrician and lactation consultant we found out he had lost 12% of his birth weight. This is apparently high, as the norm is 10% or lower. I was, at this point advised to continue nursing him and then also supplement with 10 mls of milk by syringe. Luckily/unluckily for me, I am making lots of milk.
(It's great yes, but it also hurts like a mother, and makes me wake in the middle of the night to pump.)
That was Friday. So, I do this and then I have to go back on Monday for a weight check with another pediatrician I have never met before.
Monday comes around: He gets weighed and his weight has gone up, but apparently not satisfactorily enough for Dr. I-wear-a-lizard-on-my-stethescope-so-that-must-mean-I'm-a-good-baby-doctor. This man should immediately find a new job. He told me I'm not doing enough and instructed me to feed every 2 hours on the dot, PLUS feed an additional 2 oz. Now, let's just do some quick research,
here,
and here,
and here,
and one more, and we find that a one week old baby can only fit 2 oz of liquid in his tummy at one time...... However, trusting the all knowing doctor I do as he advised only to loose a whole ounce of my freshly pumped breastmilk when the baby spat it all out. Well that was the end of that. I still fed every two hours on the dot, which by the way is super difficult. Not only did I have to wake up the baby, but he wasn't really hungry! And forget about night time! Between waking the baby up, feeding him, changing his diaper, and pumping, I was sleeping in one hour increments.
All this work to return to the doctor for another weight check on Wednesday and find out he has actually LOST weight. WHAAAAAAT!!!!!????? Immediately I lost it. I started crying while we were waiting for the pediatrician. At this point every horrible thought ran through my mind. Visions of living in the NICU, or some other horrible disease that my baby obviously has.
Luckily, we were able to see our normal pediatrician. She comes in and starts normal conversation, looks at my face, stops, and says "Are you OK?"
No I'm not OK. My baby is dying!!!!! I haven't slept in a week. There is no way to fix this problem!!!
OK, so I actually just said, "I'm just really worried," and promptly began to cry.
To which she said, "He's fine. Don't worry. We're going to fix him."
And you know what? We did! She listened to the whole saga from the moment he was born, and then she checked under his tongue. She told me to definitely stop feeding every two hours, and just feed on demand when he's hungry. She suggested having his
frenulum, the little tissue that connects the underside of the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, snipped. She said she believed that this would help his latch.
By the grace of God we got into the specialist the same day. The procedure was quick and baby was a super champ!
(Before Procedure: sad, hungry baby)
When we returned to see our pediatrician on Friday, he had gained 2 ounces!!!
I cannot express how relieved I am. And I haven't cried since!!!
(After Procedure: full, happy baby!)
