Another fine mess we've got ourselves into. This afternoon the wife wanted to have Chipotle for lunch. She got her normal burrito bowl with pork, mild (tomato) salsa, rice, black beans and guacamole. I got something similar. We like the bowl because we can mix up the ingredients so we don't take a bite of the normal burrito and have a mouth full of nothing but rice.
Anyway....
We had a good afternoon, after the baby's feeding he was alert and just looking around. We enjoy this because we can see just how he's pulling everything in. It was time for another feeding and the wife just got through eating a meatless taco soup we like. It has various ingredients including tomatoes, beans, refried beans, corn, etc.
We head off to church and we're thinking the car ride will knock him out so we can attend class without baby interference. Nope, this was not to happen, he just looked around. The people at church were amazed that 1) the wife was moving around so soon after a C-section (just 6 days ago) and 2) the baby was alert and quiet. He did start to get a little fussy at about 45 minutes into the class so I went to the back of the classroom to bounce and hold him so he wouldn't disturb the class. He did go to sleep.
When we got home it was time for his 9 o'clock feeding. The feeding went well as they have been lately (see previous post). After the feeding, we put him down and his eyes opened up. No big deal, I watched his little eyelids start to and finally close. About 15 minutes later I pass the bassinet and it looks like his eyes are open. I take a closer look and sure enough, they're open. Now I'm a bit concerned as he hasn't had more than 2 "awake and alert" times in a day.
The wife gets him up and he is VERY gassy. Painfully gassy. "Why is this?" we're wondering. She holds the baby and I go and start to clean the kitchen. This is when I throw away the Chipotle bowl. Crud!! We had BEANS for lunch today. Now we remember that we were told that broccoli can make a baby gassy if mom eats it and is nursing. We let slip that beans are a gassy food. We're in for a long night and it's all our fault. As the writing of this (12:41 am) we're about to put him back to sleep after his midnight feeding. It looks like we might be out of the woods, but I don't want to jinx ourselves. So much for my previous post about getting 2 hours of sleep between feedings.
Live and learn.
God is good.
Bill
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Feeding Frenzy
My wife and I have decided to breastfeed our son. This is a natural thing that has been around from the beginning of man. So, why does this "natural" thing seem unnatural??
The first night we had a couple of feedings that didn't go as smooth as we'd like. We had to call in a nurse for assistance. We thought that this was just a bad night. The next night the 1 am feeding was just like the night before, difficult. So we just thought some feedings were going to be harder than others. When we get home, most of the feedings are difficult. We had to "finger feed" a couple of times. This involves the wife pumping breast milk, we draw it up in a syringe and attach a feeding tube to it and run it along our finger as the baby sucks the finger. While the baby is sucking, we slowly depress the plunger to put milk into the baby's mouth. We can tell that he is not getting as much as he would at a normal feed. We had to call a "lactation specialist". She met us Sunday at 5:30. After my wife demonstrated her technique and the baby's response, it was pretty clear that the baby hadn't quite learned what he needed to do. He was doing something wrong with his tongue and couldn't grab the nipple. The consultant suggested that we use a "breast shield". Some say these are just plain "evil." When I told the consultant this, she'd explained that the shield should only be used for a very short period of time, just enough time to teach the baby that the breast is where the food is. We're going to use it for another day or two and then try to wean him off of it.
Well, after he got a good latch, he nursed for about 30 minutes on that sitting. This was the start of going from almost fighting him to latch to him latching within a minute (far from the 30-40 minutes of the past). Now he's eating every 3 hours and is having regular stools and urine filled diapers. I never thought I'd actually WANT to see a soiled diaper. You see, the diaper is the gauge on how well the baby is getting fed via the breast. With bottle fed babies, you can see how much he is taking in because you are the one that created the bottle and can monitor what he's eating. With the breast, you have to go by the pull and the feeling of the breast after the feeding. Anyway, one should see at least 6 wet diapers and 2 stools in a 24 hour period. If this is happening, the baby should be getting enough milk from mom. Since we started keeping track of how long he feeds and his diaper count, we can tell that he is doing just fine.
Now we set the alarm for every 3 hours, if he wakes up before this we go ahead and feed him, if he's not awake, we wake him to feed. This is what our doctor has told us. And we must not go for more than 4 hours without feeding him. So, when the alarm goes off or his alarm goes off we change him, feed him and get him back into bed and all within about an hour. Now we can get about two hours of sleep between feedings. Right now, that's enough, but we will see.
