The Emmaline Saga

     The day after Emmaline was released from the NICU I had to take her to see a pediatrician! Unfortunately her regular one, the one I have had for 4 yrs, wasn't available but I hoped that the one I chose from the ones available would be okay!! I was a little hesitant when I learned it was a man!! (and no I don't think there is anything wrong with men doctors but not every man has what it takes. Granted there are some wonderful men doctors out there but unless you know who they are you are taking your chances. Which is why I usually stick with my rules, name I can pronounce and female.) I hated having to go back to the doctors right after I had just brought her home but since she was in the NICU it was standard procedure!! The pediatrician was very nice and one of the men I would consider taking my kids to if I needed a pediatrician when ours wasn't available. Everything went fine, he said that she was still in the normal weight loss area and that she was only very slightly jaundice. Again nothing to be concerned with. I wish that the appointment could have been a little later because then the following might never have happened but rules are rules.
    I do not believe that because Emmaline was in the NICU and forced to have bottles at times that they completely ruined her chances for nursing. But I also don't think they did her any favors. During the next couple of days I proceeded to try and get her to nurse and let me tell you it was a challenge! Having already nursed two other children without any abnormalities or complications I was perplexed. By the time Sunday came around I had tried everything and was more than ready to go to the lactation clinic. At this point I wasn't giving her a bottle because I wanted her to get use to me. But she pretty much wouldn't do it. Of course we were concerned and so we began feeding her through the medicine syringes. Granted it took awhile but at least she got fed. Monday morning I called the lactation clinic and left a message with my info and problems. They called a couple hours later to schedule me an appointment for the earliest opening they had, which wasn't until Wednesday!! UGH!! Which meant I had to muddle through another 2 days. I kept pumping every 3 hours and feeding her with the syringe.
    Wednesday arrived, finally, and after dropping off the older 2 kids I headed to the lactation clinic hopeful of some help!! The lactation nurse was very friendly and after weighing her we discovered much to my horror that Emmaline had lost more weight. She now weighed only 6lbs 5.8ounces! She had lost almost a whole pound. We made an attempt to try to get her nurse but she wasn't latching on. The nurse felt that she was just to weak to continue and needed to gain some weight before we could really try to address the latching on problems. I told her what we had been doing and she was sleeping a lot which I was concerned with a little. She informed me that Emmaline was reserving her strength because she wasn't getting enough to eat. Ugh!! So we scheduled another visit for Monday and I went home to begin what would become a 3 month adventure!! I would pump every 3 hours, which had to be done before she woke up, and then give it to her in a bottle. At this point I had a lot of milk so we were storing all of it. I also had to wake myself up in the middle of the night so I could pump before I had to wake her up!! Yes you read it right, she was already sleeping pretty much through the night and I had to wake her. Needless to say that only last a short while. Neither she nor I wanted to be waken up and by the time she was about a month old she was eating lots during the day and only take a couple short naps during the day. We found this wonderful bottle warmer from Babies R Us that was a life safer during those 3 months. I would highly recommend it to anyone!! Emmaline continued to gain weight even with her sleeping through the night so we let it go and never looked back!!