I feel like I've been Shannon's Mom for months now, not just a bit over two weeks. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm completely sleep deprived. Each day is a continuation of the previous day. So, it's just been one extraordinarly looooooong day. Having said that, I feel marginally OK. I mean, I would love to get a stretch of sleep that's longer than 3 hours, but I know that will happen at some point, right?
So far, Shannon has been a terrific baby. She sleeps all the time and I need to wake her for most of her feedings. She doesn't cry all that much, except when I'm late with feeding her and she happens to be awake. And, she is content with what I'm feeding her, whereas Devin needed to be supplemented with formula at his feedings because he was always soooooo hungry.
I've been trying to breastfeed, but I've had some major issues with that and I'm completely frustrated. At the hospital, it was discovered that Shannon was tongue tied, which means that her frenulum, a piece of skin under her tongue, is very close to her tongue and does not allow her to stick it out very far. There's a procedure done where a doctor will cut the frenulum if it prohibits the baby from breastfeeding. However, the lactation consultant at the hospital found that it wasn't an issue with Shannon's breastfeeding, so it was decided that they would not cut the frenulum. Well, when I got home from the hospital, I noticed that I had cracked and bleeding breasts and it was killing me to feed her. I also noticed that Shannon's stools were very dark, almost black, and at her pediatrician's appointment a couple of days later, the doctor determined that she was probably ingesting blood from me. Gross!! I was disgusted with that and I ended up pumping and let my breasts heal. I also got a prescription from my OB for an ointment to help with the sore, cracked and bleeding breasts.
I called the local lactation consultant for advice, but was told she had been in a car accident and would be unavailable for many days. I was referred to South Shore Hospital where there is a daily breastfeeding group. I definitely needed advice and help and was so excited to go! Well, due to extenuating circumstances, my babysitter ended up being late getting to my house and I missed most of the breastfeeding group. The lactation consultant sat with me for about 5 minutes and noticed that Shannon's tongue tied issue was most likely causing all the problems with my ability to breastfeed. She recommended an ENT doctor who would perform the 'surgery' and as long as we got it done prior to Shannon turning 2 wks old, she would not need to be anesthesized. After much scrambling, we got the appointment one day shy of Shannon's 2nd week. The doctor was awesome and the whole procedure took less than 5 minutes. Shannon cried for about 30 seconds and that was it!
The next day, this past Friday, I went to the breastfeeding group and the lactation consultant got Shannon right on me and she fed perfectly. Of course, when I got home, I did not have the same luck. This weekend, I tried on and off to get Shannon to feed off me, but I've noticed that we're having the same latch issues as before and that little cuts are appearing on my breasts again. I've stopped trying and have been pumping every 3-4 hours. The whole point of me trying to breastfeed was so that I would not have to pump like I did with Devin. And what is happening? Yeah, the stupid pumping again. What gives?
In any event, my Mom is on her way over to watch Devin so that I can go to to the breasfeeding group again today. I am going to go everyday this week until this clicks. I am frustrated beyond belief and just want this to work so badly. I think part of why these first two weeks seem so long is also due to the fact that I've had so many problems with breastfeeding. I really hope this works!!!
