[jenedens6102]

Devan, princess Mya is gorgeous. I love the curls she's getting in the first picture. It's always been so straight in the others. I'm glad that your production seems to be increasing with all that you've tried. Keep me posted on things and let me know if you need anything.

Christine, how is beautiful Aedyn Satori doing this week?

Katrina, Madison is such a good eater. Ethan was the same way and he's not stopped growing or eating since!

[larklynn]

Devan- Mya is so cute!!
you would think after all these months I would have learned to post pictures but I haven't.

Victoria was 7lbs 12 ozs at her appointment yesterday She gained almost a lb in a week and a half. and grew an inch. she is up to 20 in. they also have me putting something under her mattress to have her head propped up do to the fact that she is already snoring.

Christine- Im glad the chiropracter seemed to work for Aedyn and she is feeling so well.

[jenedens6102]

We can help you get a picture posted. If you need instructions let me know. If you can't get them resized well enough you can always email them to someone else and they can post for you.

[charms]

Mya has some beautiful curles!!!And those big brown eyes!

Devan - thanks for the addl supplement, I looked it up and called all over phx to see if any of the stores had it in stock, only one does, so tomorrow DH, Aedyn and I will venture into Tempe and pick some up and try it also.

Jen - we decided to also switch her to the simalic soy today and she is doing wonderfully with less fussiness. I think the combination of the soy and the chiropractic care will do the trick. In addition to as much milk as I can give her.

How is little Ethan growing??? Any new big boy pictures?

[larklynn]

jen I would love the help with the pictures

[dndtaylor]

Christine that new stuff is working, I can see improvement and its not even been 48 hrs. Glad you are going to try it too. Best of luck! Oh and it tastes HORRIBLE! I tried it without mixing and oh my goodness. So Im mixing it with 2 oz of liquid. Even though it tastes awful it's so worth it. Let me know how it goes. We too had to drive about 45 mins to get the "goods" lol.

[jenedens6102]

Originally Posted by larklynn

jen I would love the help with the pictures

Do you want to email them to me to upload for you or do you want help figuring out how to upload them yourself?

If you want to email them to me you can do so at jene6102@yahoo.com

If you want to upload them yourself you go to the Reply button and then along the top row under the Title line you'll see a paperclip for attachments. You click that and then browse to find your picture. It does have to be within a certain size. Should you need to resize you can open that picture in whatever program you have and click edit picture and you can crop or resize. Cropping takes the outer edges off that you might not care about posting and resizing will change the size of the entire picture. I hope this helps.

[jenedens6102]

Christine, Ethan is definitely a big boy. He had his 6 month well visit today and is 18 lbs 10 oz (75%) and 29 inches (off the charts). I'm having trouble getting good, smiling pictures these days but here are two from yesterday.

[CLA]

Christine...thanks for starting this thread.

Love the pictures...these babies are so precious!

I'm so sorry that many people are having problems with breastfeeding but it does make me feel better that I'm not abnormal!!!

I have been taking fenugreek for weeks, goat's rue (disgusting and ran out...didn't do much so not buying more), eating oatmeal, drinking mother's milk tea and now taking "more mothers milk" (almost as disgusting as goat's rue). Maybe I see a marginal increase but it hasn't really moved the needle significantly with my milk production. I've seen two lactation consultants and an occupational therapist (who is helping Trey's suck swallow; she also does some massage that relieves Trey's tension, etc...kind of like a chiropractor for babies...very cool). All three "experts" have been great...really like the occupational therapist...but nothing is working. Basically, Trey now has breast aversion and doesn't want to latch everytime even with the nipple shield.

All the lactation consultants say that IVF along with c-sections can cause low milk production. Then if you might have PCOS, it affects you further. I don't really get why getting pregnant via IVF should affect breastfeeding given the body has 9 months to catch-up....overall it is frustrating!!!

I'm going to start Dom Perignon (alternative to Reglan and they say that it doesn't cause depression like Reglan can) tomorrow. If this doesn't work, I think I will just pump what I can and supplement with formula.

Does anybody else feel like the attempts to breastfeed (which has generally been unsuccessful) is affecting their time with their babies? I hate the time it takes (feeding, trying to latch and then pumping afterwards) from me interacting and playing with Trey (or even get something else done around the house). As I'm now halfway through my maternity leave, I really want the remaining time to be peaceful and not continue to be a struggle.