God is good
Bill
The first night we had a couple of feedings that didn't go as smooth as we'd like. We had to call in a nurse for assistance. We thought that this was just a bad night. The next night the 1 am feeding was just like the night before, difficult. So we just thought some feedings were going to be harder than others. When we get home, most of the feedings are difficult. We had to "finger feed" a couple of times. This involves the wife pumping breast milk, we draw it up in a syringe and attach a feeding tube to it and run it along our finger as the baby sucks the finger. While the baby is sucking, we slowly depress the plunger to put milk into the baby's mouth. We can tell that he is not getting as much as he would at a normal feed. We had to call a "lactation specialist". She met us Sunday at 5:30. After my wife demonstrated her technique and the baby's response, it was pretty clear that the baby hadn't quite learned what he needed to do. He was doing something wrong with his tongue and couldn't grab the nipple. The consultant suggested that we use a "breast shield". Some say these are just plain "evil." When I told the consultant this, she'd explained that the shield should only be used for a very short period of time, just enough time to teach the baby that the breast is where the food is. We're going to use it for another day or two and then try to wean him off of it.
Well, after he got a good latch, he nursed for about 30 minutes on that sitting. This was the start of going from almost fighting him to latch to him latching within a minute (far from the 30-40 minutes of the past). Now he's eating every 3 hours and is having regular stools and urine filled diapers. I never thought I'd actually WANT to see a soiled diaper. You see, the diaper is the gauge on how well the baby is getting fed via the breast. With bottle fed babies, you can see how much he is taking in because you are the one that created the bottle and can monitor what he's eating. With the breast, you have to go by the pull and the feeling of the breast after the feeding. Anyway, one should see at least 6 wet diapers and 2 stools in a 24 hour period. If this is happening, the baby should be getting enough milk from mom. Since we started keeping track of how long he feeds and his diaper count, we can tell that he is doing just fine.
Now we set the alarm for every 3 hours, if he wakes up before this we go ahead and feed him, if he's not awake, we wake him to feed. This is what our doctor has told us. And we must not go for more than 4 hours without feeding him. So, when the alarm goes off or his alarm goes off we change him, feed him and get him back into bed and all within about an hour. Now we can get about two hours of sleep between feedings. Right now, that's enough, but we will see.
God is good
Bill
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Listen To The Voice of Experience
So, last night my wife is talking to my step-mom on the phone. When the wife hangs up, she tells me that she and dad are coming down tomorrow (today at the time of this post) and they are bringing us some food. I told her "This isn't a funeral" hinting at how people take food to morners to help them in their hour of need. I'm thinking, we had a baby, we're good.
Listen to the voice of experience.
This morning they show up and I have a different take on the brought food: I'm hungry!! Why, because we have been concentrating on the new baby that we forgot or didn't have time to eat ourselves. BTW: breast feeding is NOT as easy as it sounds. By the time we got our little one down for a nap after this last feeding, it had been 22 hours since I'd eaten. I had tried to fix something last night after we put him down for a nap, but he only stayed asleep for as long as it took me to cook what I was going to eat. Once we got him fed and back down, I couldn't even smell what I'd cooked because it made feel sick.
So, listen to those that have been down the path that you're about to travel, it will make the journey much easier.
Thanks Karen and Dad, you may never know how much that ment to us.
So, right now both mom and myself have eaten and baby is sleeping (hopefully for another 2 hours then we'll have to get him up for another feeding).
All of this feeding sounds like we're feeding him too much, but we're breastfeeding and the experts say to feed 8 - 12 times in a 24 hour period. The baby doesn't take in as much as a normal bottle so he'll tell us when he's ready.
God is good.
Listen to the voice of experience.
This morning they show up and I have a different take on the brought food: I'm hungry!! Why, because we have been concentrating on the new baby that we forgot or didn't have time to eat ourselves. BTW: breast feeding is NOT as easy as it sounds. By the time we got our little one down for a nap after this last feeding, it had been 22 hours since I'd eaten. I had tried to fix something last night after we put him down for a nap, but he only stayed asleep for as long as it took me to cook what I was going to eat. Once we got him fed and back down, I couldn't even smell what I'd cooked because it made feel sick.
So, listen to those that have been down the path that you're about to travel, it will make the journey much easier.
Thanks Karen and Dad, you may never know how much that ment to us.
So, right now both mom and myself have eaten and baby is sleeping (hopefully for another 2 hours then we'll have to get him up for another feeding).
