I had a great visit with the lactation consultant, Robyn, today. She called yesterday and told me that she wanted to get Lorelai started on The Supplementer. The supplementer is basically a small bottle that I wear around my neck and it has two small tubes coming out of it. I tape one tube near each nipple and then when Lorelai latches on to the nipple she gets the tube too. This way, even if I'm not making enough milk, she still gets nutrition.

It works great and Lorelai is able to latch on and feed for about 10 minutes on each side but because it is much more difficult to breastfeed then to bottle feed she tires out easily and is really only getting about 1 oz so I finish her off with the bottle. To get her more used to it Robyn suggested I try to find a day where I can spend with her just experimenting with the supplementer until she gets used to it. I have most of the day tomorrow so I think I will take advantage of it.

Robyn still feels like there is something going on with me that is causing my milk not to come in. She believes that it is retained placenta but that when she spoke with one of the midwives where I delivered the midwife didn't seem too concerned. I'm going to call the midwife tomorrow and try to get one of them that I know a bit better and see if I can make any progress with them. If I can't, Robyn gave me the name of a doctor that is also a lactation specialist and I will call her.

It feels good to be able to "feed" Lorelai and especially good not to be chained to the pump. Woo hoo!!!

Today was a complete turn around from yesterday and we are so excited. The feedings went really well through the night and all day. She is back to the sweet, sweet baby that we had the first three days of her life. We took her to the doctor too and she had put on 7oz by this morning, he thought that might be a record! We will take her back on Monday and probably be able to cut back on the frequency of the feedings.

We have been feeding her every 2 hours through out the day and every 3 hours at night. She sleeps right up to her feedings and if she does wake early it is by about 5-10 minutes. We even saw her smile today. A happy baby is such an amazing feeling.

The pumping is a bit challenging. I have to pump every time we feed Lorelai so it is a little overwhelming. If I want to feed her then it takes about 30 minutes, then I have to pump for 30 minutes and by then I only have an hour before we begin the cycle again. Most of the time I let Joe or my mom feed her while I pump so that it makes it go a little faster but then I miss out on the bonding. It is nice for Joe and my mom to be able to bond with her in that way. Soon I will be back to the breast feeding and the mommy bonding.