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2008-02-29 - 11.00am��previous entry��next entry
Breastmilk-arooney!
So Nathan is 7 weeks old tomorrow! The Health Visitor JUST left, and I put Nathan down for a nap (the boys are out for their usual morning "energy burn-off" (not that it works!) at the park with Neil). I HAD to come straight here to say:
The boy weighs 10lbs 4oz!!! He's just over the 91st percentile!!!! I cannot even begin to convey to you the amount of breastmilk this baby boy is consuming. I am getting sooooo little sleep, and my night often doesn't START till 4am-ish. He has a fussy patch for an hour or so before that, and he just nurses every couple of hours anyway. He brings up a lot of milk now, so he might be getting more than he needs, but he's returning what he doesn't want! Also, the flow of my milk is super fast and he chokes a lot, hence the extreme burping and milk-on-my-T-shirt-ness.
I am really trying to drink plenty of fluids! I am still breastfeeding two other little ones as well as this milky man! But I think I'm doing okay. I feel fine, and I'm peeing plenty, etc. I try to make sure my lunch is soup or something, so it's extra fluid, and I have been putting individual portion bottles of smoothies and yoghurt drinks on my shopping list. I stock the fridge up with them, and drink at least one of those a day, as well as trying to keep up with my water. I am definitely not drinking as much water as I need, but I'll keep trying!
I'm sooooooo proud to have grown my tiny boy from 5lbs 13oz to 10lbs 4oz in less than 7 weeks! :) Of course, I know (from experience with Matthew!) that if he didn't gain like crazy it wouldn't mean my milk was not up to scratch. All my kids have nursed well. They all started at the 50th percentile at birth (average weight for their age/gestation, that is), and Arthur and Nathan both shot up to the 90th percentile (though Nathan MUCH faster than Arthur did!), and Matthew gradually sank down to the 9th percentile! I had all sorts of trouble from Health Visitors and such with Matthew, because his percentiles were dropping, blah blah blah. I ignored them. I knew he was getting plenty of milk and that my milk was fine and dandy. And he's just a different body shape/type. He eats like a horse now he's eating food, and still is on the lean side. I really must get him weighed again actually.
Anyway! But it does make a girl smile (okay, BEAM!) to see her breastfed baby zoom up the weight chart like that! :) I feel so proud! I also like that I was right (hehe!) about the fact that he's the same body type as Arthur - I knew he was from when I saw his ultrasound at 21 weeks. I knew he'd gain like Arthur did, and not like Matthew. And he has! I love "knowing" my children! It gives me a "Mummy" confidence boost! :)
I also had my postnatal questionnaire thingy with the HV, the postnatal depression assessment thingy. I had a score of 5 this time (the lower the better), which is very low. With Arthur I scored 7 and with Matthew I scored 8. Both were low scores, but I wasn't managing as well after the 6-week mark. It frustrates me a little that they do that check before my struggles really kick in! I'm FINE this time though, and I'm sure it's due to Neil being home to help. I'm getting increasingly nervous of him going back to work (if he ever finds a job!). But the HV said I should call her if I ever start to find things difficult, especially once Neil is back at work.
I had my postnatal check with the doctor this week! It went fine. She felt my tummy and pronounced my uterus to be back where it should be (isn't it amazing how that happens so fast?!). My blood pressure was a little HIGH (?!) but I had Nathan up on my other shoulder crying, and I was trying to jiggle/shh him while she took my blood pressure on the other arm! I did not feel relaxed! So she re-took it and it was 110/80, which was more like me. I'm usually 100/60 or something, so it was still a little higher than usual for me, but still perfectly normal.
The doctor didn't examine me. She asked me about my tear/stitches, and honestly I have completely forgotten about that part. I have zero pain, and the area feels completely healed. I can't even tell where the stitches were really, but maybe that's because I've had the same area stitched 3 times now?! I am still spotting a little bit. She said that should clear up in the next couple of weeks, and I should let her know if it doesn't. She asked if I had had a period yet, which I haven't (obviously!), but I do kind of expect to see some breakthrough bleeding soon. It's very common to have what LOOKS like a light period around 6 weeks after the birth if you are breastfeeding. I don't know why! But it's very common. I had it the last two times I think. No sign yet though.
