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2005-06-12 - 8.03pm previous entry next entry
Doctor's appt and update
Thank you all SO much for the notes, emails and messages. I tuned in first chance I got to see if anyone had any advice for me, and I was so happy to see all your loving supportive messages! Thank you!! When I read your advice I did take it away and research it online a bit. I did research on infant dehydration and stuff, and as ever it led me back to Kellymom where I found this page about when breastfed babies are sick. It was so helpful and reassuring because it tells me that my milk is okay for Arthur to be ingesting right now, even with the vomiting. With formula I think you�d need to dilute it so that it would stay down, but it doesn�t seem to be so with breast milk, as Kellymom says it is the most easily and rapidly digested fluid a baby can ingest. Also Kellymom reassured me that I don�t need to worry about giving extra fluids or rehydration treatments so long as Arthur isn�t showing major signs of dehydration. There is a good list of the signs, and it says less that 2 wet nappies in 24 hours. That seems super few to me, so I think I would worry at fewer than 5 or 6. But anyway. Breast milk seems to be THE fluid for dehydrated babies, so I�m relieved.
But what I did need to do (according to Kellymom) was nurse him much more frequently and with smaller amounts. So today we have done that. I am trying to nurse him as often as every hour, or more if he�ll take it. I nurse him for only a minute or so and then take him off the breast. He hates this and cries, which is sort of good because it shows me he is still hungry. I hate taking the breast away from him when he wants it, and hearing him cry because of it, but I�m so desperate to stop his vomiting once and for all now. Sometimes Neil holds him for a while after I take him off the breast, and then I�ll offer him a bit more. He hasn�t been sick today since we�ve been doing this, and he seems to enjoy nursing when he�s at it.
The advice about pumping before feeding him was also a great idea. Arthur hasn�t fed much in the last 24 hours, or only little bits at a time. He feels smaller and thinner to both of us, which makes me feel sad for him, but at least he has some serious reserves to fall back on! So I am not too worried about that right now. I got no sleep at all last night. Not one wink. Arthur slept a couple of hours after we finally got back to bed in the middle of the night, and I lay next to him trying to sleep, but I just couldn�t. I kept wanting to watch him, or reach out and touch his skin to see if he was too warm or cool. I couldn�t take my eyes off him. It just didn�t feel right to switch off from him for even a moment. He is so precious to me.
This morning I went to sleep for 2 hours while Neil looked after Arthur, and when I woke my breasts were totally engorged. They even hurt! I think Arthur could have latched on, but there was no way I was going to offer him a veritable milk BOMB to suck on in his condition! I decided to pump both breasts as empty as I could, to completely relieve them, and that way he could suck all he liked for comfort afterwards without getting loads of milk. He would also get some milk doing that, since they seem to refill quite fast. Oh the wonder of The Breast Pump! The sheer relief of emptying ones breasts when they feel like they are about to pop open! I pumped and pumped till they seemed pretty empty again, and look what came out!!....
I got TEN OUNCES!!! 300mls!! One of those pots is all right breast, and the other one is one quarter right breast and the rest left breast. I was amazed. Also I was so pleased to start a freezer stash with it, because I decided I should have one, for when my milk starts to disappear when I am pregnant again. Okay so it�s too early for storing milk for something that far away, but you never know what might happen after a random parsnip! ;) Anyway I could hardly waste all that milk, could I? So it�s freezing in there now :) I was on a high for hours after pumping that! I feel so mooooooooooooo! Arthur watched me pump with an odd almost-smile on his face � I can�t imagine what he thought I was doing! I nursed him about 10 minutes after I pumped and by the gulpy sounds I think maybe he got another ounce or two, which is good. He didn�t have to rush too much either, which is even better.
He has slept a lot today. I think this is possibly a good sign that he is mending. He hasn�t had a wet nappy since he peed on the bed at 2am though, and it�s 3.45pm now :( He did poo again in that time, this time with black speckles in it. I am hoping this is just to do with the bloody snot he has been swallowing.
