Well long story short, the meds she was on messed her up. She was having good days and bad days, high times and many low times. Aunt Jill came to help take her to her many doctor appointments. In the mean time, Grammie was put into the hospital 3 times to get her vitals back in order.
One day she was feeling good and well enough to come and visit us. The kids just love both these women. They hold a special place in my life and now my kids also get to have many memories with Grammie and Aunt Jill. We love the letters that come from California and love to go by the mountains (as Lexi calls it) to visit Grammie.
During the last 2 months, I have prayed so hard for her to get her strength back. I'm so grateful for her and her love for us. And especially grateful that Lilly is named after her. Jill is headed back to Cali tomorrow and Grammie is in a rehabilitation center to get some strength back and plans on going to Jill's house in a couple weeks. The kids said their goodbyes last week (when we thought she was leaving) and were sad to not see them both until the birthdays in our family roll around (spring time:).
So thankful and grateful and just love these two!
One night, Mike and I were able to sneak away and go to his mission reunion at the Church History Building. We ate dinner at the Lion House Pantry and snuck in late to the reunion. Mike's mission President is Steven Snow who is the church historian. We got a private tour of many Church artifacts. I loved seeing the manuscript that Martin Harris transcribed along with several original Book of Mormon's. The church searches for these artifacts and they are restored and dwell in the building.
WELL, the tour was extra long and my poor nursing baby refused to eat, refused to be happy and pretty much cried all night. Grams is always cold and insisted she have a sweater on. This is how we found her in the kitchen when we got home (really late I might ad). Lilly is in her jammies, in her sweater, wrapped in Maddy's hoodie and has 2 blankets wrapped around her. At least she was warm right? She survived and Aunt Jill came again a week later to babysit again. What a saint she is!
8 comments:
None of my babies ever took a bottle. With Alyssa I worked from 6AM-noon and she would get up and wait all morning until I came home to feed her. I had a freezer full of milk but she would not touch a bottle. So I never even tried with the other two and just nursed them for 13 months and then moved them to a cup. I have to imagine that Lilly will opt to eat rather than starve at some point, right? I have no expertise in this area so I guess I will just wish you good luck! And I do hope your Grammie starts feeling stronger soon.
Call OB at the hospital where she was born. They will have a lactation specialist, so ask to speak with her. She will have all sorts of information and hints for you.
When Mister was in the hospital and not able to keep anything down (it was 4 days total) I pumped and dumped and he went back to nursing full time. That was at 9 months and he nursed until 17 months.
I told you about my pump and dump and I breast fed Spencer until he was 18 months. Sorry it is going so rough.
I will pray for your adorable grandma!!! She is such a cutie!!
What a fun night to see so much of church history.
I have a friend who is a lactation specialist. She helped another friend learn how to nurse her adopted baby and she was able to nurse him totally until he was a toddler. I really suspect Lilly will be happy to continue nursing when you return home. The big issue will be getting her so she will take a bottle and food while you're gone. I'll try and find some info on that for you.
I love that photo of the kids with their Grammy and Aunt Jill. Both are beautiful women, for sure. And the warm baby will go down as a classic, for sure!
If it were me, I would try pumping and dumping. I enjoy nursing so much, and I always have a really hard time giving it up.
I always feel like I don't have my "baby" anymore once I stop. They get so big, so fast!
I've never bought formula before, but my doctor told me how much I would save if I nursed for the 1st year and I couldn't believe it.
BUT- in the end, you have to do what works best for you. You're the momma and whatever you do will be the right thing.
Good luck! I would try getting Mike to give her a bottle on a regular basis over the next few weeks. She won't take one from you because she can smell your milk. It might take a long time to break her, but she isn't going to starve herself.
Let me know how I can help while you're gone. I will be in town.
And I love the picture of her all bundled up- she was safe and warm for sure!
I agree with the do what works best for you comment. I would have a hard time wanting to go to formula so early simply for the cost portion (even using Costco, we were spending $15 a week on formula, luckily it was only for a couple months). Pumping and dumping would work but it will be somewhat time consuming and on a cruise that's a bummer to be spending so much time pumping. As far as getting Eric to take a bottle, well he was younger when I started, but I had a day where my sister in law came over and took care of Eric all day while I stayed out of sight but I pumped the milk fresh. I'm not sure if being at home where she's comfortable but not having you around so she knows there's no other option. And starting to try when she's hungry but not too hungry and I can come help if you want. I also used Nuk nipples which are shaped a little more like a real nipple. Hopefully she starts taking a bottle soon. I'm positive she will over starving but it's hard to leave a baby without knowing that they will eat. Good luck.
I agree with the above comment.
Have someone else give her a bottle. Maybe leave her with someone for a few hours and don't feed her when you leave. Maybe being hungry and not with you -- will be the key! Goodluck lady!
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