We are readying ourselves for every conceivable speech defect.
Tag: Feeding
Before I go to sleep I just wanted to post a quick note about Moxie’s badass dad and my super husband (who, luckily, are one in the same). He is taking the midnight and 3am feedings tonight so I can have my first bit of sleep longer than 1.5 hours since Moxie’s birth. He is armed with 8 oz of breast milk, a pediatric feeding tube, and some pillows for the couch. He’s the absolute best.
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| If it ain’t black, it ain’t. |
Moxie was 8 lbs but dropped all the way down to around 7 lbs before we were discharged. Her weight loss, while something all babies do, was almost double the average. Breast fed babies always lose some weight. There’s a space between birth and mom’s milk coming in, usually a few days, where babies live off fat stores and thus lose weight.
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| Did you seriously think I would dare to put a snarky caption on any photo of my mother-in-law? (guest captioner: ZSMD) |
Each night, well morning–2 am, the nurse would come and take little Moxie to be weighed. She would leave snuggled and sleepy and return upset and crying. Each time the nurse had bad news. The first night she lost 9% of her weight. That night they brought a bottle of infant formula and a nipple. That first night was scary. We didn’t understand why she was losing so much and 9% put her dangerously close to the all concerning 10% that would require “supplementation.” The next morning we met with a lactation consultant that told us to pay attention to diapers–that’s where the action is. Her guidance: as long as she continued pooping and peeing at appropriate intervals Moxie would be fine. The next night her loss totaled 11% and then 13%.
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| Baby Scales. Yes, they do make a cream for that. |
Why was her weight loss so significant? Nurses thought the fact that I’d been in labor for 2 days and on IV fluids for much of it and babies delivered via C-Section don’t get all their fluids squeezed out when they pass through the birth canal. But the stats are how the doctors make decisions.
What are we doing about it? We are supplementing–but with breast milk. She feeds the ol’ fashioned way and then gets, through a pediatric feeding tube on a pinky finger, a little extra. It keeps everyone in the family involved but it is paying off.
How’s Moxie now? Really good! As of today she is up to 7 lbs 10 oz and the doctor says we can stop the supplements when she reaches her birth weight. She is nursing like a champ and enjoys her dad or bibi feeding her a little extra milk and attention.
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| Food photography is easy. |
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| Jess mugging for the camera, just seconds before consuming 5 oz. of purple plastic, resulting in two cycles of pump-n-dump. |
We came home with Moxie yesterday (dressed in the same outfit my mother sewed and dressed me in when I came home back in 1980) overwhelmed and exhausted. We were considering driving back to the hospital to demand they readmit us until we walked in the door and found our dogs happy and healthy (thanks Karen and Ruby) and our fridge, freezer, and counter full of delicious ready to eat meals (thanks Josh, Tracy, Jacque and Karen). We have been eating like royalty even though our days and nights are completely consumed with figuring out and caring for Moxie. We have also had lots of calls, emails, letters and texts from people wishing us well and checking in.
We are surrounded by the love, support and humor of our friends. Thanks to Moxie’s caffeine laced 2 am feeding we are finally able to say a small, insufficient thanks to the bad asses who take the time to show us love.
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| “Hospital, I do not regret out parting, but I will not soon forget nor regret our brief liaison.” |