Update

Here's the scoop....

At the weight check today she had gained 4oz in the last 3 days which puts her at 11lb. I made the mistake of saying something like, "well ok, we'll just keep up feeding for longer periods" out loud and the nurse kinda freaked out and started asking me all the questions like "why would you need to do that?" and I was trying to explain things to her. When I mentioned that Hadley was sleeping 11 hours at night she again, freaked out like she shouldn't be sleeping that long, to which I immediately said, "If I wake her up, she'll be too tired to eat anyways, so I just let her sleep." I had been feeding her for about 30 minutes, and the doctor suggested supplementing with a bottle after nursing to see if she was still hungry. I was a little leery about doing that because I was afraid she'd get even more lazy and only take the bottle. So I decided to try to see if she'd eat for longer than 30 minutes. She kind of did but it was a bit of work, however she didn't want the bottle after eating for 45 minutes or more so I thought that was a better option. After seeing she gained weight with these longer feedings I figured we'd just keep it up, as crazy as it seems to feed her for close to an hour.

The doctor called later this afternoon and said he was glad to see she put on some weight, I was filled with relief. He then followed it with (this is a summary) "So we need to fit one more feeding in during the day since she's sleeping so much at night, which probably means feeding her every 3 hours during the day (we were doing every 5) because sometimes babies sleep so long because they don't get enough calories and they go into a calorie depravation mode and sleep." At these words my heart sank and I started having thoughts that I had deprived my baby of calories/nutrition for the last two months because I thought she was just a good sleeper. "We also need to have you come in for weekly weight checks for the next few weeks to stay on top of this and make sure she doesn't fall behind again." We do like our doctor but this certainly has been a struggle....she seems happy, developmentally on track, and she is growing, just not very much in the weight area so it's hard to see what the big deal is.

I think this week, until the next weight check, we're going to just stick with longer eating times and see what that does, if it doesn't work then I may have to pump and we'll just do strictly bottles....I'm not sure I'm ready to do formula since we've worked so hard at this breast feeding thing. Although it's hard to know what's best for Hadley, like should we just do bottles so she'll get more and we won't have to question how much she's getting? Aye, aye, aye (is that how you spell it??).

On the rice cereal front, we finally tried it tonight and she did ok. Her little tongue kept pushing it out so I think we'll take it slow until she gets her tongue working right to keep the food in. She seemed to like the taste, at least she didn't show any dislike to it. I'll put pictures up on facebook later.

Month 4

Enjoying Tummy Time

Our precious little girl has passed her 4 month mark this last weekend. We still think she's the cutest girl around. We often find ourselves talking about the little things she does, like the faces she makes and we like to go look at her sleeping away in her crib. She's getting longer and we thought she was growing just fine but the doctor didn't like her lean figure. At her check up she received her vaccines and we got to ask our long list of questions but the majority of the time was spent talking about her weight. At 2 months she weighed 10lbs 3oz and at 4 months she weighed 10lbs 12oz, gaining a total of 9oz. Not so good. The doctor even weighed her again for us and it came up the same. The doctor has seen this before in babies her age, but he seems to think that either I'm not making enough milk or she's not sucking very well (i.e. she's a lazy eater). Soooooo, back to getting weight checks. We have to go back this Friday to check it and if she hasn't gained any weight, we'll talk to the doctor again about what to do. Possible options from there are going to strictly bottle feeding (breastmilk or formula). The weird thing is she has been seeming completely satisfied after eating sooo......???? Until Friday, she's nursing and then we're offering her a little extra out of a bottle (more pumping for me!! woohoo! I'll do what I have to do).

I'm handling it a lot better this time around then when we had this problem in the first few weeks she was born. It's still easy to let thoughts creep in like 'I'm not doing enough' or that 'she's been deprived of proper nutrition for the last two months and can that effect her long term?' But I just pray about it when I get these negative thoughts and realize that most likely this is just an issue of her being kind of lazy. I certainly feel for those parents who have to deal with more serious issues and constant doctor's appointments.

In a more positive note, this has been a fun month. She's almost rolled completely over from back to front, she just gets her arm stuck under her. She still enjoys tummy time most days and will smile at most everybody. She'll laugh on rare occasions and then Jon and I work so hard to get her to do it again and she stares at us like we're from another planet. We are going to try rice cereal tonight, which I'm excited about. Hadley's also gotten really good at grabbing things and she's starting to stare at her hands when she grabs them. She's great at sucking her thumb when she wants it, which makes falling asleep much more peaceful and she does great sleeping in her crib. Finally, she looovvvveeess books. If you read a book to her she'll get really excited and talk up a storm while you read, I think she's trying to read with me but....she just stares at all the pictures, I'm glad she's liking it already, hopefully that will continue. I'll write an update about the weight issue and how the rice cereal goes!

Just waking up from a nap, but it looks like she's saying "uh oh..."

Taking a short nap on mom's lap.

Perceptions

I was at the grocery store today, in the produce department and an older man (probably in his 50's) walked past and noticed Hadley in the car seat. Ok, freeze the story right there, this man was probably about 5' 8", bald and I mean a shiny bald head, had tattoos up both arms, a long salt and pepper mustache thing. Continuing with the story....he smiled real big and said, "Aww what a cute little girl. My wife and I just got back from visiting our two granddaughters up in Montana, one is 7 months and one is 8 months." I made small talk with him about making the trip that far to see grandkids and it was a very pleasant conversation.

I imagine that at first some people reading this would think he would have been rude, or said something weird. His appearance certainly could have been a barrier/deception, but he was quite friendly and my "motherly instincts" were not alerted. It felt like talking to one of my parents' friends.

I always wonder how our culture got so unfriendly to strangers? There is a lot of crime and a lot of weirdos out there, I don't deny that at all. However, I think it might be safe to say that people in general are not out to hurt us, so why do we ignore another person when passing them on the sidewalk or in the grocery store? Is it all a matter of our perceptions of people? The stereo-types that someone dressed a certain way can't be friendly? Or might be a weirdo, boring, cranky, etc?

After working with people in a South Tucson neighborhood, I've had some of my own stereo-types dissolved. My perceptions are certainly flawed but I often wonder what kind of conversations I could have with people if I put those aside (unless my gut says the person is a threat) and talked? Some people who seem like ordinary people always seem to have extraordinary stories.