Our Breastfeeding Journey

I can't believe I haven't posted in a week! The past week has been a whirlwind. My sisters came in town for the weekend, then we had a series of friends visit, then my mother was here Monday and Tuesday, and I have been on my own for the past two days. Living on 4 hours of sleep has been difficult, but my husband is back at work and can't function without sufficient sleep.

Nathan is doing well. He's up to 6lbs 6 oz and the outfit that we brought him home in is starting to get too small. I can't wait until we can move up to newborn clothes because the 3 premie outfits we have for him are getting old. I refuse to buy any more clothes for him because for the majority of the day he and I are bare-chested getting skin on skin contact. The biggest benefit of having him be big enough to fit into newborn clothes is that I will actually have something to take him outside in that FITS! I went to four different stores (Babies R' Us, Gymboree, Carter's, and Old Navy) trying to find some sort of outerwear for Nathan with no luck. I did find a newborn bear suit...which is freaking adorable.

I am doing better. I was pretty emotional last week and so so tired. I am *finally* exercising...I started to do the elliptical two days ago. I am very anxious to start lifting and practicing yoga again...and run, of course. I haven't had the time. As for running, I want to start walking before I get into jogging, but with the hubby working and the early dark evening (and my hatred of treadmills) I haven't been able to. Plus, the stitches are still healing. It has only been 5 days since I stopped taken pain meds. Also, I still haven't been brave enough to take Nathan out on a walk. We are waiting to buy a Bob stroller next month, so I would have to put him in our Maya sling or Baby Bjorn to take him out. I am too afraid of him getting cold with this freezing weather or waking up hungry to go out. I might try again today after his next feeding. I know I just have to bite the bullet and do it...

Breastfeeding has been getting better and better. Here's what's been going on:
Day 1 & 2: Nathan wouldn't eat. I contacted the lactation consultants at the hospital and they said this was typical of small babies and not to worry about it. One lactation consultant gave me a nipple shield because she said it might be hard for him to latch on to my flat nipples. I tried the nipple guard and could get him to latch on, but knew that he wasn't swallowing. I relayed my concerns to the crappy lactation consultants and they said that he was fine.
Day 3: I booked a consultation with the "Breast Whisperer." She confirmed my concern that he wasn't swallowing and gave me a nipple guard that better fit my nipples. In addition, she put us on the following regimen for days 3-5, while I waited for my milk supply to come in.

• Per feeding: Get Nathan to latch on to nipple shield. Feed for 15 minutes through syringe into nipple shield to get Nathan to associate milk with my breasts and to stimulate my milk production. Then, hand Nathan off to someone else to get him to suck on their finger while siphoning milk into his mouth from a syringe. While this was happening, I was to pump for 20 minutes.

We fed Nathan a combination of formula and collustrum for the first few days while we waited for my milk to come in. Nathan was fed every 3 hours and we would wake him up if necessary. It was VERY difficult to get the little guy to stay awake.

Day 5: My milk finally came in. I would get 1.5 oz total from my two breasts. My lefty would give 1 oz, while my righty would give .5 oz.

Day 6-11: After another visit with the Breast Whisperer, she changed our feeding regimen to the following:

• Per feeding: Get Nathan to latch on to nipple shield. Feed for 15 minutes through syringe into nipple shield to get Nathan to associate milk with my breasts and to stimulate my milk production. Then, hand Nathan off to someone else and feed him a combination of my breast milk and formula until he was full. While this was happening, I was to pump for 20 minutes. Then, during the day, 1 hour after I pumped, I would pump again for 20 minutes to build my milk supply.

By Day 7 we were only feeding Nathan breast milk. This week was EXHAUSTING as I did all of the night feedings by myself. The entire regimen would take 1.5 hours, leaving me 1.5 hour of sleep until I had to start the whole process over again. But, by Day 9, I was producing 2.5-4 oz of milk per pumping. I pretty much stopped doing the double pumping on Day 10 because I had so much milk left over and was so tired. Also, on Day 10 and 11, I got Nathan to latch on and suck from my breast for 30 minutes! Yeah!

Day 12-19: The Breast Whisperer was very impressed with our progress in the past week. Nathan was clearly drinking milk through the nipple guard. During the consultation, she weighed him before and after drinking and he gained .8 oz at each breast! Her new recommendation for our regimen:

• Per feeding: Feed Nathan through the nipple guard for 30 minutes, switching between the two breasts and allowing more time at Lefty, the milk machine. Then, feed Nathan pumped milk through a bottle until he was full. And, pump for 20 minutes. She wants me to have at least 3 oz leftover at the end of the day. I am typically pumping 3oz per feeding and he is only eating 1-2 oz, so we have had plenty of leftover milk.

I really can't wait until I don't have to pump any more and can just whip out the boob when he is hungry! It is so time consuming and makes it difficult to go anywhere.

For those of you not breastfeeding yet or curious, here's some info on inverted or flat nipples. My nipples have definitely drawn out more since breastfeeding and pumping, but it is still too difficult for Nathan to get his mouth around them.

And, re: weight loss...I am trying to lose the 5-8 lbs that I gained while trying to get pregnant/doing IVF as I was at my pre-pregnancy weight last week, but have been too afraid to get on the scale to see how I have been progressing. Hmmm, I should say that "trying" is not even an appropriate term for my eating habits in the past week. I have been eating lots of my moms yummy, but not super healthy foods (chicken pot pie!)...and have been ADDICTED to chocolate chip cookies. I fear that I might have even gained back some of the weight that I had originally lost. I will try to wean myself off the cookies...but there is something about cold weather that just makes me crazy for yummy gooey cookies.