Two Months, Post 1

I am going to do this in installments.  This one is about the baby #5.

At 72 hours after the sweet baby #5 had lost 10 oz.  Totally normal.  Nursing was okay.  Just the sensitivity of learning to nurse another baby.  No biggie. Right?

My parents came in town a week after the birth of #5.  This was so needed and well timed, but it stressed me to the max. There were a lot of other factors in place that made a perfect storm of making my stress level hit a high octave. My sister came in the week after my parents.  It was a good visit and thinking about it now, there were times that really make me laugh.

My recovery was very slow. For a week my midsection didn't seem to work. That is the only way to describe it. It was like it wouldn't engage.  A chiropractic visit fixed this, but then my upper abs ached liked I'd done 1000 crunches the night before.

I got mastitis during my parents visit. I could not get a good latch and she demolished one of my nipples.  I've never had so much pain nursing.  I though it was me and I had forgotten all of this, but I kept on with a nipple shield.  I am tough.

Then we had a 1 month check up.  Our 9 lb 11oz baby at birth was at 9 lbs. She only pooped once a week.

I cried my eyes out. This wasn't normal. All of my breastfed babies made it back to their birth weight by 2 weeks, but most were at weight by a week. We were now a month out and 11 oz short. 

I felt like I had failed. Somehow.  Like I wasn't doing something right...I hadn't slept much. I was now immensely stressed and trying to keep up with the other 4 kids. I somehow knew it wasn't me.  I'd done this too many times before to know I was doing everything right.

Thanks to Babycenter and Google, I found my answer.  She had a posterior tongue tie. My pediatrician told me it would be fine and she had a tongue tie.  "She'll grow out of it. Every baby has their own eating personality," but "there were no doctors on the island that would [clip] it."  I left that office in tears. This just seemed weird and not okay.

This is where I am very thankful to be a) very persistent and b) the recipient of several tender mercies.