alexist

Exhausting! :-) She wakes up every 2 hours for a feed. This wouldn't be so bad if it were just the breast, but Aliza's feeds are more complicated. I don't know who thought bottle feeding was easier than breast. The only easier thing about it is that Daddy can do it. Other than that it's 10 times more work and requires more advance planning (bottles must be washed and sterilised, water boiled and cooled, feed made up--and if it's done in advance and put in the fridge, then it has to be warmed up...) Neil's a trooper. He warms up all the bottles while I try the breast. It does mean neither of us sleep, though.

Hopefully my milk will come in in the next day or two and we can at least dispense with mixing up the Aptamil. I've also decided to break the bank and try the two specialist Medela feeders if Mothercare have them in. They do the regular Haberman feeder (Special Needs) and then another SoftCup Feeder which is meant to help babies with a weak suck and ease the transition to breastfeeding. I'll start with one of each (at £17.99... sigh) and see how it works. Breastfeeding certainly isn't cheaper for us! But this isn't something I can compromise on, and if she's having latching trouble to begin with, I don't want to worsen it by getting her used to teats.

(Hrm, Neil just rang, they don't sell SpecialNeeds in regular Mothercare... we'll try the other one, see how it goes. We can always order the other online.)

The midwife came this morning, and had a look at me and Aliza. (This is one good thing about the UK--the midwives come to your home after the birth! Of course, Barnet is cutting the service :( ) She had a look at our notes and said "my, lots going on here!" Heh. Apparently, my haemoglobin is really low. I knew it was low, but didn't know it was that bad--8.9! Anything under 11 is anaemia. No wonder I have to take 2 iron tablets twice a day. I did lose a litre of blood though :( Definitely not helping my milk supply, there.

OK, Neil's back, got one SoftCup feeder which is quite interesting--it really is a cup at the end. We'll see if she'll take from it...

Last night the thermometer said it was 25 in the lounge. Neil and I were thinking "no way". This morning, the midwife came in (thermometer showing 21.7) and said "ooh, it's chilly in here".

I knew it was wrong last night, because I had to put another layer on Aliza (her hands were cold).

This afternoon, Neil got another thermometer. It says it's 18.

Take that, expensive egg. Annoying though, it's dead easy to see at night...

We've switched to the SoftCup feeder and she's taking to it nicely, so we'll get a 2nd tomorrow. I also managed to pump a bit :) (Just been using the Medela Swing [figured I'd planned to buy one in 6 weeks or so anyway, so it wasn't a waste to get it now] since I got home as my Symphony is being delivered tomorrow--I called too late yesterday for next-day delivery). I should get better results with that as it's hospital grade and does a better job before your supply is established. I wasn't expecting to get much at all with the Swing but at least it provides stimulation. Aliza's also managed to latch on, and stayed latched for a bit, which was nice. The NCT counsellor gave me some tips, and we'll see how it goes. I'll ask the midwife about counsellors/consultants who do home visits, in case she still won't latch on.

I haven't mentioned, though, that feeding issues aside, Aliza is adorable and lovely (and is currently all cute and snuggly in a Winnie the Pooh sleep suit) and I do like being a mother! Except when she screams. She has quite a set of lungs on her. Perhaps we should have chosen Shira instead... ;) (means "song")

Meanwhile, my stitches are hurty. Well, not exactly. You see, they took them out yesterday, and discovered things haven't healed properly. So I was patched up with Surgi-Strips, bandaged, and told to come back on Thursday. I now hurt worse than I did before they removed the stitches. :(

I am a walking pharmacy. I have:
3x Effexor, 1x/day
100mcg Thyroxine, 1x/day
2 10/500 co-dydramol, every 6 hours
1 Diclofenac, every 8 hours
2x 200mg ferrous sulphate, 2x/day with food
500mg penicillin, 4x/day, 1h before eating
And now, 15ml Lactulose every evening, to counteract the surgery, co-dydramol and iron tablets...

At some point, I'm going to mix things up!!

Aliza just has folic acid in a little dropper, which hasn't posed a problem.