It is amazing that it’s been 7 weeks since Bella first entered the world. Since then it has been an interesting and exciting journey. Bella is growing but still as cute as ever! She went to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s for a couple hours on Thursday while my husband and I went to my 6 week’s postpartum doctors appointment.
The appointment itself went well. I felt a little discouraged when I stepped on the scale and weighed 159 lbs. That means I have lost a grand total of one pound since the last time I stepped on the scale a month ago. Oh well! After the examination we started discussing the breastfeeding issues. She listened to my concerns, asked questions and then immediately prescribed Reglan. She said if the Reglan didn’t work to increase my supply in 10 days that nothing would. However, she did not say whether this was a one and done event or if I should could continue after the 10 days if my milk did increase. Do any of you know the answer to this?
Meanwhile, back at my parents house, Bella was hard at work charming them. My dad was playing her and had to leave the room for a few minutes. My mom took over holding her over her shoulder. When my dad reentered the room and started talking she twisted herself around and searched for him. She has been able to hold her head up for several weeks now but this is the exact same thing I did as an infant with my dad. She is her mother’s daughter! 🙂
After we picked her up from there and took her home, I immediately took my first dose of the medicine. (Btw, yes we looked it up and it is safe for Bella). An hour and a half later I also put my usual blend of 3 drops Fennel oil and 2 drops Basil oil neat per breast. Within 5 minutes I let down in dramatic fashion, causing us to scramble to get me into the pump. The remarkable thing wasn’t so much the let down, that happened consistently on application of the oils, the thing that made it so different was how much let down and how much I pumped. I was able to pump 14 mL on one side. Now, considering that, that very morning I had pumped 15 mL from both sides together, this was a vast improvement. And might I add that the 15 mL in the morning was also double what I had been producing thanks to tbe essential oils. All this was the first dose of medication to even out my hormones which tells me that there was a hormone issue there that needed to be corrected before production could really begin.
Before and after (at the moment) of milk production
Currently, what I am doing to boost my supply even with the medication is continuing to drink 3-4 liters of water a day, eating oats and lots of protein, 2-3 drops neat of Basil oil per breast (the Fennel oil should only be used for 10 days at a time and yesterday was my 10th day), and power pumping again. I am currently doing the power pumping boot camp which is 8 sessions of power pumping in 48 hours. I have seen improvements using all of these now. Overall, I am feeling encouraged about breastfeeding again and hopeful that I can make it work now.
Shalom 🙂
Shalom Mama 