While we were still at the hospital, the lactation consultant told me that I needed to keep a log of when I feed the baby, which breast and how long she nurses, and wet/dirty diapers. She said I needed to keep this log and take it with me to her first pediatrician's office visit. It's been hard juggling that with a squirmy baby who needs my full attention to latch on... and then not go to sleep, but for the most part I thought I was doing a great job with this documentation.
After our first night home from the hospital I called the lactation consultants again after an atrocious night. They told me I needed to start feeding her every two hours around the clock. These feedings are timed from the start of the last feeding. So... a feeding takes anywhere between 40 minutes to an hour by the time I wake her up four or five times, change her diaper once or twice, reswaddle and lay her back down - while I also search for the pen and write everything down. This means that at the most I've gotten an hour of sleep at a time since the second day we've been home.
It's been an adventure.
Today was baby's first appointment with the pediatrician. Since The Hater went back to work yesterday (and The Dorks went back to TN on Sunday), this was both hers and my first trip outside of the house in about a week.
I got up about 9 this morning to nurse the baby. Over the next 5 hours we juggled feedings with my shower and my lunch, not to mention packing her diaper bag. Then off to the DO we went...
First, the updates: She's 5 ounces above her birth weight, which is excellent. She's on track and everything looks just fine. And -- it looks like she's starting to take the fooler, which is great for us.
Next, the part that REALLY gags me...
He asked how breast feeding was going, which I took as my cue to get out my index cards that the hospital gave me to keep up with things. He looked over them and asked me why I was writing everything down. "Because they told me to write everything down," I answered, "They said to write it all down and bring it to my appointment to see you so that you could see what we're doing." He shook his head and told me that I didn't have to write all of this down. I corrected him and told him those were my specific instructions given to me at the hospital. He answered, "They may be saying that, but you're the first Mom who has ever brought it in for me to see."
I didn't know if I should cuss or cry.
Then I asked him how much longer I'd need to nurse her every 2 hours, because the way things are playing out I was not getting much sleep at a time. In short he told me I didn't need to do that, either. That every 2 to 2 1/2 hours during the day was fine, but then she'd most likely sleep for 3 or 4 hours at night.
I cried. And then I cussed all the way home. I'm so gagged with poor instructions right now that I can hardly stand it. I don't really understand why I would specifically be told to do specific things and then be told PSYCH! less than a week later.
Gagnatious.
This morning in the middle of baby's 2am feeding it dawned on me that I was burping her with percussion rhythms that I've known for years (for you drumline , rudiments and warm-ups*). I really wanted to fire up the laptop and immediately send out an email to my band nerd friends with kids to see if they did the same, but since it was so early, I opted to go back to sleep instead.
