Day 5- My Breast-est Friend

DAY 5!!!! My fifth consecutive day of blogging! I think I have earned a gold star, or a bowl of ice cream. A nice fatty bowl of ice cream! Mmmm. Shall I dish it out now or after I have said my piece?? Now THAT is a quandary! 

This is the first time I have been on my couch for more than a second since 6 am this morning. It is just a normal Friday but for what ever reason, we decided to buy a house today. After the mess of this week I did not think it was going to go through. But today it did! Yup. Done and DONE. That's how we roll...so I must really get to planning that dinner party! 

Okay, so.....3+ weeks ago at a regular check up, the Doctor informed me that Opie had lost weight. I immediately freaked. Being a NICU Mama, the mention of weight loss brings up fears of "failure to thrive" and a return to the hospital. I know it is not rational but I have been chewing my fingernails about this information for 3 weeks. 

I returned to the Docs for a weight check 3 days ago and in a little over 2 weeks he had gained a teensy amount of weight. Minuscule.  Now, in addition to STILL feeding him every 4 hours day and night, I started adding a bit of formula into his fruit in the mornings. And he still barely gained weight. I know that weight gain slows down around this stage in his development as he become more mobile and active. I know. And yet, I fret. 

Opie has been teething for about 5 months now. His top teeth are really starting to pop through and breastfeeding has become a lesson in torture for this mama. I thought that explained my sore girls. 

Two days ago a friend of mine posted this interesting article about Breastfeeding on her facebook page.  I read through it, found it intriguing and dismissed it. Yes, breastfeeding is painful enough to curl my toes but Opie doesn't struggle to eat. He seems to do just fine. (As clearly evidenced by his teensy weight gain, right?)

I was blessed to be able to spend some quality time with some lovely, local Reece's Rainbow peeps. And as I sat there in ABSOLUTE AWE it soothed my soul to be in the presence of like minded Mamas. Even if these Mamas blow my mind with their grace and steadfastness, I feel like I am among peers. They are incredible. 

In showing off Opie's top teeth to one of these dear ladies, she stopped and said "He has a lip tie.....and a tongue tie....LOOK!"

I looked and felt like I should have had a V-8. Face Palm.

Back when Eli turned my breasts into red hot lumps of pain....the Docs diagnosed him with a short frenulum. On a second opinion it was determined that he would grow out of it. Lucky for me and my breasts, it took a while but he did grow out of it. 

Now...why? Why would I forget this and WHY would the 436 1/2 doctors that Opie and I have seen since his birth also have missed this? 

So, here is my public service to all you nursing ladies.  If it hurts. Tell someone. If they dismiss you. Tell someone else. Talk about your sore ladies until it gets better, because it CAN be better! Here is Wiki's scoop on the frenulum. Where else should you get medical advice? (sarcasm.) There is a lot of information online about lip-ties and tongue ties. Here is some from the Mayo Clinic.  Or you can ask me. (You might have to ask me three times, I am clearly a little slow on the uptake. )

Thank you God for giving me SO MANY chances to recognize the issue and fail. Thank you SO MUCH Jessica for pointing out what my feeble mind kept missing. You might be my BREAST-EST FRIEND!

I have hope for the future. If this sorts things out, I may nurse Opie until college! 

Happy Friday! Mama needs some ice cream now! 


I’m writing seven posts in seven days this week. To check out other bloggers who are doing the same, see the list here.