Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Mommy report:Back to the tube

(Fair warning, possible TMI...I don't usually talk much about breastfeeding, but for the purpose of explaining the situation, it's necessary. I'm not all that comfortable with it, but maybe sharing will allow some good advice from some of you.)

So after an exciting discovery that Braska had gained 2 oz over the last 12 days, the afternoon yesterday started going downhill. She started acting a bit irritable and uncomfortable to start with. As I did my general analysis of the possible causes (yeah, I'm that way), I realized that previous to the 4 days that she's been sans tube, she had been consistently on it for 3 days, during which we'd filled her as full as possible. I had meant to have her weighed at the end of those three days, but I didn't get up to the dr's office to do it. That's important in that I think she probably had gained more at that point and is now down a little to the current 11 lbs 14 oz. I'm judging from how she fits in her clothes and her demeanor. The other factor is that while she's been nursing and taking solids somewhat better than normal the last few days, I have been worried and now feel sure that she still is not getting enough fluid since my milk supply is down.

Last evening while we were at Randy and Karen's she got quite fussy, and in a different way than usual. I started reviewing all the recent situations and was concerned that she was just plain hungry and possibly starting to feel dehydrated. She ate pretty well before bed, so I thought I'd address it further today. Two things changed that. First, I got up to pump at about 1:30 am (yes, after seven months...still pumping during the night...grrrrrr). It had been about 4 hours since the last time, instead of the usual 3 hour cycle during the day, but I only got about 40 cc or just over one ounce total. That's not a good sign, per past experience. This has happened the last couple nights, with the total decreasing each night. But she has been doing pretty well nursing during the day, seeming to get plenty each time, making plenty of loud swallowing sounds, which she didn't do previously, so I hoped that she was taking in enough. Then, she woke up at about 3:00 am. This is important because she doesn't wake up at night. And when I got her up, after I'd just pumped less than 2 hours before, she was anxious to nurse, so I let her try, and she seemed to be taking in some. That is, until she spit up everything she'd just had. She started throwing a fit, but made no tears. This was much the same as the last time she was dehydrated, although not as bad as then, thankfully. I woke up Muncher to walk with the screaming baby while I got things ready for the re-tubing. Once we got the tube in and food started, she calmed down and went back to sleep. I filled her full then and once more during the night, and this morning, although she's not back to her playful self, she's better and seems to be "juicing up" again.

So it's back on the tube for now... if it turns out to be more than a week or so, we'll have to walk the tough decision road toward the G-tube. In the meantime, I'm working to increase my supply to see if we can try it all over one more time. Here's hoping!