Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Very quick update (a bit gory)

Hi everybody! Just a quick update to let you know Sadie is doing wonderfully. I, however, am having issues. I've got hemmroids the size of snowglobes which are healing extremely slowly. It makes it difficult to sit, stand, lay or walk. I'm aking tablets and cream to get rid of them but it's going to be a while.

Don't know if I mentioned it but I had to have an episiotomy to insert the vacuum to get Sadie out safely. Well it's healing nicely although I somehow managed to tear my va-jay-jay in another place, probably from trying to sit on my snowglobe size hemmroids in an akward position. So now every time I pee I have to take a shower to make sure I stay clean and the new wound doesn't get infected.

Breastfeeding is not going well... at all. As of now she hasn't latched on in the past 24 hours. I have been pumping religiously and we've been feeding her via a contraption that is a finger syringe. So I insert my middle finger into her mouth with a thin syringe on top of it and feed her this way. After feeding I pump for 15 minutes at each breast. It takes forever and the older she gets the more she requires to eat. I am doing this in order to avoid giving a bottle and causing nipple confusion but it's getting extremely difficult. I am working with the nurse and my midwife to try and sort it out but nobody seems to know why she won't latch properly. I am reading and trying everything I know how to and they seem to think she's going to "get it" eventually but in the mean time I am extremely stressed. We try to latch several times throughout each feeding but Sadie also gets irritated very easily. Like if the latch does't working th first 2 or 3 times she starts screaming and has to be calmed down before you can do anything else. She's very short tempered. The good news, she didn't lose the 10% of her weight like most babies do, she only lost 5% and as of today she has gained weight so we're doing something right. I know I'm not starving her but the longer she goes without latching on the more worrisome I become. I am in touch with a woman at La Leche League she is offering me support over the phone but I think I may have to have her come over.

SO there you have the low down. It's time to prepare for another feeding. Sadie is the most wonderful thing Marco and I could have ever created and she is worth every single second of all of the above and then some. I'd take hemmroids the side of snowglobes over not having her any day of the week.

9 comments:

Teale said...

Oh sweetie, I hope the not-so-good stuff improves soon!!

Anonymous said...

I had very similar issues with Jack. The latching thing wasn't happening properly so I dragged my sweaty, sleep-deprived butt down to the breast feeding clinic every day for several weeks. I was very stressed out by the whole thing. In the end, we figured it out. I breastfed for nine months. But if you asked me in those early days if it was going to work out, I would have said NO! If you want to email me, please feel free. Best of luck!

Kara said...

Sarah-
Keep at it with the breastfeeding. Brecken was early, as you know, and he didn't get the hang of latching on for a MONTH. I pumped and bottle fed for that whole month. (That's what we did in the NICU too, much to the dismay of the lactation people. But if we would've done breastfeeding, we would've been in there twice as long!!) I tried breastfeeding every day once we got home and he just didn't get it. The closest lactation consultant is like 2 hours away, too, so that was not an option. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he latched on and we never looked back. It took until he was a month old though. So keep at it- Sadie will get it eventually!!!

Kara (JKLS on the TTC board!!)

Amy said...

Sorry about the rhoids...they are not fun! The BF'ing...definitely keep trying. It will well be worth it if it works out, and if it doesn't it's not the end of the world! Like you said...you still have that beautiful little girl you've been waiting so long for!

Ellen said...

Hey, Sarah ~ Sounds like you are going through some tough stuff in this stage! My SIL went through similar and was quite the rough time for her, but just remember, "this too shall pass"! We're sending positive energy and thoughts across the world to you, Sadie and Marco!!

Silicon Cookware said...

Sorry about the rough start, but she sounds awesome and you seem happy despite the stress/sleep deprivation that comes with the early days of parenthood.

Anna had a hard time latching at first, too, and the lactation consultant finally put a (gloved) finger in her mouth to figure out the issue--she wasn't sticking her tongue out enough. I gave her some pumped milk from a bottle with a nuk nipple (the weird shaped ones), because they seemed to force her tongue out, and she got it pretty quickly after that. It also just took lots of practice for me to know how to get my giant boob in her tiny mouth. I figured it out after another LC just finally physically demonstrated using my boob--at that point, I didn't care who touched what! I do have to say, though, that 75% of what they said didn't work for me--it took lots of experimenting and going with my instincts. In the end it was worth it--she nursed for a year. But man, it was SO FRUSTRATING at first!

Tina said...

Sorry the BF isn't going so well but I'm sure she'll get it soon. Karly wouldn't latch at first then one day she did but she just isn't interested. I hope the other heals quickly. I'm glad she is gaining weight!

rabbit said...

Sarah....

We also did the finger feeding thing... my advice is to make sure you offer the breast to Sadie as often as possible. Another great piece of advice my LC offered was to spend lots of time skin to skin, so she starts to feel safe and comfortable against your chest. Good luck!
Robin

Anonymous said...

Hi there! You're doing a great job - both of you. I went through just the same things...but you seem wayyyy better informed than I was in the beginning - after two months of daily struggling my Munchkin is now finally back to nursing properly. Just hang in there! If you have any questions, do feel free to drop me a line.