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Cattsmeow's Pregnancy
My Due Date: November 24, 2015I have given birth!
Age: 37 years old
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So glad to be home and nursing woes
By Cattsmeow » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 11:11am - 543 views - 8 comments
We are home! They let us go at the 24 hour mark because the maternity ward was working at capacity, and we both had no complications to speak of. I'm happy we were able to go early. It was killing us to be away from our sons, and the hospital was too noisy and hectic. We are doing well and I can't believe how incredibly blessed I am. I am loving life with my three children.
Before they let us come home, we spoke with the pediatrician on staff at the hospital. It was brought to our attention that Valerie has a stage 3 lip tie and had a tongue tie as well. They clipped her tongue while we were there, but we have to take her to an ENT or pediactric dentist to have it lasered. It is causing a lot of issues with nursing. =/ She has a very difficult time latching on and when she does, it is highly painful for me. My nipples were cracked and bleeding our first night home, and they still are. They aren't as bad now, but I'm still finding bloody spots on my nursng pads. Unfortunately, due to that, we caved and gave her a bottle. I am hoping we will still be able to nurse after we get her lip fixed, and we have an appointment with the LC today to figure out what to do in the mean time. Even if I have to exclusively pump again for awhile, I am determined to see it through. Valerie is my last baby, and I so want to expirience breastfeeding.
My back is also a mess from my epidurals. I got my first one and it worked for about 30 minutes before everything came back. 5 hours and 3 doctors later, they finally pulled it and gave me a second one. For some reason, the medicine was traveling UP my back and not down, and even then, it was not working properly. It was just making me dizzy, really hot, my ears were making strange sounds, and my heart was going for a roller coaster ride. By the time they put my second one in, I was contracting nonstop, which made it hard to sit still. My husband told me the 3rd doctor had to stick me 5 times (3 lidocaine, 2 trying to get the epidural in) before he finally got it in the right spot. My back sure shows it. I am pretty much one big bruise from the middle of my back to my butt. But it worked like a charm once it was in properly. They think that at some point after I got the first one, the catheter shifted while they were helping me move, which caused it to stop working. =/
But yea. Valerie is doing great, and her biggest brother absolutely adores her. He is over the moon thrilled about her. My youngest son doesn't know what to make of her, and just gives us weird looks when we put her near him. He's pretty rough with her still, but we keep telling him "Gentle" when he's touching her and he's coming around. He's not trying to bash her head in anymore, at least. lol. (He was pushing her in her swing, and he kept pushing on her head.) I am attaching a picture of Valerie with her oldest brother. I haven't been able to get both of the boys to sit still long enough to get one of all 3 of them together.
My Journal
So glad to be home and nursing woes
By Cattsmeow » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 11:11am - 543 views - 8 comments
We are home! They let us go at the 24 hour mark because the maternity ward was working at capacity, and we both had no complications to speak of. I'm happy we were able to go early. It was killing us to be away from our sons, and the hospital was too noisy and hectic. We are doing well and I can't believe how incredibly blessed I am. I am loving life with my three children.
Before they let us come home, we spoke with the pediatrician on staff at the hospital. It was brought to our attention that Valerie has a stage 3 lip tie and had a tongue tie as well. They clipped her tongue while we were there, but we have to take her to an ENT or pediactric dentist to have it lasered. It is causing a lot of issues with nursing. =/ She has a very difficult time latching on and when she does, it is highly painful for me. My nipples were cracked and bleeding our first night home, and they still are. They aren't as bad now, but I'm still finding bloody spots on my nursng pads. Unfortunately, due to that, we caved and gave her a bottle. I am hoping we will still be able to nurse after we get her lip fixed, and we have an appointment with the LC today to figure out what to do in the mean time. Even if I have to exclusively pump again for awhile, I am determined to see it through. Valerie is my last baby, and I so want to expirience breastfeeding.
