This is the last photo of Evelyn with her cord stump, which she managed to knock off today with her foot in a bit of a hissy fit.Yesterday was a rough day. Lots of tears for me and lots of crying for Evelyn. I was so incredibly frustrated with nursing. After our meeting with the lactation consultant at the Birth Center in the morning, Evelyn would not really nurse all day. She did nurse at the meeting, which was good because we got to do the before and after weights and learned that she is transferring milk. It's just a lot of work. I think that's what's making her so angry and frustrated when she tries to nurse. Basically, the start of each feeding session yesterday involved at least a half hour of my trying to get Evelyn to latch and her screaming. Either that or her just being passed out - latching on and then falling asleep hard.
When Jonathan got home from work, we put Evelyn in the Moby wrap and took Olive out for a family walk. He reminded me that our priority right now is to just make sure the Evelyn eats. The goal is 2 oz. per feeding, which is every 3 hours. And right now she does great with finger-feeding, so that is what we need to keep doing. And I need to not beat myself up that she's not a champion at breastfeeding right now. I think she just needs to be stronger and more awake for that to work.
So I went into today with a determination to have a better day and to not freak out for hours if Evelyn didn't have a good feeding session. And the day went much better.
At our appointment this afternoon at the Birth Center, they weighed her again and Evelyn had gained 2 oz. since yesterday morning, which was great to hear! They also told us to just keep doing what we're doing - stuffing Evelyn full of all the milk she can handle and trying to get her to breastfeed if she will. It was reassuring to hear that what we're doing is paying off (in weight) and that we're not completely messing things up. Yet.
Evelyn's bili counts went down a tiny bit, which was also good news. She doesn't have to go back for bloodwork unless we see any changes that look like things are getting worse. But jaundice usually peaks right around this time, so we're all thinking she's probably peaked and it will work its way out of her system.
And that means that tomorrow, Evelyn has her first day off from seeing medical people! I had hoped to celebrate with her and be in the same boat, but wouldn't you know that a chunk of one of my molars decided to randomly fall off this afternoon so I now have an emergency dentist appointment tomorrow. I am actually kinda looking forward to the appointment because my dentist is awesome and the chairs are massaging chairs and I'll get to lay down. Of course I have this feeling he'll tell me I need a crown and those things are mega expensive. But I deserve a crown, don't you think?
Alright, dinner time.
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-Abby