Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Scratch, Ouch, Ouch Again, Bilirubin, Other Stuff

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been a little distracted.

Instead of going away after delivery, the PUPPP got worse. What was mostly a maddening itch on my belly and upper thighs during pregnancy has become a full-blown red blotchy rash on my stomach, legs, arms, back, and butt. The rash is spreading every day, and the constant scratching is driving me and everyone around me nuts.

Bright side? Pregnancy fingernails. Whoo ah! (scritch scratch scratch) I can dig at my flesh with fantastically strong nails.

Let’s see, what else. Ooh, yes. Childbirth hurts. Recovering from childbirth is also painful. Ibuprofen really doesn’t take the edge off like it should.

Nursing? Also hurts. The colostrum phase never hurt with Lumpyhead. He latched fine until my milk came in, then our problems started. Lumpyhead’s sister is a little more forceful with her latch, and “bleeding” and “scabs” are never words you want to utter when talking about nipples.

In his first week, Lumpyhead dealt with nursing a lot like a professional wine taster sets about judging wine. He would carefully sip, aerating the liquid and swishing it around his mouth. He might swallow some, but also do a good deal of spitting.

His sister’s approach to nursing is more like a frat boy doing a keg stand.

Football hold? Crossover hold? Whatever. I swear I could hold her upside down by the ankle in the general area of my chest and Little Achilles would still manage to latch on like a determined crocodile.

On Friday she started to look a little yellow. Lumpyhead was hospitalized for phototherapy, so we were anxious about jaundice with this baby. When she began sleeping more and seeming lethargic, we started her on formula and I started with the pump. Honestly, the breast pump was a lot gentler than her greedy little mouth.

On Saturday we began our daily trips to the pediatrician. Over the course of the weekend, we visited two different hospital labs for heelsticks and bilirubin counts. Monday’s count was lower, which is good, and the baby is now getting pumped milk instead of formula and won’t be going back to the doctor until her two-week checkup.

Bump’s mother is back in Florida and now my parents are in town. With all the grandparental attention, Lumpyhead is handling the arrival of his new sister with practiced nonchalance. He doesn’t seem to mind that she’s around, but he seems concerned when she cries (in more of a “make that infernal racket stop” kind of way rather than an “oh dear, what’s wrong with the baby” kind of way). He kissed her little head today, which was cute.

I still don’t know what I’m calling her.

22 comments:

theotherbear said...

Aww, she is just beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Perfect little velvet-headed wonder. Love the girly shirt.

Anonymous said...

Baby lips! Baby nose! Chubby little baby arms! Perfect, peaceful baby photo.

My boys were both keg standers fersure. Come to think of it, they both spit up like they'd been doing keg stands all day long too.

merseydotes said...

She's adorable.

I kind of like Hank.

Em said...

Thanks for the picture. She is beautiful!! Hang in there with all the adjustments. It sounds like all in all you are doing pretty well.

Daddy L said...

She's a cutie. Congratulations!

I can't speak from experience, because I can't get pregnant, but sometimes I scratch my head. Is that the same as what you're going through?

Brandie said...

She is adorable!
Hope all the pain subsides for you soon!

Melissa said...

She's so beautiful! And peaceful! Do you spend half the day kissing that little head?!

Gidge Uriza said...

I would just call her Byootifl.

But I can't spell, bcse I'm on the internet all day.

Anonymous said...

I love that picture!

I hear vodka stops the itching... if you drink enough.

Anonymous said...

Here's to pregnancy fingernails. How about calling her the Achille-dile?

Congrats! She looks so sweet and content.

Anonymous said...

now THAT'S the picture we were waiting for. what an angel! sorry about the voracious nursing, though. and the pupps. and the painful yinyang. yeow to all of it.

can't wait to hear what we get to call her!

bozoette said...

She's gorgeous! Hope the itchiness subsides soon.

Becky said...

I'd call her beautiful too.

mo-wo said...

I call her beautiful. Oh my god.

Good job Mama.

Enjoy and lots of love to the whole family from all the Wo's. Miss Fancy just wrote Lumpyhead a post last night (she was thinking of you when she put the Dad part in italics.)

Take care. Enjoy it is ALL OVER for me. It goes so fast in retrospect.

tammy said...

That baby can't be a week old, she's way too beautiful!

I had a friend that also had the itching problem. I think it turned out to be stress related, or maybe it was allergies, or something that sucked...

BTW - she will always be Shaq Attack to me!

Violet said...

Ah, she's so cute! I didn't think one treated jaundice with formula - I thought you just had to take the kid out into the sun a bit more often. I'm glad she's all good now.

Unknown said...

As I was reading your post it all came flooding back, the birth, the breasfeeding, the pain...I have been tossing the baby #2 question for quite some time and your post freaked me out a bit. Then came the amazing photo at the end... That's it we are having another one! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the photo. It's a good thing she's cute. I'm getting flashbacks to those first painful days of breastfeeding-- hang in there!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous! What a beautiful baby! And I've got one of my own now (2 weeks old and counting), so you know I'm biased! What a sweetheart, and it sounds like she's a great eater. That's so important. My Little Bear is too -- much better than my first child 2 years ago -- and the lac consultant says it's cause second children have it easier. The milk comes in faster and they get rewarded right away, so it all feeds on each other. (Ouch. And on us, I suppose.)

Congratulations! I look forward to hearing more about your little darling as time goes by!

(Oh, and I hear you about the scabs. Ouch, ouch, ouch. This too shall pass....)

Kemp said...

Beautiful little girl... congratulations.

Hope you begin to feel better soon.

Karin's Korner said...

She is absolutly beautiful.