All of this feeding sounds like we're feeding him too much, but we're breastfeeding and the experts say to feed 8 - 12 times in a 24 hour period. The baby doesn't take in as much as a normal bottle so he'll tell us when he's ready.
God is good.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
From Educated to Dunce in 2 minutes
So, how do you remove 6 combined degrees from two people (An associate, 3 bachelors and 2 Master)??
Add a screaming child into the mix. This is what happened this morning. Mom and I are trying to feed the baby. Nothing we (by “we” I mean her, I’m just standing around feeling worthless) did seemed to help. He just wouldn’t eat but was crying like he was hungry. “Maybe we’re trying to feed him when he’s not hungry,” I said. So, we let our little bundle of joy fall asleep and have HIM tell us when he wanted to eat. After all, he ate REALLY well at the last feeding.
An hour later and he wakes up. Nothing really has changed. He just won’t take the nipple. He’s getting so frustrated, mom is getting frustrated and dad is just watching the whole thing like some doomed circus. We had to call in the nurse to assist. She came in and somewhere around thirty minutes later he FINALLY starts taking in milk.
So, now, mom and I are talking about what we need to do over the next few days. What else do we have to do right now (2:45 am)? This is why coffee was invented!!
On a more uplifting note: We are taking him home today!!!
We cannot wait!! We’ve waited MANY years for him and we are truly blessed!!
God is good (all the time)
Add a screaming child into the mix. This is what happened this morning. Mom and I are trying to feed the baby. Nothing we (by “we” I mean her, I’m just standing around feeling worthless) did seemed to help. He just wouldn’t eat but was crying like he was hungry. “Maybe we’re trying to feed him when he’s not hungry,” I said. So, we let our little bundle of joy fall asleep and have HIM tell us when he wanted to eat. After all, he ate REALLY well at the last feeding.
An hour later and he wakes up. Nothing really has changed. He just won’t take the nipple. He’s getting so frustrated, mom is getting frustrated and dad is just watching the whole thing like some doomed circus. We had to call in the nurse to assist. She came in and somewhere around thirty minutes later he FINALLY starts taking in milk.
So, now, mom and I are talking about what we need to do over the next few days. What else do we have to do right now (2:45 am)? This is why coffee was invented!!
On a more uplifting note: We are taking him home today!!!
We cannot wait!! We’ve waited MANY years for him and we are truly blessed!!
God is good (all the time)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Day Two
Good morning, world.
This morning we woke up and Jonathan is doing good. He has been remarkably good so far. He started looking around on day one. I know newborns cannot see much past a few inches, but he just looks around taking as much as he can in.
Mom is doing good. She's not in much pain and she walked around the hospital unit yesterday afternoon. Today they're going to let her take a shower. She's looking forward to that.
I'm doing pretty good. I think my chest is going to burst with pride everytime I look at him. I have to hold back tears of happiness multiple times throughout the day. "He ate good." Hold back tears.
"Look at his grandpa holding him."
Hold back tears.
"Look how he cuddles with his mom."
Hold back tears.
"Just look at him."
Hold back tears.
God is good.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
He's arrived.
My son was born today. We have waited for him for a long time. I had all but given up hopes of having a child, let alone a son.
I have a son.
He came into this world by C-Section. He weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz and 21.5 inches. Not a small child. I joked with his mommy that he's jumped right into the 3-6 month clothing completely bypassing "Newborn."
Right now, he's sleeping beside me in his mobile bassinett at the hospital. He's very handsome. His mom keeps calling him beautiful and I keep telling her that "beautiful" is for girls and "handsome" is for boys. She ignores me (and his grandma ignores me, too, for that matter).
If you follow this link, you'll see a few pictures of him. http://community.webshots.com/album/567101646DnJAED?vhost=community
That's it for now.
Cheers,
Bill
I have a son.
He came into this world by C-Section. He weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz and 21.5 inches. Not a small child. I joked with his mommy that he's jumped right into the 3-6 month clothing completely bypassing "Newborn."
Right now, he's sleeping beside me in his mobile bassinett at the hospital. He's very handsome. His mom keeps calling him beautiful and I keep telling her that "beautiful" is for girls and "handsome" is for boys. She ignores me (and his grandma ignores me, too, for that matter).
If you follow this link, you'll see a few pictures of him. http://community.webshots.com/album/567101646DnJAED?vhost=community
That's it for now.
Cheers,
Bill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)