My back is also a mess from my epidurals. I got my first one and it worked for about 30 minutes before everything came back. 5 hours and 3 doctors later, they finally pulled it and gave me a second one. For some reason, the medicine was traveling UP my back and not down, and even then, it was not working properly. It was just making me dizzy, really hot, my ears were making strange sounds, and my heart was going for a roller coaster ride. By the time they put my second one in, I was contracting nonstop, which made it hard to sit still. My husband told me the 3rd doctor had to stick me 5 times (3 lidocaine, 2 trying to get the epidural in) before he finally got it in the right spot. My back sure shows it. I am pretty much one big bruise from the middle of my back to my butt. But it worked like a charm once it was in properly. They think that at some point after I got the first one, the catheter shifted while they were helping me move, which caused it to stop working. =/
But yea. Valerie is doing great, and her biggest brother absolutely adores her. He is over the moon thrilled about her. My youngest son doesn't know what to make of her, and just gives us weird looks when we put her near him. He's pretty rough with her still, but we keep telling him "Gentle" when he's touching her and he's coming around. He's not trying to bash her head in anymore, at least. lol. (He was pushing her in her swing, and he kept pushing on her head.) I am attaching a picture of Valerie with her oldest brother. I haven't been able to get both of the boys to sit still long enough to get one of all 3 of them together.
Comments for this Journal Entry
 | Comment from tmhess » Posted Nov. 21, 2015 7:22am We actually didn't find out that she had a tongue tie until the day we went home, when the pediatrician came in to do his final check up of her he said "oh btw, she does have a tongue tie". They didn't say anything about a lip tie, I figured it out on my own because she can't flair her upper lip out and she kept getting a callus on her upper lip. So I took a peek and it was easy to see. I asked the ENT to look at it and he said that it could resolve on its own but we just have to wait and see when her teeth start to come in. I wish they had looked for both exclusively in the hospital so I wouldn't have been so discouraged about having problems getting her to latch. With my next child I will be checking for both a tongue tie and lip tie myself when they are born. |
 | Comment from MalPal85 » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 11:38pm Congratulations again! I'm glad everyone is doing well. She's beautiful! |
 | Comment from Cattsmeow » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 7:00pm Kitten, I'm surprised they didn't check for a lip tie right away. At the hospital I delivered at, it's standard procedure to check if the mother indicates she is going to breastfeed. They didn't say anything with my youngest son last year because it wasn't too bad, but they actually came to my room this time to tell me about Valerie's. Amanda, thank you! And my back is not typical for after an epidural. They checked me over today and came to the conclusion that the catheter was displaced during a move and migrated into a vein. =/ |
 | Comment from Amanda_McDaniel » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 6:44pm Congratulations again, she's beautiful. I'm sorry about all your struggles but your description of your back has officially given me the heebie jeebies... |
| Comment from Kitten90 » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 12:41pm My daughter has a lip tie but not that bad. She just has to suck out of the corners of her mouth. Interestingly enough the doctors never said anything about it til I brought it up. It definitely made nursing pretty difficult. She does have a gap in her front teeth which will likely always be there. |
| Comment from Cattsmeow » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 12:35pm Tmhess, she still has trouble latching onto the bottle because of her lip. We were told her lip is bad enough it will cause a gap in her teeth once they come in. I really hope we can get her in before Thanksgiving. My milk hasn't come in yet, so I haven't been able to give her anything other than formula. Summer, thank you! I managed to pump exclusively for 8 weeks last year with my youngest son before I dried up. I want to bf at least 3 months with Valerie and I really hope I am able to. |
 | Comment from Summer0120 » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 12:29pm So adorable! Both of them. Love his huge smile. :) I hope she gets fixed up soon, so that you can nurse her. Having nipple pain like that is so horrible. I don't envy you. Mine was so bad on my right side with my first two daughters that I had to quit breastfeeding at 7 weeks. I'm making myself go longer this time!! |
| Comment from tmhess » Posted Nov. 20, 2015 12:28pm I understand what you are going through with nursing. My little one also had a lip and tongue tie. It made nursing very difficult. She even had an issue latching onto a bottle well. Once we had the tongue tie taken care of she started latching onto a bottle so much better. (I can't breast feed because I had a breast reduction in the past and I don't make enough milk, so I pump what I can and add it to her formula.) They held off on taking care of her lip tie because she can latch on the bottle ok and they wanted to take the "wait and see" approach. I wish they were able to use a laser to take care of it now. |
