Please visit Adalyn's CaringBridge website.  It is a very long story to explain so viewing the website will tell you everything.  We have a very LONG road ahead of us and we would appreciate all the prayers and support.  CaringBridge will have you enter your email address to create an account (it is free, it is just for privacy) and then you will be able to view Adalyn's page.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/adalynnace

Thank you!

Adalyn is now 3 weeks old and is doing amazing!  She is such a laid back baby and I am so blessed!  My DD and DS both had colic that showed up around 3 weeks and had horrible problems with formula so I am so thankful that we are able to breastfeed Adalyn.

I have a few questions though that I am hoping there are some ladies out there that would be willing to help me out with.

Adalyn does latch but since she had low blood sugars after birth she took a bottle and would prefer that over the breast but I can get her to latch but she normally will fall asleep on me before she takes in a full feeding which in turn causes her to not empty the breast completely.  So I have been pumping mostly and giving her breast milk through a bottle which I am ok with since at least she is still getting the breast milk versus formula.  I would however like her to latch more though so when we are out and about it would be easier to just feed her versus wondering if I have a bottle pumped.

1. How can I get her to latch more and actually finish a feeding?

2. Will just pumping increase my supply?  Such as, will my body know to increase the supply when she picks up on how much she is taking?

3. At 3 weeks old, I am pumping around 2 oz per breast every 3 hours.  Is that normal or is that too little?  She takes the whole pumping (4 oz.) each feeding every 3 hours also.  So how can I start storing milk away when it seems like she is eating everything I am pumping?  

4. I have to go back to work the end of January so how do I start a stock pile of milk?

Any tips or advice you can share on breastfeeding would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you in advance!

-Theresa

Well I made my decision, I am going to deliver this baby by c-section.  I have gestational diabetes with insulin and no matter what I eat the insulin is not bringing down my morning sugars so baby has just been enjoying all that sugar and packing on the weight!

Right now they are estimating her to be over 7 1/2 pounds and I am only 37 weeks.  They think she will be 8 1/2 to 9 pounds by the time that I have her.  They are having me do a c-section becuase my DD broke her clavical when she was born so they are afraid of shoulder dystocia.  I decided that I should just go the safe route and do the c-section and not risk her getting stuck.

I am scared because my other two pregnancies were never like that.  My DD was 6# 9oz and my DS was 6# 12.5oz so having anything in the 7# range on up is scary!  My DS also came at 37 weeks and my DD came at 38 weeks naturally so I was hoping that this one would be following suit but so far not so much.  I think she plans on staying in there until she is evicted!

Due to new hospital policies my doctor cannot do c-sections any sooner than 39 weeks unless their is a medical reason.  So, the plan is that she will be born on December 15th unless I go into labor before that.

She is still really high and doesn't seem to want to drop, they are thinking she might just be too big to drop which means she won't put pressure on my cervix to dilate me or thin me which means she will be staying put.  What I am confused about is that I have been having a lot of pains that radiate through the cervix and down into my vagina.  They cause me to bend over in pain and everything but nothing seems to happen.  My stomach doesn't harden really when they happen, sometimes it does, sometimes not.  Could the pains be early labor?  I also have had a lot of pressure and menstrual like cramps for 1 1/2 weeks.  I also lost my mucus plug a week or so ago.

I think this baby is going to be the one to keep me on my toes!

Any advice would be great!

Ok so I have had gestational diabetes with both of my previous pregnancies and had insulin with my last one and also with this one.  The issue that I am having though is that no matter how much the doctor increases my insulin my levels are not going down.  The past 2 weeks have been horrible, I have been taking 24 units of insulin before breakfast and when I go to check my sugars I am close to 200 if not slightly above it.  I take insulin before I go to bed also and my fasting sugars have been elevated too no matter what.

What is this doing to my baby?  I already know that she is large, I am measuring 2 weeks ahead.  I am so scared.  I know that have gestational diabetes gives you an increased risk of having a still born.

My mother's intuition is that something is not right.  I know that I am only 35 weeks but a part of me feels like it would be healthier for her if they just delivered her now rather than keep her inside since my sugars will not go down.

I have called and messaged my doctor and am still waiting to hear back from them.

Have any of you ladies been through this?  Would a doctor take a baby at 35 weeks if the diabetes cannot be controlled?