Not To Wean

After 48 hours of no nursing, Mira didn't drink any more formula than she normally does in a day. Yikes. Saturday went really well, but Sunday was torture for both of us. Mira wasn't really fussy, she just kept reaching for me all day. It broke my heart. At midnight on Sunday night I decided to nurse her. She woke at 11:00 pm and we couldn't get her back to sleep. We figured she must be hungry (or rather thirsty after hardly drinking anything for two days), and wow, it felt good to nurse her. Even though I had pumped for two days I was still in some major pain. A baby definitely does get out the milk better than a pump. But, I felt frustrated and grouchy and tired and like I had failed. I'm not sure why. I guess I just thought if I could make it until morning she would suddenly start drinking up a storm. Not the case. The next morning (which was Monday), she wouldn't even take a sip from the sippy cup. I called the nurse (as she had requested me do to give an update). She said to go back to nursing (I still hadn't decided I was going back full-time nursing or just morning and night), and she would call the next day after talking with the doctor.
When I spoke with her on Tuesday she said the doctor was really concerned because I had only pumped 8 ounces on Saturday, so if Mira is only getting 8-10 ounces of breastmilk and drinking 4 ounces of formula per day, that's only a total of 14 ounces at the most and she needs at the very minimum 18 (although they prefer 24). So, she said to set up an appointment with a nutritionist to figure out how to get more calories down her. She said the nutritionist would want to know how much she's eating so we know how many calories she's taking in, and for me to keep a food diary of Mira's swallowings (just a fun word thrown in for good humor).
A few hours after talking with the nurse I had the revelation that I had only pumped 8 ounces on Saturday because I was planning to wean Mira, so when I was pumping I never got all the milk out so my body would think it needed to start making less. I called the nurse back to tell her my revelation and she seemed relieved. She told me to weigh Mira before and after feedings on Wednesday and then call her Thursday morning with an update (thank you to Sherry for letting us borrow your baby scale!!!!!!!!!).
I'm curious to know what they think when I call them tomorrow because I'm pretty sure she only gets 2 ounces per feeding. But, she is up a pound from her last appointment 12 days ago, so that should count for something. The way the nurse explained it is that some babies who aren't used to getting a lot to eat, their brain tells them they don't need the extra calories even though they do, so they end up not eating as much as they should even though it's offered to them. She even mentioned that it's getting to the point where we would have to discuss tube feeding her to retrain her brain that she needs the calories.

Panic. That's how I felt. It was definitely disturbing to think about tube feeding her. So, my prayer is that they are satisfied with her weight gain so we don't have to see a nutritionist or even start tube feeding her.

Add all this stress on top of the fact that an ex-client showed up at my house on Saturday.

I'll pause for a moment to let that news sink in.

Yes, an ex-client...showed up at my house. (Therapists everywhere are panicking at this thought). He said he is planning to subpoena me to testify against his ex-wife. Awesome. I informed him (not so very nicely probably as I was SHOCKED he was at my house) that I can only testify to what is in the chart, etc. Oh, and he told me he hired a private investigator to find me as I am apparently hard to find. Awesome. Thanks for trying so hard buddy. And for making me feel oh so safe and for making me feel like my privacy has been completely violated. Hooray for me. I was served the subpoena on Monday night. We'll see what happens. Two days of court, Abe would have to take off work, my daughter won't take more than 4 ounces of fluids per day with out me. Anyone see any problems with this? Yeah, a client showed up at my house.