She DIDN'T talk to me about contraception! I was bracing myself for that, but nope! Maybe it's because when she asked if I'd had intercourse yet, I laughed and said that we don't normally get to that till about 6 months postpartum, hehe! I have a lot of thoughts about contraception these days. We haven't really used it between pregnancies before now, I have used charting instead. Or, let's face it, wanted to make another baby once my periods returned, rather than prevent one! ;) But this time I'm wondering. I don't want to use contraception any more. Really, I think I would like to let God decide how many children we have and when they are conceived. That would be so wonderful, and sooooo freeing. Neil and I are discussing this issue at the moment (or trying to find time to in the evenings!). I'm excited because it could mean a BUNCH more babies for me!! But scared, because, well, it could mean a BUNCH more babies for me! And howwwww will I ever cope with raising them?! I know that God does not give us more than we can handle. I "know" that we are having a boy called Benjamin next time around :) I also am already praying that God might bless me with a daughter for baby #5! But I will still be happy with all boys if that's what he chooses for us. I do feel that more babies are in the works, but it's the control issue that I am pondering right now. Do we take control, or do we let God? Anyway, I will keep you posted on that!
I can't believe I almost forgot to say!!! Nathan smiled at me for the first time yesterday morning!!!! Wheee! He was 6 weeks and 5 days old, which is pretty good I think, considering he was 5 weeks early (well, just over 4 really, but they keep telling me it's counted as five). It had been a particularly trying night, and that first little open-mouthed beam just made evvvverything so worthwhile! His eyes lit up with it and everything. *sigh* It was gorgeous. He hasn't done it since though! Not for lack of me making a complete sausage of myself 12-careful-inches from his face a million times a day, haha! I can't wait to see him smile again! :)
Also, poor Nathan has thrush. That rash got worse and worse and worrrse, and finally I took him to the doctor. The raw open patches joined up and it looked so painful. She said he has thrush (THANKFULLY only on his bottom, not orally too) and gave us Daktarin to put on his bottom. I have to slather him in barrier cream too, to help it heal and prevent his wee and poo hurting him so badly. Poor baby! I hope he heals up soon. He is pooing like crazy though - every hour around the clock sometimes. It's yellow and seedy and doesn't appear to bother him, so the doctor things his bowel is just quite immature and will improve with time, not so much a potential foody problem. I hope he poos less frequently soon! It's tiresome to change him soooo frequently and also to be pooed on whilst changing the previous poo quite a lot! And it must make his bottom less able to heal up too.
Ohhh, laptop battery is nearly gone! Boo! I could plug it in, but the boys may be back from their walk any time and Nathan could also wake at any moment, so I might as well finish up. I may even get a SHOWER (gasp!) if I do that! ;)
Photos, though, before I go!
Dressed in the Peter Rabbit padded suit thingy, ready to go to church! He was 4 weeks old here:
Daddy giving Mummy a nipple-break, haha! This is the next best thing to the breast when Nathan still wants to suck like crazy but is groaningly full of milk. He usually sucks on Daddy's little finger a couple of times at least each day, and goes to sleep that way in the evening sometimes. He often prefers it to a dummy, but he does also use dummies occasionally:
Lil chubbly Boo in the bouncy chair - it's actually VERY rare for him to sleep in there. Matthew used to sleep hours at a time in that chair! Nathan is sooooo like Arthur re. his sleep. Uncannily so. Which isn't good! But I have plans, and am determined this time! Not planning to Cry-It-Out though, just going to try to follow the Baby Whisperer stuff to a T this time. Anyway, here he is at nearly 5 weeks old, having a rare snooze in the bouncy chair (and with his brothers (one of them who is especially adoring of him!), who eventually woke him with their kisses. I thought that might be a nice way to be woken up, but apparently not! ;)
And TRYING to rest on another occasion - Arthur is obsessed with putting the vibrating feature on and off (and on and off, etc!), while Matthew can't resist bouncing the chair for him, or playing "piggies" with his fingers!
And lastly, a few photos of my sweet tiny boy on me, late one morning when it was relatively peaceful!
It ended up like this, of course! :)
I love him soooooooooooooooooo much!!!
*sigh*
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