We went to the oral surgeon today to have him look at Mia's toungue, or more specifically the flap of muscle that connects the tounge to the bottom of the mouth. He rated it a a 6.5 out of 10 on the "problematic" scale (0 being no problem, 10 being big problems). So, on his recommendation we had him "snip" that little muscle. The actual procedure took about 5 minutes and Mia seemed no more bothered by it than she is by anything else that isn't either food or her mom.
She is immediately back to feeding, but a little confused by the improved mobility of her toungue, so she has a little adjusting to do there. The riskiest part of the whole experience was just getting from the car to the dr's front door due to the ice storm here in Maryland.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Adjusting
It's interesting how your body can adjust. We don't sleep through the night anymore, but all it takes is a short nap to feel amazingly refreshed. I can only marginally tell the difference between how I used to feel after a 9 hour night of sleep and how I feel now after a night of three 90 minute naps. Ashlei has been amazing, getting by on even less than that, and stretching those naps to even more waking hours than I.
Makes me wonder how much time I've wasted sleeping the hours away during my first 31 years... I'm sure my mom is reading this thinking, "that's what I was trying to tell you all those years when you slept until noon".
Makes me wonder how much time I've wasted sleeping the hours away during my first 31 years... I'm sure my mom is reading this thinking, "that's what I was trying to tell you all those years when you slept until noon".
Monday, February 18, 2008
Adventures in breastfeeding
The weekend came and went so fast. Mia had an interesting weekend of eating and sleeping. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening she just couldn't get enough to eat. Breastfeeding, finger feeding pumped milk, finger feeding formula, syringe feeding formula... she was a bottomless pit, and Ashlei was really sore. Just as quickly as a bout of apparent starvation would start, it would suddenly stop and she would sleep for 5 hours straight. It was nice when one of those stretches started late at night and both Ashlei and I got a good run of sleep in.
The lactation consultant came by again today to evaluate Mia. She said everything is progressing well, but we need to supplement a little so that she gets enough to eat, and she also recommended we call an oral surgeon to have the frenulum on her tounge snipped. The frenulum on your tounge is a little fold of tissue that attaches your tounge to the bottom of your mouth. Mia's is holding her tounge down a little too much and she can't stick her tounge out or touch the roof of her mouth. Getting it snipped should help her feed better, possibly without falling asleep so much, which should help her get enough to eat while breastfeeding and avoid the supplements. In the long run, without the snipping there is the potential for speech issues depending on how things develop, and having it snipped has the side benefit of avoiding those issues (at least as it would relate to that little flap of tissue).
We're told that the procedure is a minor 15 minute in and out type thing, but we still need to call the actual oral surgeon to get the details.
Oh, and she also sold us some special bottle for $35 to help feed Mia the supplements (we think she was gulping too much with the newborn size nipple on the normal bottle). It's like going to a mechanic and the mechanic tells you that you need a new catavoltaic belt plug or your 3-phase ejector seat will fire unexpectedly... how am I supposed to know any better? $35 is crazy for a bottle, but when the expert says you should use it, you use it.
$35 would be pretty good for a 3-phase ejector seat controlled by a catavoltaic belt plug
The lactation consultant came by again today to evaluate Mia. She said everything is progressing well, but we need to supplement a little so that she gets enough to eat, and she also recommended we call an oral surgeon to have the frenulum on her tounge snipped. The frenulum on your tounge is a little fold of tissue that attaches your tounge to the bottom of your mouth. Mia's is holding her tounge down a little too much and she can't stick her tounge out or touch the roof of her mouth. Getting it snipped should help her feed better, possibly without falling asleep so much, which should help her get enough to eat while breastfeeding and avoid the supplements. In the long run, without the snipping there is the potential for speech issues depending on how things develop, and having it snipped has the side benefit of avoiding those issues (at least as it would relate to that little flap of tissue).
We're told that the procedure is a minor 15 minute in and out type thing, but we still need to call the actual oral surgeon to get the details.
