Happy 35th birthday to Daddy! I felt my milk starting to come in slowly overnight, but there still wasn't enough to feed her fully, and latching continued to be a bit hit & miss. Add to this our growing exhaustion levels and lack of 24-hour support and it was definitely a challenging day! We alternated breastfeeding with Lact-Aid, and supplemented with formula for a couple feedings. I pumped after every feeding as well to help my milk come in.
Tracey and Don (Chris' dad) came by momentarily to see S. Don wasn't able to visit her in the hospital as he was staying with Chris' Grampa MacDonald, who was alone as Gramma MacDonald was undergoing knee surgery in Owen Sound. Sharyn (Chris' mom) was there with her so she wasn't able to see S during her first few days either.
S only had one poo and one pee the whole day, so we were pretty concerned about this. We called Beth and New Mother Support at the hospital to get some tips, and to arrange a meeting with Beth the next day (along with our postpartum appointment with the public health nurse).
A few positive notes from the day - I got S to feed successfully on the right side (up until this point we'd only really had success on the left), her cord stump came off (quite early, but it looked healthy so we were grateful rather than concerned about this!), our Kawaii diapers arrived (!!!!!!!!) and Chris gave S her first home sponge bath!
Day 5: Sunday, November 28th
I woke up in the morning and felt that my milk had fully come in - yay! My breasts were definitely larger and tender, but not overwhelmingly so like some of the horror stories I'd heard. That said, my milk might have been a bit less plentiful because of our difficulty feeding during the first couple days. As such, I planned to continue pumping for another day or two to help things out.
S had a really good feeding that morning on both sides and Chris and I were beginning to feel a lot more optimistic. At our postnatal appointment, the public health nurse Monica thought S was doing well (and in fact, she'd already gained back 2 ounces from her discharge weight, putting her back up to 8 pounds). The remaining concern was the lack of wet & dirty diapers, so we were really hoping to see more of these shortly! We had been planning a home visit with Beth, however we discussed our progress with her and we'd made such great strides that we mutually decided we didn't need that extra step at this point. Instead, we celebrated with Starbucks lattes and called it a day! :)
On our way back home, we stopped back in on Don and Doug (Chris' grampa) for a quick visit. That evening, S "broke the seal" and had 6 wet diapers in as many hours, as well as a big poop! What a relief! (Pun partially intended.) Funny how these are the things that excite you when you become new parents. ;)
S and I also discovered the side lying position for breast feeding which she seemed to prefer on the right side in particular, and Chris gave her her first REAL bath. She loved it!
Following her bath, Mommy and S enjoyed some nice skin to skin time...
...then we wrapped her up like a burrito and got some shut-eye! (On a side note, the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe RULES!)
Day 6: Monday, November 29th
Grandma Mary and Great Grandma Catherine came over today for a visit. S slept the whole time in her adorable cow outfit. :) Great grandchild #18 for Grandma C!
S continued with lots more wet and dirty diapers today, so we took a risk and made it a 100% booby day - no more Lact-Aid! This was evidently a good move as she appeared to be fully satiated at the end of the day - yay!!
That's excellent progress!!!!
ReplyDeleteShe looks great!
I had latch issues in the beginning when Torin was a baby as well as with Talia - but they eventually caught on :>
Thanks Cara! Nursing is definitely the most challenging part of early parenthood, but it's so worth it to persist!
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