someday, her husband will thank me

i know it's been kind of quiet here at senor elefante. adjusting to this little one has taken much more time -- and energy -- than i anticipated for numero dos. i assumed we'd basically go on with life, just having added a little body and subtracted a great deal of sleep.

oh, i was so wrong.

the last five weeks were rather stressful. ava lost a good bit of weight the first week of life (at least one pound, though possibly more). and even once we thought things were going better with the whole breastfeeding gig, she didn't gain weight like she should. so, we spent several weeks breastfeeding and then bottle feeding and then pumping.

it. wore. me. out.

i had told michael that i would fight to breastfeed her until she was six weeks old. i breastfed luke for 14 months and really enjoyed it. my little guy isn't a snuggler, and it was a way i could connect with him and snuggle him when no one else could.

but, we were getting no where. i called linda the lactation consultant several times. and, several times, i was so close to throwing in the towel. and would have if it hadn't been for linda's encouragement. i love that woman.

despite all that, we couldn't figure out why ava wasn't breastfeeding well. her latch looked good. her chin moved up and down. i had her evaluated by a breastfeeding peer counselor. we took her to a chiropractor. everything looked good; she just wasn't transfering milk well to her little tummy.

i started researching (hello, wikipedia) and began to think she might have a slight tongue tie. tongue ties normally aren't a big deal: someone whose tongue is tied can't lick an ice cream cone or *ahem* french kiss. but, babies need to be able to stick their tongues out in order to breastfeed well. if the band of skin under the tongue is too tight, or short, the baby can't stick her tongue out far enough to suck well. our pediatrician hadn't said anything about a tongue tie, and it didn't really look tied, but my gut told me that was our problem.

lovely linda gave me a referral to a pediatric ent doctor and we set an appointment for thursday. it took the doctor 20 seconds to diagnosis miss ava's tongue as tied. so, five minutes of topical anesthetic, a quick snip and an hour later, we were out the door.

problem solved.

because her tongue tie was mild, the doctor wasn't sure how much the clip would really help. but, it has made all the difference in the world. baby girl hasn't had a bottle since thursday afternoon. nor has she wanted one.

my heart took a deep sigh. of relief.

we are back to finding what normal should be with two kids. and i love it.

someday, if she ever gets married, ava's husband will thank me.