About Me

Name:
Sue

Location:
Southern New Jersey

I am a Mom to 2 amazing and fun daughters and wife to a great guy and a wonderful father!

My Complete Profile

Email Me


Kayla
Kayla, my oldest. She is 4 1/2 and is a sweet, loving and silly little girl. She took us 2 ½ years and 3 IVF’s to conceive. Kayla is allergic to dairy. We manage her allergy and work to balance her safety with giving her a normal childhood. Kayla loves to read books and play games - she amazes me every day.


Alysa
Alysa, my youngest. She is 3 years old and is a silly little spitfire. She’s our monkey and loves to climb on everything. She was a “natural” baby, but it was only b/c of my wonderful doctors that we were able to stop an impending miscarriage. Alysa suffers from Acid Reflux Disease and sleep apnea. She may be little, but she has a big personality. She adores her big sister and is so much fun to be around. She keeps me laughing every day.


Photobucket
Our Daily Reads
Photobucket
On My Nightstand
Photobucket Photobucket
Photos
Mothers Day 2009

Sunday, June 10, 2007
Mommy Talk #9

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket



This Week's Question is:
What was it like going home from the hospital for you? Did your baby have any medical issues?

Coming home from the hospital was actually very nice. With Kayla I was a bit out of it mostly because as a new Mom you're in unchartered territory. The main pain I had was from my stitches from my tear. But within 3 days I was in no pain at all. In her first week, Kayla was a dream baby. She slept all the time - her first night home she slept 5 hours b4 I eventually woke her up to eat. We were then told to wake her up every 3 hours to eat. My Mom stayed with us the first week which was a big help.

When I was pg with Kayla, I planned on b/f'ing. It was very important to me. She did great in the hospital - she latched on like a champ. Although, I had issues with her intake and the lactation support at my hospital was pretty pathetic. The major problems arose at home. She would latch on and then pull away b/c basically I was not producing. So her first week, although she was a dream, was filled with feeding anxieties (ironic that it foreshadowed all her problems to come). I even had a lactation consultant come to the house (private, so we paid her) b/c the one at the hospital wouldn't even return my call. At the end of an hour, even she had me give her a bottle. Basically, my milk took 8 days to actually come in, but by then, Kayla was on a bottle. I pumped for another 2 weeks or so, but it would take me 3 days to get a 3 ounce bottle (and I pumped 4 times a day). So unfortunately I had to give it up. It devastated me that I could not b/f and I agonized over the decision and my inability. But I also came to find out that it was a very common problem after suffering from hormonal infertility. But also looking back, part of her irritability may have been partly from her beginning reflux disease symptoms. And once I stopped pumping, I could more enjoy Kayla as I had more time to bond with her since I was spending less time attached to a pump. ;)

When Kayla was a week old is when her reflux disease started to show up. She would cry after every feeding. Within a week, she'd cry for 2 hours after every feeding. We obviously stopped waking her up to eat b/c when we finally got her to sleep, she needed it and she'd zonk out for 5+hours at night. She ended up in the ER at 2 1/2 weeks old b/c she refused to eat at all. That is when she was started on Zantac. Little did we know then, she was also showing signs of her dairy allergy.

I really didn't have any post-partum issues with Kayla. I cried a lot, but it was mostly at night when she was screaming endlessly. I'd sit and cry with her b/c nothing I did would comfort her. It was heartbreaking and extremely difficult to witness.

Alysa was "easier" in that she didn't show her signs of reflux disease until later. And although she really fought her feedings, once she was "done" eating, she was content. But we had the same frustration with feeding her. It was harder in some ways coming home with her b/c Kayla had a really hard time sharing Mommy. She was fine as long as she could sit with me and Alysa. In other ways it was easier, as we'd done it all before, so we were more confident and knew what to expect. I did have some post-partum depression with Alysa. But luckily it was short-lived and wasn't severe. With all I went through with Kayla I made the decision while pg not to try b/f'ing this time. It was a hard decision, but I remembered how hard it was on Kayla and didn't want to put either of them through that. It was the right decision, as my milk never even came in with Alysa. But even though the decision had been made early, it was still hard on me when she was born and I had a lot of doubts, even though I knew (and still know) I made the right decision considering the outcome would have been the same.

Alysa did not sleep quite as much as Kayla, but she wasn't a horrible sleeper. She was fussy from about 9pm to 2am. Actually, for the first 8 weeks of her life, she slept on me. It was the only way she would sleep which means I somewhat slept.

Overall, I can't complain - they were both good babies. Even through Kayla's screaming, the few moments of time that she would not scream, we could see the easy-going personality that she had and still has (for the most part). We loved having them home with us and cherish every moment we get with them. I can even say I never even resented midnight feedings - who could resent being woken up by someone so precious???


posted at 11:17 AM  
  3 comments



3 Comments:
At 4:00 PM, Blogger Jann said...

I too struggled with low supply - my milk came in at day 7 and it was never great. Ironically, after my 18 week stillbirth, my milk came in THE NEXT DAY, and it was HUGE. I had never felt engorgement until that point, and I didn't have a baby to breastfeed.

Thanks so much for sharing!

 
At 10:37 PM, Blogger BabyTalkers said...

aww, sounds like you have two very sweet little girls. I agree about the midnight feedings. They were actually a very special time for me. Just me and my little boy alone when the rest of the world (it seemed) was quiet and sleeping.

 
At 3:37 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I love reading your mommy posts!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home



Search


Photobucket
Make your custom magnet at SupportOurRibbons.com
Photobucket
Blogs I Visit
Allergy Moms Blog
Are We There Yet
Big Blueberry Eyes
Check My Tag
Food Allergy FAQ
Fruit In Season (my Sister's blog)
Go Dairy Free
I'm a Drama Mama
Irish Triplets
My Daughters' Site
No Whey Mama
Our Story
Parenting a Child with Food Allergies
Parenting Solved
Pink Explosion
Principled Perspectives (my Father's blog)
Tuesday's Child
Typette

Blogs I've Designed
Fruit In Season
Principled Perspectives

Digi Scrap Blogs
Digi Treats by Pamela
Lindsay Jane Designs
Peppermint Creative
Sworda Scrappin
Tracy's Scraps

Photobucket

Blogrolls
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Family Friendly Blogroll []

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Sat Phot Hunt Blogroll []

Recent Posts
Strawberry Adventures
Saturday Photo Hunt
Wordless Wednesday - Apply Lotion Daily
A New Week
Mommy Talk #8
Saturday Scraps #1
Saturday Photo Hunt
Crazy Week
Great Song
Mommy Talk #7

Archives
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009

I'm Proud Of
Photobucket Photobucket
Photobucket

Miscellaneous
Mom Blogs The WeatherPixie
Subscribe with Bloglines

Credits
Blog Design by:


Image from:
istockphoto

Powered by:


Meter: