A long challenging month
I’ve not posted much lately because it’s been a long challenging month for me.
At Gianna’s 6 month well check last month we discovered that she fell in her percentile of weight down to the 5th percentile. She had only gained 4 lbs since she was born. Comments of her being “tiny” and “petite” were sweet up until this point. At the appointment an x-ray was taken of Gianna’s stomach to rule out Hirschbrung’s disease, and it was ruled out. Then I was asked to meet with a lactation consultant (LC) investigate the quality and volume of milk I am producing. And it turns out that I wasn’t producing enough milk for Gianna to gain a substantial amount of weight. It was a relief to know that there’s nothing wrong with her, but humbling and sad for me to find out that I can’t give her everything she needs to grow. The LC and my pediatrician’s nurse think it was probably due to stress (since I’m certainly not pregnant). And in hindsight, I can say the last 6 months were full of its share of stressful situations. So I toned down our hectic life after Easter, started taking herbs to promote lactation, and pumping milk to try to re-establish my milk supply. We also started supplementing with formula that our nurse and a friend graciously gave us A LOT of so we don’t have to buy any for quite a while. It really meant a lot to have the support of my mom, my friends (Liz, Misty, and Thuy), my LC and our pediatrician’s nurse during this time. They really got us through this and thankfully Gianna was up a pound and a half in three weeks. I suppose, even though this is not the “best case scenario”, I’ve learned that it’s not uncommon and supplementing with formula is not the end of the world or a “scandalous” thing that some might think.
Even though it was month to cut back on activity, some aspects still must go on. I made mention to our Thursday morning homeschooling co-op, Totus Tuus. It is well underway. Each week a different mom leads an hour or so of learning and then the kids play. It has worked out very well, I think. I’m sure as we continue to meet, Totus Tuus will continue to evolve. And speaking of homeschooling, we have most of our materials to begin Kindergarten! Thanks to Teresa and Misty and The Well Trained Mind, I finalized the Kindergarten curriculum and my goal is to plan out the school year by the end of May. I didn’t choose one set curriculum (such as Seton, Kolbe, or MODG) for all subjects, but pieced together things I liked from different places including things I knew about from my college days teaching in an elementary school. I’m very happy with my selections and super excited to get started.