An extra pair of hands

We've had some much needed, much appreciated help since Tuesday when my cousin Jennifer flew in from Pittsburgh to help us out for a few days while Jason is out of town for work.  She's been a lifesaver, stepping in and doing everything like only a pro, mother-of-four can do.  She's been helping us establish a more consistent routine with Cayden, even getting him to sleep his longest stretches of four to five hours during the night so that I can get a bit of sleep.  It's been so wonderful having her around!

We've had a couple more doctor appointments this week.  One was a consult for Cayden's hernia surgery, which we scheduled for May 9th.  While we were there at Children's Hospital, I met with one of the Children's lactation consultants to discuss the outlook for breast feeding Cayden.  I've gotten the feeling from our pediatrician that she's not optimistic about the likelihood of continuing to nurse long-term.  My hope is to be able to nurse exclusively so he can get the benefits of breast milk without my having to pump and then fortify and thicken it, but because of his reflux, that may be difficult.  The lactation consultant was very supportive and gave me some pointers for reaching my ultimate goal.  So we're trying the things she suggested and we'll see if we can get rid of all of these extra complicating things like the pump, bottles, formula, thickener, etc.  Life will be so much easier if I can just nurse him and not have to worry about all of those other things!

On Friday we went back to Dr. Stanford, our pediatrician, for another weight check.  Cayden was up to 7 lbs. 12 oz!  She's happy with that amount of weight gain and we're only going to continue weighing in as I start to nurse more often to make sure he's still gaining enough without the caloric supplementation.  Other than that, we don't have another appointment with her until May 2nd for his 6-month visit.  She was going to order a pulse-ox machine so we could do a 12-hour room air challenge at home to determine if maybe he can come off of his oxygen, but I inadvertently talked her out of it by letting her know that I didn't expect him to be able to come off of it so soon, given that the NICU docs said to expect him to be on oxygen a good six months or so.  Although dealing with the oxygen at home is a pain, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The increased dose of Prevacid that Dr. Stanford prescribed seems to be doing the trick as well.  Cayden hasn't been spitting up and doesn't seem as uncomfortable after eating.  Here's hoping the little guy feels better and that we can soon put all of this reflux stuff behind us!