Plateau Continues

Ian hasn't gained or lost any weight over the past 4 days. He still weighs 5lb 11oz. Yesterday I pumped twice, and Ian was also given that milk as a supplement. I did the same thing this morning, and then I called the lactation nurse. From what I had read online yesterday, I was guessing that a good target weight gain was 20 grams a day which would be almost 5 ounces a week. I wasn't too far off the mark as Diane told me this morning the goal is 4 ounces a week (at least 1/2 ounce a day). Based on what I told her, she doesn't think Ian is dehydrated, but she thinks he's not getting enough of the hind milk to gain weight (not getting enough calories). I asked if I should pump more or start taking Fenugreek. I can tell from pumping yesterday that my supply has come down some. She said to wait on that as my supply might have been too large from all the pumping I did in the NICU. This might have led to too much foremilk. She gave two suggestions. First, I should have it so my milk is already coming out before I start nursing him (to make it easier for him and also so that the hindmilk will let down more efficiently). Second, as soon as he stops nursing vigorously, switch him to the other side (and keep doing this). "Switch nursing" is also supposed to help him get more hindmilk. She said to try this for 48 hours. I am to call back on Wednesday to let them know if he has started gaining weight. A friend gave me some formula samples yesterday evening. I am going to hold off at least until Wednesday on using them, but if he doesn't start gaining weight by then, I think I'm going to supplement for awhile at least until he starts gaining 1/2 ounce a day. I'd rather avoid all bottles for the time being, but my boy has only gained 2 ounces in the past 13 days - during which time he should have gained about 8 ounces. It's been a few days since he's had any really long nursing sessions - so nursing too long at one time isn't the problem. In the NICU they don't let them nurse more than 30 minutes at a time. Please pray that he'll weigh 5lb 12oz by Wednesday morning!!!!

On Saturday Ian's social security card and insurance card came in the mail. I mailed the form today to the human resource department at my university to add him to our insurance plan. I needed his social security number to be able to do that.Yesterday was a VERY hectic day for me. I was on the go pretty much nonstop. Before I even ate breakfast (which is what I normally do first), I gave Ian a bath. Then after eating breakfast I gave Nadia a bath, took my shower, put Nadia down for her nap, and then gave Paul a haircut. After I finished nursing Ian, Nadia woke up from her nap, and we headed to church. We were 20 minutes late, but since this church has a rather long morning service (often 90-105 minutes long), I knew we'd still be there for most of the service. It was REALLY cold yesterday (23 degrees when we left church). On the way home from church, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some subs and a bag of ice for Paul's party. After nursing Ian, I had lunch, did some more cleaning, and then started decorating and putting out the food. I had the Steeler's football game on in the background. I didn't get any naps yesterday, and I went to bed later than usual (9pm) due to cleaning up after the party. Ian was nursing during Nadia's morning nap today. I hope to be able to nap during her afternoon nap as I am tired!

The rest of the week shouldn't be anywhere near as hectic as yesterday. The ironic thing is that I've thrown Paul 3 parties over the past 9 years, and two of the three have ended up being shortly after having a baby. His master's degree graduation party was held when Nadia was 5 weeks old, and his 40th birthday party was when Ian was 3 weeks old. The timing hasn't been great for me in terms of being very sleep deprived, but the nice part has been that our guests have had an added incentive for attending - meeting our newest arrival! :-)