Onzlo was born July 20th, 2011 at 8:44am via repeat c-section. He weighed in at a health 8lbs. 11oz. despite being 3 weeks early. He had no complications, and is a wonderful, beautiful, healthy little boy. We spent to nights in the hospital and came home on Thursday. When we left the hospital, his jaundice levels where high, but not high enough for any intervention. John and I had discussed our feeding options a long time ago, and both agreed that Exclusively Breastfeeding was the healthier way to go, and that is what we would be doing. I was very frustrated when the oncall pediatrician told me that Onzlo had lost 7% of his birth weight(normal is 5-10%) and that I should consider supplementing after my breastfeeding with formula.....Excuse me? If everything is within normal range, why on earth would I do something like that?!
At any rate our first day and night home was ROUGH! He had a circumsion right before we left the hospital, so he was sore and cranky, and we've had a difficult time getting the breastfeeding thing down. So he didn't eat much that first 24hrs. So on Saturday, we woke him up every hour to feed, since my milk was coming in, and he needed the nutrition. It took awhile, but we finally hit a rythm where getting him to latch on wasn't as difficult, and he was nursing better. Saturday night I got him up every 3 hours to nurse, and Sunday he was nursing great within that 3 hour range that they suggest. He's been more alert, and looking around for longer periods of time before going to sleep. All and all we are on the right track..
So today was his newborn checkup. They did the test for his Jaundice level, and did his weight, which is at 7lbs. 4 oz. which is a few ounces over the 10% recommended weight loss maximum. I get that, but we have 2 weeks for that weight to come back up to birth weight. I didn't get the Jaundice level until we got home today, but again before we left, the pediatrician (a different one) also suggested I start considering formula. By this time I am irritated and concerned. I mean, I want my baby to be health, and I want to what is best for him. This should be breastfeeding, but what if I am really messing up?
My next errand was to stop by the WIC office to get a pump, talk to the lactation specialist, and schedule an appointment with my consultant. So I'm talking to the specialist, who suggests that I wait at least 3 weeks before getting the pump, and explains to me, that many moms who get the pump, end up using the bottle before they should, because.. uhhhmmm, they get worried that their supply isn't enough for baby. Ok. Then we discuss what the pediatrician visit. The specialist then informs me of the stuff that the Dr. did not... That they don't expect baby to be back at birth weight until their 2 week checkup, that babies are born with a lot of excess fluids, and that the level of jaundice we left the hospital with isn't bad at all, and that he looks really good. But mostly, her advice was that he is my baby, and I am doing what is best for him, and it's okay to stand up for the fact that we will not be formula feeding. She also said that everything I've told her points to the fact that he is getting better. Oh, and what made me feel much better once they did call me with his test results.. that jaundice usually peaks at day 5 ( Today) and will start to go down from there! WOW amazing how the DOCTOR couldn't mention any of these things, but instead used the old, you could always use formula, to try and overcome my worries!
We won't be using THAT pediatrician as our main one either! The office did call me and let me know that his jaundice level was a 20 and that they wanted him on a biliblanket for a couple of days, so John and Tavner went to town to pick that up... All and all it's been a rough week, but we are getting through, and despite some hiccups, lil Onzlo is doing really well, and is enjoying all the love and attention he is getting from Mom, Dad, Brother, all his "aunties and uncles" and Grandparents.
Love,
The Grimsruds
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