Anyway, I'm curious on your views of nanny versus daycare as I'm not trying to line up where Trey will go when I go back to work. Unfortunately, in the NYC area, the cost of a nanny is the same as daycare. Part of me wants the one-on-one interaction that you get with a nanny but I interviewed one yesterday and I didn't click with her. Needless to say that I wasn't really prepared to interview her well (any tips on what to ask?) but didn't like her answers anyway. We toured one daycare where they have a spot for us and we liked it but Trey would have the increased possibilities of illnesses due to other babies and I'm concerned about the lack of consistent one-on-one interaction as the ratio of teacher to babies is 4-1. Any thoughts or advice are welcome!

[anirtak]

Madison is definelty packing on the weight. We had her one week check up to day and she weighs 7 lbs. 1 oz. She gained 12 oz. in 5 days!

[charms]

my little aedyn is now 4 wks old!!! tim really flys.

Devan we drove the 45 mins to pick up the "goods" - I figure I will start it tonight and keep taking the fenugreek. it took us an hour and a half to get back to our side of town.....rush hour traffic!

CLA - it is so great to see you here!!!! Where are the adorable pic updates of Trey?
What is Dom Perignon??? sounds like a very expensive champagne I will have to google it and if this other stuff doesnt do a great job, I'll ask the MFM for a script.
I kinda feel like my time pumping is taking away from my time of bonding, although it is nice to have DH do the bottle feeding while I pump, I would rather know that I satisfy my little girls hunger.

Jen - Ethan is getting so big and boy is he a handsome little guy! I could just gobble him up!
I love his name, everytime I see your posts, I smile and think of my Ethan and my Andrew

Katrina - I still can't get Aedyn to take more than 2 oz. per feeding.

[anirtak]

Originally Posted by charms

Katrina - I still can't get Aedyn to take more than 2 oz. per feeding.

Christine- I have the opposite problem. Madison seems to be wanting more than 3 oz. At two different feedings last night I had to give her an extra oz! I have a feeling that all though she came out tiny, she is going to be a big girl!

[charms]

Katrina - she is growing good.

Aedyn doesnt really seem very interested in eating much more than 2 oz per feeding. she had 3oz two times in the last two weeks.

Devan - you are right that stuff really tastes horrible - but I can live with it. I am hoping to see some improvement over the weekend!

[CLA]

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.

I unfortunately have gotten mastitis of my right breast (had 101 temperature yesterday and redness on my right breast)...to add injury to insult, Trey typically rejects my right breast over my left one so I'm surprised I got it on that breast. On antibiotics and already feel better.

Attached are two recent pictures of Trey...one with DH when we visited his mother in MA and the other is from Saturday when he decided sleep in. He is starting to "plump" out.

I started domperidone on Sat so will let you know if it affects my milk production in a couple of days.

Ladies...I need some advice on daycare versus a nanny as we have to make a decision shortly. We have the opportunity for what seems like a nice daycare (ratio of workers to babies is 4-1 though). I have also interviewed a nanny that seems pretty good but need to check her references. The nanny is a little more expensive but not materially. I am conflicted about the options and not sure which way to go. Nanny would allow one-on-one and avoid sickness of other children but you are dependent on that one person being there and doing the right thing. At daycare, you don't get one-on-one attention and there is the possibility of increase illness and overstimulation however the service is reliable and babies seemed happy (though we did visit in the morning). One other issue is that we will have put a bit into our Dependent Savings Account for childcare expenses for 2008 and the nanny I'm thinking about doesn't yet have a social security number and we can't claim on that account unless we provide a SSN. Hate to lose the money but am I right to focus on what care is best for Trey than the money? What are your views on which way to go? I know it is a personal decision but I'm a deer in headlights right now and that is not my style.

[charms]

oh look at those cheeks!!! he is an handsome boy!

let me know about the dom - i see the mfm on friday, maybe that would be better for me.

we have decided to go with the Air Forces Child Development Center. It is 1 to 4 also, however they have only 8 infants 0-6mth in a room and the will provide all the formula and are very strict on the training staff have to have. i think that although there might be more exposure to illness, this would help to build up the immunity of the baby.

But when we were still having twins we were going to have an au pair that would live with us and watch them.

it is a hard decision though.