We took him to the emergency clinic at the hospital today, and saw a pretty crap doctor. She was very nice, and the good part is, she was qualified to examine him and tell us that his ears and throat are not infected, his chest is clear and his heart sounds are healthy. Phew. But she was quite condescending towards me when I told her he was still exclusively breastfed. She said, �Yes, but what food is he eating?� I said, �None. He is exclusively breastfed still.� She looked at his age on the notes, gave me a really condescending look and said, �He�s SEVEN months old! He should be eating food by now you know, not just milk!�
Ugh. She really got on my nerves. She even fed me a pile of total crap about why he actually SHOULDN�T be breastfed anymore!! She said it didn�t contain what he needed nutritionally after six months. She said he needed better protein and minerals than my milk could give him. She said he would not be able to eat solids very well if I didn�t hurry up and start him on them. She said she could see he was teething (he was chewing his fingers at the time) but he should not be biting on his own hands � he should be biting on food to help the teeth come down (what?!!). She said if he did not bite on food and instead on his fingers, the teeth would not come down so effectively. She said he needed food NOW for nutrition and taste, otherwise he would be affected by it for years to come. I was so piddled off to hear such crap marching out of her mouth at me that I could feel myself flushing with annoyance. Neil started looking at the floor instead of at me! He knows me when I go pink, hehe! I have SUCH strong feelings about nursing, and I hate being treated like a stupid know-nothing mother (which, trust me, is how she was talking to me) when I am a) pretty clever and b) exceptionally well researched on various aspects of what is best for my baby, including feeding and sleeping and so on. She asked had I tried him with teething rusks? I said no. She looked at me like, �You haven�t even heard of/thought of trying RUSKS?!� I didn�t bother to say patiently, �Of course I have heard of rusks, but I have also spent time and energy reading the detailed ingredients, and have no intention of offering them to my baby before I am ready to introduce him to products containing wheat � which incidentally is not the greatest of ideas before at least the age of 8 months. Preferably longer. Despite what the box says about when to offer them. Thank you.� I waited for her to finish and nearly said, �What complete balls.� but had the sense to realise that would be rude, so the best I could do in my cross state was to restrict myself to an incredulous disbelieving look and a very doubtful sounding, �Uhhhmm?!� every time she said something turd-like. Tsk.
She did keep banging on about it, and asked hadn�t my health visitor told me he should be on solids by now, etc. She said I should talk to my doctor or health visitor about it, and think about starting him on solids right away. I just nodded and smiled through the rest of the appt, rather than engage her on the issue. But it bugged me.
We asked about the black specks in Arthur�s poo and she said she didn�t know what that was (?!!!!!!) but said maybe he had been putting his hands funny places and did we have any pets?!!! What?! She did say the blood-stained mucus is okay. I presume the black specks are digested blood from swallowing the mucus. I can�t believe she didn�t know.
Anyway. It basically went well, except for all the pressure and condescension about solids. She told me that the earlier a baby can start on solids, the better. Preferably try putting BITS OF RUSK in their mouths from 4 months!!! I soooo had to bite my tongue. And I am kind of holding back certain comments here too. It would be unnecessary and mean of me, but boy do I feel them all the same. Still, she meant well, I�m sure. And she told us he was okay. She suggested the smaller frequent feeds, and I told her we were already doing that, so she said to carry on. Then we came home. Arthur rather enjoyed being out in the car � he gazed around him like he had never been out before and gave me wondering smiles now and then from his car seat (I sat next to him). So cute.
Oops, another gap! It�s 7.10pm now and Arthur woke from the nap he was taking after we got home, so I had to go. He has been in fairly good spirits this afternoon. He played vigorously (!) with his toys, sitting up on the fleece blanket downstairs, for quite a long time. He talked a lot and rolled about and looked normally energetic. He had a bath with Daddy around 5.30pm and enjoyed that, and splashed with his feet and gnawed on the rubber duckie�s beak (bill, probably, but I like the word �beak� better!). When we took his nappy off for the bath, he had peed!! Yay! But not a huge one, and it was yellow instead of clear. I have stepped up the nursing a little more and now I offer him the breast about every hour and a half. He is often sleeping longer than that so sometimes he goes 2 hours without nursing, but I am trying. I am letting him have a little more than before too, so I think he is starting to get better quantities of milk now. No more vomiting today so far.
He spent some time on the bed with Neil this evening before bed, and enjoyed standing up and smiling at me, so that was LOVELY to see! He must have been feeling a bit better. In fact, here, you can see for yourselves!...
Isn�t that a welcome sight?! Neil would like it to be known that he IS wearing underwear, hehe! ;) I was so cheered after that anyway.
But after a while he was tired again and I nursed him for bed, but of course he couldn�t nurse to a sleepy state like usual because that takes too long on the breast and he isn�t meant to have that right now :( I hated withholding it from him, especially when he cried. He had quite a lot of milk in between breaks where Neil held him for a while, and he did seem a bit gulpy/gaggy in the end so I�m glad I didn�t give him any more than that. He pretty much had a full side though, which is good, and it hasn�t returned so far! Yay!
He has since been really upset and crying all evening so far :( His teeth hurt him soooo. He is biting on his whole hand stuffed into his mouth and crying round it, doing his �Oh-yoh-yoh-yoh!� thing in very pitiful tones, poor love. We gave him teething powder, which didn�t work, a refrigerated wet wash cloth to chew which worked while he had it and then he was upset again. And then Bonjela. And a firm gum massage. And chewing on my fingers. He is still just as upset with his teeth, and the only thing left is painkillers, which I am reluctant to offer him, as they will fill his tummy up with syrupy goo. Hmmm. Neil has been rocking him to sleep for about 30 minutes, but he has cried through a lot of that, and just now he was asleep and quiet for 10 minutes until Neil put him gently down, and then he woke and cried. It�s so hard for him. And us. I hate that he is in pain and not happy. I so wish his teeth would HURRY THE HECK UP!!! He has proved the hereditary theory wrong by being older than both his parents were when they got their first tooth. Tsk. Poor boy.
Another break to help Neil with Arthur. We just gave him Calpol. He was rubbing his red cheeks and ears and sobbing right up until I spooned the first bit into his mouth, and then an amazing transition took place! He was all smiley! He opened his mouth for it and everything. When I made an exaggerated gulping sound to encourage him to swallow it, he giggled so hard some of it came spluttering back out again! It was so nice to see him that happy. While Neil went to get a cloth to wipe him up, I confess I gulped and gulped and gulped, just to see him laugh and giggle over and over. Ahh it was lovely to see his happy little face again! Anyway he took the medicine well. After that I nursed him again because his giggling had given him hiccups, and when the milk was coming down fast enough to fix his hiccups, I let him suck a few moments longer and then stopped. I don�t want to overload his tummy. I wish wish wish I could just let him nurse till he�s brimming like normal, or almost asleep. Neil took him to rock him to sleep, and Arthur cried :( But it�s gone quiet now so I think he�s asleep. Now Neil just has to put him down and not have him wake, and then I think he will sleep till we go to bed or later. I think his medicine will work to ease his pain, which is a good thing.
Okay this has been started and stopped enough times, and I want to let you guys know that everything is okay. Thank you for praying for us! I really appreciate everyone thinking of us and praying for Arthur. He is getting better and I am so relieved! Now for the week ahead. I hope he will be feeling much better tomorrow and that I can start lengthening his feeds again. I am planning to �dream feed� him (nurse him without waking him) every hour and a half or so this evening, just for a short time to get his fluids up. We�ll see how we go.
Tomorrow he has his hip X-ray at the hospital and his review for his feet. He hasn�t been using his night boots for a week or two as he half prised one of his boots off during the night one night, and by the morning it had made a nasty pressure sore on his heel and another on the side of his foot. So we have been resting that foot since then to let it heal. The other foot is the one he no longer needs the night boot for anyway. I hope the physio will be okay with that when we see her tomorrow, and I hope she�ll tell us he doesn�t need to wear them any more anyway!
I need to catch up on sleep. Also I think I need to pump Right Breast again. It is feeling kind of solid and uncomfy. Arthur did a good job on Mrs. Left earlier. Okay, I am going now. I am going to ice my back and watch Pride and Prejudice (for the fifty millionth time!). Thank you again for being wonderful! xxx
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