Oh man, what a day!!! I have to thank Daddy in a Strange Land and the fellow gang first of all for visiting us in the hospital after we had the baby. It was nice to see them and their kids. I can't even tell you how amazing it is to have a baby, and to hold your baby in your arms for the first time. In addition, it was insane to see my wife push that baby out of you know where, and I can tell you I did not know you could fall more in love with a person, but I truly have even more amounts of admiration, respect, and love for her.
Anyways, it really hit me hard that I was actually a father when we got home from the hospital. It was a rush, but at the same time totally surreal. We wanted to try our hardest to breasfeed only, but only small amounts of colustrum were coming out. We should have known it suspicious when our baby was hardly putting out any wet diapers. Of course, when we went in to see the pediatrician this morning, our poor little baby had lost significant weight and was jaundice. As a family practitioner, I should have seen all this, but I have been so exhausted and run down, I just figured it was all because our boy is Asian, which is partly true. Anyways, we had to go the hospital to draw labs, and meet with the Lactation consultant. My wife then had a breakdown since she felt like she was trying her hardest to feed the baby, but her nipples were on fire like someone poured tobasco sauce on them, and the baby was now dehydrated and jaundice. Fortunately, we got some great tips from the lactation consultant, and we headed for home to supplment the breasfeeding with formula. Thank goodness that when we started doing this, our kid started to have more wet diapers and stool. I almost broke down and cried out of happiness seeing the stained diapers each time. After using the Lanolin cream and improving the latch, my wife's nipples started to feel less painful, and our baby is chilling with his bilirubin UV lighs at home.
Anyways, it was a lesson in humility and education. I know that while I can read all the textbooks I want, it won't help until I actually go through the experience and understand it from a personal point of view. Our little yellow baby is doing better, and is having glorious poop and pee making his dad proud!!!
4 comments:
My son, born two months earlier, was exactly the same size as yours! We had the same breastfeeding problem with our first. I hated the bili-blanket; this time around we started him on formula right away and his bilirubin level was never a problem although he was still yellow (more so than just being Asian, you know) for a week. With the first baby my breastfeeding woes lasted a month and half, but this time around aside from the initial engorgement everything went well, except, of course, the breasts were on fire for a good few weeks. Btw, you can never take too many pictures, so start right away!
We had the same experience too! I think its the anal perfectionist tendency in me that made me have my breakdown when the Pumpkin stopped making wet diapers on the 3rd day. (Of course, we gave formula too.) It's totally irrational but you think to yourself, "I'm a smart person why can't I do this?" Just hang in there. It's worth it.
Lanolin is a life-saver... Congratulations! :-) LN was a little jaundiced - and she also had a lot of yellow outfits... oh, boy. We had a little Oompah-Loompah on our hands.
Congratulations to you, Dr. and Mrs. Lo Siento! What a sweet post. Welcome new baby!
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