Oh, and she also sold us some special bottle for $35 to help feed Mia the supplements (we think she was gulping too much with the newborn size nipple on the normal bottle). It's like going to a mechanic and the mechanic tells you that you need a new catavoltaic belt plug or your 3-phase ejector seat will fire unexpectedly... how am I supposed to know any better? $35 is crazy for a bottle, but when the expert says you should use it, you use it.
$35 would be pretty good for a 3-phase ejector seat controlled by a catavoltaic belt plug
Friday, February 15, 2008
4 am
Mia was born at 4:22 am. If you have about 10 minutes, there is an entertaining talk about 4 am at the TED website
As an aside, the TED website has videos of some awesome speeches given at the annual TED conference. I've never been to the conference itself... possibly because it's $6,000 for a ticket and they sell out a year in advance, but I eat up the videos.
As an aside, the TED website has videos of some awesome speeches given at the annual TED conference. I've never been to the conference itself... possibly because it's $6,000 for a ticket and they sell out a year in advance, but I eat up the videos.
A confusing problem...
I may have mentioned in some previous posts that the only real problem we are having with Mia is getting her to feed... she falls asleep within seconds of latching on. Well, we had a lactation consultant come by today to take a look at that and help with a few other things, and she was equally as vexed. She is going to come back Monday to check on a few things and see where to go from here. It doesn't appear to be any particular health concern, as her weight gain shows that she is getting plenty of nutrition now. It is however, a sanity concern for mom and dad.
With some frustrations during feeding being biggest problem we encounter in our first two weeks, I'll count us among the lucky.
With some frustrations during feeding being biggest problem we encounter in our first two weeks, I'll count us among the lucky.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentines Day
Mia managed to calm our nerves today by making a remarkable recovery on her weight gain. At today's appointment she weighed 7 lbs even, up from 6 lbs 11 oz on Tuesday and 6 pounds 10 oz on Saturday.
That was a nice Valentine gift for Ashlei and I.
That was a nice Valentine gift for Ashlei and I.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Daddy couldn't stay away
Last night was a long night for us. The dr. managed to put us on edge about Mia's weight, so we meticuously woke up exactly every 3 hours to feed her (most of the time having to wake her up), and her feed for the right amount of time. It's ironic that we managed to get her sleeping longer at night, only to have to forcibly wake her up to feed.
We did everything we could to keep her awake while feeding, as her biggest problem at the moment is that she goes to sleep in about 20 seconds when she starts feeding, or at least gets very very comfortable (and stops feeding). So we used a cold wet washcloth to keep her awake, and did the syringe supplementing thing. It worked pretty well, but made twenty minutes worth of feeding take forty-five minutes.
I am not entirely convinced yet that the formula is necessary as long as we make sure she feeds long enough by keeping her awake. But hey, what's the point of a dr. if you don't follow their orders. Hopefully the rigid schedule and formula supplements will register as improved weight gain at Friday's appointment.
Also, I went back to work for a half day today, heading in around lunch time. I anticipated a few hours away feeling like a nice break, but I actually spent most of the time wanting to go back home to be with Ashlei and Mia... so I left early. We'll try again tomorrow.
We did everything we could to keep her awake while feeding, as her biggest problem at the moment is that she goes to sleep in about 20 seconds when she starts feeding, or at least gets very very comfortable (and stops feeding). So we used a cold wet washcloth to keep her awake, and did the syringe supplementing thing. It worked pretty well, but made twenty minutes worth of feeding take forty-five minutes.
I am not entirely convinced yet that the formula is necessary as long as we make sure she feeds long enough by keeping her awake. But hey, what's the point of a dr. if you don't follow their orders. Hopefully the rigid schedule and formula supplements will register as improved weight gain at Friday's appointment.
Also, I went back to work for a half day today, heading in around lunch time. I anticipated a few hours away feeling like a nice break, but I actually spent most of the time wanting to go back home to be with Ashlei and Mia... so I left early. We'll try again tomorrow.
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