Emmelyn Ariel...

We are now six weeks into the birth of baby Emme. I am happy to say the baby blues have been so much better than what they were a few weeks ago. Since its been 6 years since I had Anneliese I really don't remember how I felt after I gave birth to her. There are times when I can remember bits and pieces of when I would tell someone about the baby blues I had after her but I don't remember actually going through it. No wonder I wanted another baby! :)...One seems to forget everything, yeesh. Well since this one is still fresh in my head I might as well jot it down before its long gone. With Anneliese I breastfed her until my boobs took a turn for the worst with my nipples being cracked and all. Being that I did not have much help and I was so new to it all I gave up very quickly and formula fed her. Now, being that Anneliese was formula fed and six years later she is the most amazing little girl anyone can ever wish for I am not against it at all. She has barely been sick all these years - and she was always a good eater and is the smartest little thing ever. So again, I am not against formula :) Back to this time around...I wanted to exclusively breastfeed Emmelyn and I tried, I did. She was constantly feeding, I got minutes of sleep at all times. When I tried pumping as well, nothing was coming out, literally drops. So I worried she was not getting much milk since she constantly cried for more and never seem satisfied. At her one week check-up her doctor was concerned she lost more weight than normal and wanted us to formula feed her as well as breastfeed. After a visit with the lactation consultant it seemed as though there were more issues at hand being that my breasts did not grow at all during my pregnancy and after feeding and weighing her she was only drinking about 1/2 ounce from each. Not enough at all. Every day I told myself and everyone I was no longer going to breastfeed and will just stick to formula. I mean what's so bad about formula anyway, like I said Anneliese turned out great and hello...me too! I continued to pump so that I would not get engorged and slowly my milk will dry up. There was a good week when she did not even nurse at all and I pumped about once a day, waiting, just waiting until it would all be gone. But for some reason I kept pumping, why? Well one day when she began crying hysterically and turning beat red during a diaper change, I could not bear to see her go through that constipation again due to being solely formula fed...so I began nursing again, pumping more, praying my supply would return...and it did :) Although, I still cannot pump more than 3 sometimes 2 ounces from both at a time, she seems to be satisfied when she does nurse. {sigh of relief}. Her stools are back to normal, no pain :) pictures coming soon...