Our Sunshine Boys: Unhappy Camper

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Unhappy Camper

This pic is of a happy camper yesterday. I couldn't get a good pic today because he was unhappy. You get 4 shots and see how happy you are. We went for a weight check and he got 4 of his immunizations. He weighs 8 lbs 1 ounce. The doc figured it out to be a gain of .77 of an ounce/day. She wants me to continue with 3 bottles a day in addition to nursing. I was exclusively nursing and then the doc wanted me to add one bottle a day of my milk plus 2 tsp. of neosure to add calories. This past week, I've had to up that to 3 bottles a day. When you want to keep your milk supply up-it is hard to give 3 bottles a day. I am very discouraged because I don't think I will be nursing very much longer. I do not pump anymore. I stopped that in February and gave the pump back to the hospital. It was difficult to pump and nurse. It seemed like that was all I did. My 4 and 2 year old seemed to be at their worst when I was "busy." I do have plenty of milk supply in my freezer from when he was in the NICU and I had to pump. They say breastmilk is the best but I feel inadequate when the doc wants to add all this other stuff to it. I know that he needs calories. I am not going to deny him his calories. I'm trying not to take this personally but I am having a hard time. I have the thoughts, "I can't provide my baby with what he needs-what is wrong with me?"

I also am so worried that he has a form of dwarfism. We were told when he was inutero that he had short longbones. That could be a sign of Down's or dwarfism. They ruled Down's out when they did a chromosomal study while he was in the NICU. They have not ruled out dwarfism. We are supposed to see a geneticist soon.

Please pray that I continue to give my worries up to God. It is always a struggle. Some days I feel good and it is easier to give my worries to God but then days like today-I really struggle. I am so worried.

2 comments:

Mrs Furious said...: I had to stop commenting on that post but I wanted you to know that I sent this email to someone who just couldn't let it go...

"Here's the reality. Children are raised all day. All day. By teachers, daycare workers, parents. Everyone who spends significant time with your children is "raising" them. The raising doesn't just happen on someone's day off or the hours after work. Whether or not that is the choice someone wants to make... or the best choice for them... or their children is individual. But when Sunshine Mom wrote "We are raising our kids to be upstanding citizens...we aren't leaving it up to someone else."
She wasn't attacking working moms. She was just telling the truth. That is why many of us do it."; April 23, 2008 at 6:20 PM
SUNSHINE MOM said...: Mrs. F

Thanks for standing up for us hard-working SAHMs.; April 23, 2008 at 11:25 PM

Post a Comment

About the boys

As of 3/31/08

Ryan is 4 1/2 years old. He is in preschool and loves every minute of it. He loves to color and he loves Larry Boy, the superhero from Veggie Tales.

Jack is almost 3 and he is the aggressive one. He likes to pick on his older brother. Even though he picks on Ryan, he likes to do whatever his big brother does.

Evan is 4 months old but is the size of an average newborn. He was born 9 weeks early. He was only 1 lb 15 ounces and 12 1/2 inches long at birth.

All of the boys have had their medical issues.

Ryan was diagnosed at birth with hydrocephalus. He was shunted at 3 days old. That shunt failed at about a year old. That is when the docs performed a third ventriculostomy. That failed one month later and was redone. His last surgery was January 2009 when he was 5. He has MRI's annually to make sure the hydrocephalus is under control.

Jack was diagnosed at 3 months old with hydrocephalus. He was shunted immediately but that shunt failed at 7 months old. They performed a third ventriculostomy and he has not had another surgery since. He has MRI's once a year.

Evan was born Intrauterine Growth Restricted(IUGR). He was born at 31 weeks 3 days gestational age. He was only 1 lb 15 ounces and he spent almost 2 months in the NICU.