A Gain

Last week, I went and met with the best nurse I've ever encountered.  She was far better than any doctor that I've met even.  She is also one of the lactation consultants that we met with.  She speaks in such a soft voice and somehow was able to read my worry for Caitlyn. 

She helped me to latch Caitlyn properly.  It turns out that Caitlyn was latching correctly, but just started to push away after awhile, something that is hard to see from my angle.  She told me that Caitlyn was probably overwhelmed with the weight of everything after letdown, and showed me how to fix it.  We weighed Caitlyn again after she fed and she had eaten 2 ounces just off of one side and within a short period of time!  This was so relieving.  She was also up to 8 lbs overall, a gain from the last visit.

After that, Caitlyn got the hiccups and started to cry pretty hard when we tried to switch sides.  I'd already told the nurse about her holding her breath while crying.  She instantly tried to soothe the two of us as I was trying to calm Caitlyn.  She showed me a way to hold Caitlyn that got her calmed down and then started telling me that it was okay to put Caitlyn down at home when she is crying.  I started to cry.  It was like she knew instantly what to say next because she said, "It is okay to cry.  This is completely normal for NICU moms. You worry that what happened in the hospital will happen again. But it won't.  She is a healthy baby.  She will be okay if she cries."  She was so calm and so comforting.  She left me with a bunch of blogs and Facebook sites for NICU moms.  The other doctors seemed so nervous when I started crying, but this woman knew exactly what was going on and I didn't even have to try to explain.

She also gave us some of the best advice for Caitlyn's colic.  I'm not sure if it will work, but we will see.  She told me that NICU babies frequently have colic because of the antibiotics that are put into them before they are even able to eat. This made complete sense.  She then told me to give her probiotic drops to see if that would help.  If not, then we are going to try to eliminate dairy from my diet to see if it helps her. 

The days are getting better.  We went out to lunch with my mother-in-law and father-in-law today to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday.  Caitlyn was as calm as can be during the entire lunch.