Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Thirty-Two

Highlight of the Week

We celebrated Christmas for a full 48 hours (Monday & Tuesday) and it was absolutely magical. I love Christmas! I’ve always loved Christmas, but having kids just makes it so much more fun! As we put out our gifts under the tree on Monday night, Derrick laughed & made fun of me, that I was “more excited” than Braelynn even was! There’s just something so mystically delicious about all the time it takes to hunt for & buy gifts for all the people we love the most – all the thought & planning that goes into gift-giving (budgeting, shopping, finding the perfect deal) is a bit addicting! And then to wrap up all of those precious items & wait to see the looks on their respective recipient’s faces – it’s so so good. Receiving gifts on Christmas is honestly not the highlight for me (which frankly, drives Derrick absolutely insane, he hates that I just like to sit & observe everyone else opening their gifts & not instantly dive into opening my own).

We had a really relaxing Christmas though. We spent Christmas Eve morning with my Dad’s side of the family (our traditional breakfast & brunch with Meme & Grandpa) and after Christmas morning at our house, we spent the rest of Christmas Day with my parents & siblings (and had dinner with my Mom’s side of the family). It was wonderful.

Yes, This Happened

• Leander got to meet his cousin Leah who is just 54 hours younger than him on Christmas Eve! We put the babies together & my sister Ellen got some super cute photos of them! It is going to be so much fun to see the two of them grow up together – I hope they’re best friends.
• Speaking of Leander, he is such a good baby! Sleeping at night is still a bit elusive (but to be expected with a breastfeeding newborn), but he’s doing so so good. The issues we faced when Braelynn was born are not even possibilities with this little guy! Even though he’s so good, that isn’t to say we haven’t had our share of challenges – minor ones. From the beginning, Leander has been a nursing champ – he latches, sucks, and swallows like it’s his job (which, it kind of is). I have been so thankful (if you have been around a while or know our story, you’ll remember that nursing Braelynn was like climbing Mount Everest – it was a long, challenging, frustrating, & complicated task). However, as amazing as he is, I have been struggling with pain while he’s nursing. And I couldn’t figure out why. His latch was good, his position was good, I had milk, why was I in so much pain? Well, it all came to a head this week when I hit a breaking point & said if I didn’t get some answers, that I was going to quit nursing (and if you know me, you know that not only am I not a quitter, but the desire to breastfeed my babies has always been at the top of my priority list). I simply couldn’t battle through the pain any longer. I reached out to the lactation consultant who ultimately helped me nurse Braelynn & ended up speaking with her on the phone on Sunday afternoon. After describing what was going on, she guessed that he might have some sort of anatomical issue: likely a tongue or lip tie. The trick was: I needed to see someone in order for them to actually diagnose him with something like that & with the holiday this week, I wouldn’t be able to see anyone until the end of the week. In the meantime, she suggested I call the midwives & ask for them to prescribe a medicinal ointment for me to help manage the pain & get thru the holidays. I did that & made an appointment for Friday (yesterday) to go in & see the lactation consultant at the Midwife Center.
  So, I’ve waited all week, counting down the days until Friday when I could get some answers.
  Unfortunately, the answers I got weren’t exactly the answers I was looking for. I mean, let’s be honest: I was hoping that he didn’t have a tongue or lip tie, because that meant a surgical procedure to correct it. But, at the same time, I was hoping that that was the answer, because that would explain my pain levels & after the procedure, it would pretty much instantly be fixed.
  Upon examining him, the lactation consultant told me that she did not feel like he has a tongue or lip tie. She did feel like he has a shallow pallet though & that was the cause of my pain. From what she explained, infants should have a nice high, domed roof in their mouth, and Leander’s is flatter than it should be. The bad news is: there is nothing that can be done to “fix” it. She explained that it will fix “itself” as he grows & matures, but until then, there’s really nothing that can be done.
  In looking at him though, she felt like his mouth would grow out of this issue soon. He’s growing like a little weed! My little dude was just 6lbs. 13oz. when he was born, he was 7lbs. 14oz. at his 10-day weight check, and when she weighed him yesterday he was a whopping 9lbs. 9oz.!! That’s almost a 3 pound gain in just over 3 weeks! Breastfed babies typically only gain a few ounces a week – not full pounds – so that’s amazing! He’s starting to chunk up – his legs are getting chubbier, his cheeks fuller, and some of the newborn sized sleepers that he’s been wearing the last 3 weeks are already breaching “too small”. How is that even possible?!
  So, we’re continuing to deal with it. The medicinal ointment helps & knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel (even if it is an unknown time away), helps too.
• Derrick & Braelynn took one last trip to Kennywood on Thursday night! That is their third trip to Holiday Lights this year! After so many visits to Kennywood this year (we visited pretty much on a weekly basis this summer) I’m honestly not sure how we will survive the next few months when the park is closed.

Feeling Blessed

It’s the last weekend of 2018 & looking back – it’s been such a wonderful year. We literally have a billion things to be thankful for – the biggest of which being our two precious babies. I’m stilled & awed on a daily basis that these two little people are ours. How in the world is that possible? That Derrick & I have been entrusted with these two precious little people? My heart is overflowing with love for both of them – I literally want to squeeze them until they stop growing & kiss them until time stands still.

The whole end of an old year & start of a new is such a mysteriously exciting time – what will 2019 bring? It’s a clean slate – where will we go? what will we do? who will we meet? what opportunities will we encounter? It’s exciting & scary & wonderful all at the same time.