but still such a small little bird in daddy's arms!
she is doing good on her sprints. her blood work is still coming back a-ok. not much new going on. she's up to 26ml over an hour every 3 hours. her cpap pressure is still at 6 from when the nurse changed it back a few days ago. her weight is now 2lbs 15oz. we expect her to cross the 3lb threshold tomorrow. it seems like such a stupid thing. but 3lbs seems so big!(i'm sure you term mommies that are reading this are falling out of your chair at that statement.)
i got to hold her for a little over an hour while she was on nasal cannula. she didn't do as well tonight, but she was pooping the whole time. that girl sure does poop a lot! she only got down to the 40s.(this morning she got lower than that.) i tried rocking her more. she LOVES it. and standing and swaying. thadd was a little shocked... but i think it's just a universal baby thing. and when she's not hooked to a wall, or any electronic devices, i plan on rocking her quite a bit in the comfort of our home.
some questions:
i have read that if their poop turns green it means that they aren't getting enough hind milk. is this true? is it ok? right now she's eating what i pumped over a month ago... and she's only had 1 green diaper at this point. i assume that they would tell me if it was a problem... but you know what happens when you assume!
can i put my medela parts/bottles in the dishwasher? has anyone had adverse results? and how do i get the water out of the tubing when i sanitize it? (by boil, or microwave bag) i've tried hanging it over the sink, and spinning it, luckily i have room.it terrifies the pets and really, where is the water being flicked to?
does anyone else's let down feel like pins and needles, or a million pinches? it is extremely painful for me. every time i get it it takes my breath away. it's been that way since day 1. and i don't see any of my breast feeding friends wincing in pain frequently while just standing there, minding their own business... i was just wondering if this happens to anyone else?
any ideas on something nice to do for the labor and delivery ward? when we lost max last year they took such great care of me. i wrote several individual notes, as well as one for everyone... and also brought 2 cookie bouquets. (one for days, one for nights.) this time they did an amazing job too. i wanted to think of something more creative if i could. (i am planning a week by week flip book to be delivered when wren gets out.)
6 comments:
Since I didn't BF for very long, and what I did do of it didn't go well, I can't help too much--but yes you can put it in the dishwasher as far as the bottles/nozzles--it took the little yellow things off and just washed those by hand in warm soapy water. the tubing I would let the pump run for awhile with out anything attached to the one end to get the condensation out.
My letdown did hurt a bit--I felt like I was being pricked all over. I would also cramp up during and for a little bit after. It hurt worse the times that I had the mastitis, so if it's really hurting you might want to have that checked--mastitis would knock you flat if you got it and you've got your plate full as it is.
3 lbs is great--you can really tell she's getting big!
Did Betty give you the clothes and the womb sounds bear?
Hayden's poop turned watery and green (like chewed green crayons) from week two through week eight. I was really concerned about it and tried extra hard to make sure he got the hind milk. It didn't help. I am confident he was getting plenty of hind milk. I would pump and dump the first part (I was making too much in the beginning) and then nurse him on just one boob per feeding to make sure he got it all. Didn't help at all. I thought he might have a food allergy to something I was ingesting. His doctor didn't think so, because there was no blood in his stool. I quit eating anything that had milk in it for 2 weeks. Didn't help. It finally went back to normal at 8 weeks. I never did figure out what caused it. I don't think the hind milk thing is worth worrying about. Just relax. Stress will make your supply go down.
My let down did feel like a titty twister in the beginning. It went away when we got on a supply and demand balance.
the whole breastfeeding thing was very uncomfortable for me the only thing that helped was hot showers or ice packs.... and actually let down was a wonderful relief for me i guess everyone is diffrent but if you can continue to do it, do it for as long as you can formula is expensive!
My let-downs were always painful for the first several months. It stops after awhile, and it was worse with Ky than it has been with Maezie. M is 14 months now and I'm still nursing her all day. Occasionally I still get that tingly feeling, but not very often, and it's just tingly now, not painful. But yes, let-down can be insanely painful. I know I would wince quite a bit when my milk would let-down in the first few months ... Sometimes we'd be walking around in a store and Ky or Maezie would cry a little bit, or do some really cute cooing noise, or something, and it would set my milk off for no apparent reason. I'd get let-down and be both embarrassed and wince in pain. So, I feel ya. The good news is, it gets better over time.
I bet that once Wren starts nursing you'll have an easier go of it. Bf'ing puts lots of physical touch, stimulation, and irritation on the breast so it will get used to it. Of course that's just my opinion, but I have decreased sensation in both breasts (all over the whole breast, not just at the nipple!) from nursing so much. Seriously, there are some areas of my skin about three inches away from the center that are nearly numb, or have practically no sensation whatsoever. I'm sure that helps with the let-down sensation fading away.
I constantly worry about the color of my kids' poop too. *sigh* It's just something that we moms do, I guess. You don't really need to worry too much about green poo until it gets "frothy" and then you can worry that your hindmilk isn't getting to her. And I've also noticed that sometimes if I eat or drink something colored (especially wheatgrass juice for some reason) that it would tinge my milk funny colors. I handed my daycare lady a whole bottle of neon green milk one day and she about dropped it from shock at the color. I had consumed several shots of wheatgrass juice and taken some chlorophyll tablets or something. It turned Ky's diapers a bit green too. Similac soy formula also made Ky poop green, so stay away from that crap if you ever have to use formula.
And ummm ...I had always heard that even in the freezer, after two weeks, the breastmilk loses a lot of its antioxidant properties and enzymes and such. Maybe you could try feeding her fresher milk? I know you have several gallons by now!! :) Will they let you nurse even a little bit, just to let her "get the feel" of having a nipple in her mouth? Maybe pump her some fresh milk and dropper some of it in her mouth while it's still warm, see what she thinks. :)
I wouldn't worry too much about the green poop. It can very a bit
That being said, I'd try to get her the freshest breastmilk you can Your body makes what she needs. It's actually pretty amazing. Somehow your body knows she needs more calcium or whatever. Also, fresh breastmilk has antibodies in it and helps her immune system. Freezing it breaks that down almost completely.
Yes, they are dishwasher safe. The tubing might turn yellow, but it's still safe to use. I just left the water in it. Didn't hurt much. It doesn't mix with the breastmilk.
Even 13 1/2 months later, I still don't feel let down at all.
We did food for the NICU a few times. The biggest hit was pretty simple.
I went to Target and bought a big basket. (BIG.)
Then to Sam's.. bought a 10lb bag of hershey's miniatures, several packages of bakery cookies and a tray of the bakery muffins. Then I layered them.
I wrote a nice note "from Robbie" thanking them for taking such good care of him, added a funny tidbit about not wanting to hear anything about making them fat because as far as [he] was concerned, a softer nurse was a better nurse, wrapped it all in cellophane and dropped it at the nurses station. BIG hit. No one can resist chocolate.
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