Once again, not good news. Henry's suck is not as good as I thought and he is not drinking enough from me.
This is quite disappointing. I had already gone back to feeding them at the same time and was enjoying the fact it goes a bit faster that way.
Now I am attempting to continue to feed them at the same time, but now they both have the SNS tubing to deal with as well. It does not go easily all the time because I don't have a free hand, so if they pull off then I have try to direct their heads to latch back on while also making sure the tiny tubing lines up into their mouths as well. While at the same time making sure the other twin doesn't pop off.
I would have to say that I am discouraged. I pray that as they grow bigger this improves. It certainly helps to have the scale because we can see how milk they drink from the SNS and how much they drink from me. It just adds one more thing to this circus I call life.
I think the thing that is so frustrating is that I know I have plenty of milk, but they can't seem to access it. I do think the balance between feeding them and pumping is tricky. I am not sure that my body is having enough time to refill to a level that they want. However, I can't stop pumping until they are nursing exclusively or I won't have anything to put in the SNS bottle. Also, I can't risk lowering my milk supply. I'm up to 2-4 oz per side depending on how well they eat. According to the scale they only take in about one ounce so if I were to stop pumping then my supply will adjust to only making one ounce every 3 hours and that would definitely not work.
It makes my head hurt.
I have not spoken with the consultant again since I learned that Henry's intake was less than we thought. However, when I spoke with her the other day she was so encouraging and said that no matter how this ends up that I was such a trooper. She said that she was going to use me as the 'example' when other moms were whining about nursing one baby that was issue free. (her words, not mine) She thinks they will eventually get it because of my perseverance. I can be quite stubborn I suppose. This is one of those instances that parents of stubborn children are thankful for because don't we all say, "She so stubborn, but hopefully that trait will help her when she grows up in some way."
It really helps me to know that people are praying for the twins and their growth. I pray that I keep my cool and think about the big picture. They nurse for a year, so a couple of months of headache is worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment