OK, so I may or may not have warned at the outset that I may not be good at this regular blogging buso. I have often thought about my blog over the last few months... So... to catch up...
The good stuff:
Mr J is now exclusively breastfed!! *holds for applause* For the last 6 weeks or so he has not had a bottle, I have not had to pump. He is a messy feeder still with milk running out his nose and all over both of us, a towel is a necessary accessory! He is doing such a great job feeding and I am so proud of him. We have just started to try and block feed to ensure he is getting plenty of fatty hindmilk because he is using a lot more energy to feed than a non cleft bub, and is not gaining weight. Whilst this worries me, because lets face it, parenting is all about numbers, I am reassured by the fact that our surgeon and ENT both looked at him, commented he was 'little' and proceeded to announce him healthy. I never would have thought my 4kg chunker would end up smaller than my 2.5kg premmie!
Mr J is now 6 months old, I know, where did that go?? He is rolling and showing a definite interest in food. Bottles, no, but food, yeah. Now we enter the fun food phase, made even more messy by his cleft. Pureed pumpkin leaks from his nose for hours, a sneeze is a blanket of pumpkin and mucous. Delightful. Spaghetti can go in the mouth and out the nose. Yesterday he stole a hot chip from my plate and mushed it up into his cleft. He was sneezing chunks of chip and was clearly uncomfortable. Its now turning into a discussion with the hubster about what to feed him. Mr S refused purees, he was baby led weaning all the way. That is what I want to do again. He is worried about him eating food and choking/getting it stuck in his cleft. I think we will just have to go with trial and error and Im sure he'll work it out.
I am now remembering why I was consciously trying not to gloat and relish in the fact my baby slept. For the last 2 months or so he has been up almost hourly at night. He is up from 20-40min each time, and it is exhausting! I was hoping against hope that this time round I had a sleeper after the sleepless nightmare of Mr S. Seems it is not to be. Dealing with sleep deprivation is even worse with a toddler to deal with I've decided. At least the toddler is sleeping well now!
My little ranga has now been booked in for his palate repair surgery, and grommets for December! In the meantime he is ROCKING a bone conductor hearing aid, which is an amazing piece of technology.
In teaser news (in case I dont get around to another post for a while...), Im now 30, Mr S has had a psych evaluation and we get results next week, I failed dismally at the 12wbt and am feeling beyond blah about my body, hubby has been snipped and my days are HARD. Mummyhood is sure not what I was expecting and most days are a real struggle, Thats a story for its own post tho. I'll try and be better, promise!
