Nothing too exciting over here. Piper is being a very high-maintenance baby these last few days, and I am not too sure why. It has been rather busy at home lately, with lots of family in and out and tons of long car-rides. Bah.
Piper had her 4/5 RSV shot on Friday, and I am finally connecting with some of the other moms who come, too. One mom, has a wee baby boy (6 months) and he is a cute little guy with a cleft palate, though no cleft lip (hair lip?), so you wouldn't even know. She says when she feeds him solids, it sometimes comes out his nose... then you can tell. But it was really nice to sit and talk about having babies with hospital needs. She was in the hospital for 6 weeks after he was born, as she had pre-ecclempsia and didn't know it, and then he had trouble breathing at birth and la-la-la = not fun. He will have surgery when he is closer to one year old.
We compared visits to BCCH and how we felt about surgery etc. Our stories were both so different, but we were in the same boat, and it was really comforting. She was so normal (as I hope I seemed, too), and we were both surviving with these awesome babies who just need a wee bit of extra attention... but like I said, you would never know it.
Waiting in the RSV clinic with Grampa... they were both so good :)
So, the countdown to surgery is still on. 16 days to go. In between there we go to the hospital on Tuesday for our "training" in how to administer G-CSF and get Piper's first dose, and then the next Wednesday for Pre-Admission Clinic (more bloodwork, sats, ECG and maybe an Echo) and then the next Tuesday is surgery day. It will be here in no time.
Somehow, I feel a little more grown up about the whole thing, as if I've already done it before and know how it will feel. I am still looking forward to all of this being done and getting on the other side of this fence. Alas. Might be a while. And who knows how long this Neutropenia might last. Hopefully just into her toddler years and then magically goes away. Piper is so tough, otherwise.
On another note, any weaning moms chime in, what the HECK do you do when your baby is far too interested in playing and not in nursing? Given, the last fews days haven't been all that normal, but I insist on keeping up nursing until well after surgery. That is the only option. But she is really resistant sometimes and just wants to play instead. Should I be giving her water later or something? I am now pumping, as my milk is already lower than it once was, and I need to keep it up, but I would much rather be giving this baby what she needs straight from the source. Its only the daytime feeds usually... but I say usually. Is everything about to change?
Tips? Ideas?
yup.. I hear ya on the distracted baby part! I started nursing Cheyenne before her naps now which has helped so much. She's tired enough to just lie and drink, and it calms her down so she can fall asleep easier. Before I was feeding her when she woke up and it was a gong show. She would keep unlatching because she wanted to see what was going on in the world around her and it was getting terribly annoying! (lots of milk squirting on both of us and everything around us! haha) That's what helped us. And being alone. In the quiet. If she hears any sound coming from anywhere or knows there's a person near by it's game over!
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ReplyDeleteMonkey went through a phase where he wasn't too interested in BF and was easily distracted. Being in a quiet place helped. It's quite normal and start happening for a bunch of reasons (stress, outside disruptions). The LLL recommends taking a few days to devout to the baby with lots of cuddling, skin-to-skin contact and few disruptions to get things back on track. I've also noticed that some BF babes loose interest for a while when the menstrual cycle returns. Apparently it can change the taste of the milk.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really great that you are wanting to continue BF until after the surgery since this will help Piper a lot!
My SIL also has struggled with her daughter getting distracted and I could ask what she found helpful if you like.
Thanks ladies. It seems like this is a constant journey, kinda always changing and it helps hearing other people's experience. We are doing better, no drastic changes as of yet :)
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