the first two weeks

Still trying to update the blog. The past two weeks have been very busy, and did not go quite as I had imagined it would. We have loved every second with our little guy, but things have not exactly gone smoothly. This post may be too much information, warning: it contains breastfeeding info...but this has been what our life is about these past 2 weeks : )
   While in the hospital, Owen did not quite catch on to this breastfeeding thing. By the time we got him in our arms Monday night he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. The next day when the lactation consultant came by she was not too concerned saying that he was only a few hours old and may not just be ready. By Wednesday, he still was not latching on. The lactation consultant came by again and was determined to get him to eat. Might I mention she was a little pushy. While using the nipple shields, we had to squirt formula from a syringe in his mouth to try and get him to suck. She also brought in a pump for me to pump for stimulation to be sure my milk would come in since we were a little behind at this point. This was all a little overwhelming, but we were willing to try whatever it took to make things work.

   We left the hospital Wednesday night and came home. Owen was not having many wet diapers. We fed him with all of the nursing recommendations and hoped he was getting what he needed. We had our 5 day appointment with the pediatrician Friday. When he weighed him, Owen weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces, almost a pound difference from his birth weight of 7 lb 9 oz....this was a little scary. The doctor was concerned too and set up a plan for supplementing to get his weight back up and get him hydrated. We were to feed him every 2 hours. While breastfeeding, we were to supplement a syringe to a syringe and a half of formula (since I was not pumping at this point, we used formula).  We then were to come back in the morning for another weight check.   This was another low point. I don't know what mother would not be upset to hear she isn't getting her baby enough to eat. It broke my heart. I was determined to do whatever it took to get him the nutrients he needed.
    We came home (luckily I had my mom with me bc David could not go to the appointment with school), I cried, tried to use the hand pump to pump some milk. The pump actually caused more damage to me and was very painful. David came home and we filled him in on everything. That night we fed Owen every 2 hours. Poor thing never got a chance to be hungry. We just fed him and fed him. When we went back to the doctor the next morning, Owen had gained 4 ounces! We were so excited, and the doctor seemed to be amazed he gained that much overnight. He told us we could cut back to supplementing every other feeding. We also were able to get an electric pump from David's sister which saved the day. I could pump the milk we needed to supplement so he was getting all breast milk which made me feel better and also was not painful at all.
    While things were getting better...many more diapers, it was still such a process to feed him. I would have to have on the nipple shield, David squirting the syringe with milk, and try to get him to suck....and when feeding was over I pumped. It just wasn't going smoothly and wondered why this was so difficult. Monday morning I called another lactation consultant who could come to the house to see what we were doing right or wrong and hopefully get some encouragement. Glenni came and was such a blessing. She had a sweet encouraging spirit about her and told us we COULD do this and were going to be fine. We weighed him before I fed him and he was getting plenty of milk, which was encouraging. He had also gained weight since our doctor visit Saturday which was good. She did notice that Owen had an irregular suck pattern which was why he was having such a hard time latching on and nursing. She showed us some "physical therapy" sucking exercises we could do with his tongue that could help. Most of all she made me feel like we would be fine. She prayed for Owen and our family before she left. She really was a blessing.
     I was pretty tired after her staying for 2 hours that afternoon and that night I just didn't feel too good. I was achy and started getting the chills. David thought I was just tired, but I just had a feeling something was not right. I was so cold, my breasts were sore, there was a reddened area on one... I basically felt like I had the flu. I had Mastitis. I had every symptom of it. It just wipes you out and you feel like you have the flu. I called first thing the next morning and got antibiotics called in, but I got worse before I got better. My fever got up to 102 degrees. All I could do was sleep and wake up to feed Owen. Breastfeeding is actually one of the best things for getting rid of the infection. It was rough, but by Friday I was feeling better. The good thing that happened during all of this was Owen somehow figured out this breastfeeding thing about Tuesday. He latched on by himself and would eat with no accomodations! God was good to let that click in to place at that time.  On Tuesday we went back to the pediatrician for another weight check, and he weighed 7 lb 5 oz and was back on track to gaining his birth weight back, so we did not have to supplement as long as he was nursing well.

   So we are all feeling much better and things are going much smoother. All of this to say, breastfeeding was not easy for us....but we did not give up and made it through it. Yes, he does take his time eating (about an hour), but I am just happy my baby is nursing. He is precious and we are just soaking up some Owen love!