Raindrops dot the screen with nothing in the forecast but it's still a beautiful night.
Feeding, nursing, whatever the term people go by, it's difficult. Knowledge I've gleaned from others is that it is different for each child and as I said in a previous post - it's a wonder we have survived thus far. It amazes me how a newborn has the instinct to nurse right out of the womb, akin to kittens knowing to use a litter box (and somehow they figure out how to nurse without a lactation consultant).
Liam seemed to figure it out well enough from the start and so did Mom. Albeit slow and painful, taking much of Mom's time throughout the day, it all seemed to go well and we though we were well on our way to having a healthy naturally-fed babe. Meagan's been a trooper from day one but the hourly feeding schedule that Liam seemed to prefer was wearing on both of us (mostly Mom though). Liam likes to camp out in the comfort of Mom's arms, acting like he's eating but mostly succumbing to the sandman while there so close to where he'd spent the last 9 months.
An alarming report on his lack of weight gain in week 3 from a lactation consultant hopefully got us on the right track of getting a fat baby. We are now supplementing the nursing with a combination of a super slim surgical tube attached to a bottle that can 'go alongside' with the nursing procedure so that he doesn't know the difference, feeding with a bottle after nursing, and the action of a mechanical pump to store up supply. Now our kitchen counter tops are occupied by breastfeeding paraphernalia. To think, the counters used to be cluttered by various tools related to home improvements before but I think a set of breast pump cups is a little more embarrassing to newcomers than some wrenches and screwdrivers - Welcome to parenthood and forgetting about embarrassment...
Liam's been eating all that we give him but it's become a two person job of holding the supplement bottle, tickling is feet and ears to keep him awake, etc. The good thing about it is that he sleeps, and sleeps and sleeps after eating now. The best thing is that now Mom gets to sleep longer than an hour at a time. Eat well young Liam, eat well.
Liam Michael
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Back to work and sleepless nights
1 am as I lay on the couch with TV on the Food Network (ribeye steak special!), Liam asleep in the bouncy chair and Momma in bed. This is just one kind of sleepless night that I've had since he was born. Basically, the plan is (was) for her to nap while he sleeps; the famous last words were that she wanted to get 20 minutes of sleep before he'd want to eat again. Apparently Liam didn't get the message on that timing as he's been out for hours now. I made the executive decision to let him (and Mom) sleep as long as he wants. Though I've got a sleepless night going on, they had a sleepless day so snoozing now is well warranted.
Other sleepless nights:
Nights like the first one where I was filled with excitement and worry. I lay on the pull out couch watching him in the crib and listening to him breathe, grunt and squeak while wondering if he was OK, if I put him in the crib correctly, if his neck was turned too much, if he was supposed to make those noises, and, of course, if my wife was doing OK after the surgery.
Hospital night 2 - rock rock rock in the chair didn't work and we were both way over tired - the nursery is good
Back home while we were both on leave - Meagan would try to feed Liam every 2 hours and more often if he wanted during the day. The hope was that he would get enough to eat through the day and then sleep longer at night. We'd go with that plan but Mom got pretty tired right about the time that Liam would be at his most alert stage, say around 10 pm. I would be up with Liam doing my best to entertain him, walk and rock him while Mom slept for a few hours. Eventually he would tire for a few winks and then wake Mom up to nurse. On good nights, this would be followed by about 4 hours of sleep, another feeding/diaper change, 3 hours of sleep and then we were all up for the day. On bad nights it'd be followed by a fussy baby wanting nothing but to be held, bounced, rocked, bounced, rocked, diaper changed, hungry, bounced, and so it would go; bringing our wits end near as sleep continued to escape us.
Baby knows Dad has meetings in the morning - Fortunate to have the first couple of days back at work running on adequate sleep, I knew it was only a matter of time before I'd have to arrive a zombie after a baby-rough night. Thursday of my first week back I had to be in two meetings that overlapped, both of which required a significant amount of preparation. I called it quits the night before at 12:30 am though I hadn't gotten near enough done. I was anticipating the usual breaks in sleep when Meagan wakes to nurse Liam, but I should have known the previous 2 nights were pushing it for decent ones in a row. I have my wonderful wife to thank for letting me 'sleep' while Liam wanted to do the eating, bouncing, holding, rocking routine but fussy baby and upset Mom kept me restless from 2:30 to 6:30 am. The alarm at 6:45 came quick and hitting snooze left me little time to prepare for my meeting at 9. Liam slept well the rest of that morning into the afternoon... go figure
Well, it's now 2 am and Liam's stirring. Time to change the diaper, insert baby in sleep sack and wake Mom for nursing. Nursing may have a dedicated post; it's a wonder how we ever managed to survive without lactation consultants... Today the nurse at the pediatric clinic told us that she didn't last 24 hours with breastfeeding - way to go Meagan, 3 weeks and counting!
Rachel Ray is making me hungry...grilled smokey artichoke yum
Other sleepless nights:
Nights like the first one where I was filled with excitement and worry. I lay on the pull out couch watching him in the crib and listening to him breathe, grunt and squeak while wondering if he was OK, if I put him in the crib correctly, if his neck was turned too much, if he was supposed to make those noises, and, of course, if my wife was doing OK after the surgery.
Hospital night 2 - rock rock rock in the chair didn't work and we were both way over tired - the nursery is good
Back home while we were both on leave - Meagan would try to feed Liam every 2 hours and more often if he wanted during the day. The hope was that he would get enough to eat through the day and then sleep longer at night. We'd go with that plan but Mom got pretty tired right about the time that Liam would be at his most alert stage, say around 10 pm. I would be up with Liam doing my best to entertain him, walk and rock him while Mom slept for a few hours. Eventually he would tire for a few winks and then wake Mom up to nurse. On good nights, this would be followed by about 4 hours of sleep, another feeding/diaper change, 3 hours of sleep and then we were all up for the day. On bad nights it'd be followed by a fussy baby wanting nothing but to be held, bounced, rocked, bounced, rocked, diaper changed, hungry, bounced, and so it would go; bringing our wits end near as sleep continued to escape us.
Baby knows Dad has meetings in the morning - Fortunate to have the first couple of days back at work running on adequate sleep, I knew it was only a matter of time before I'd have to arrive a zombie after a baby-rough night. Thursday of my first week back I had to be in two meetings that overlapped, both of which required a significant amount of preparation. I called it quits the night before at 12:30 am though I hadn't gotten near enough done. I was anticipating the usual breaks in sleep when Meagan wakes to nurse Liam, but I should have known the previous 2 nights were pushing it for decent ones in a row. I have my wonderful wife to thank for letting me 'sleep' while Liam wanted to do the eating, bouncing, holding, rocking routine but fussy baby and upset Mom kept me restless from 2:30 to 6:30 am. The alarm at 6:45 came quick and hitting snooze left me little time to prepare for my meeting at 9. Liam slept well the rest of that morning into the afternoon... go figure
Well, it's now 2 am and Liam's stirring. Time to change the diaper, insert baby in sleep sack and wake Mom for nursing. Nursing may have a dedicated post; it's a wonder how we ever managed to survive without lactation consultants... Today the nurse at the pediatric clinic told us that she didn't last 24 hours with breastfeeding - way to go Meagan, 3 weeks and counting!
Rachel Ray is making me hungry...grilled smokey artichoke yum
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