Climbing Tree

Dear Chaya,

Here we are, four months old. I love you so much. SO SO SO much. Your smile is absolutely amazing, and it makes my heart flutter.

This month your brothers and sister went back to school and kindy so three days a week it’s just us for a few hours. It’s nice to spend this time with you, even if it does go super quickly!

You started Chiro this month, and it has dramatically improved your situation. The Chiro has been working on your low muscle tone, overbite, and overall mouth shape, as well as a lot of the tension and knots around your jaw. You were only able to open your mouth 60% of the way, but now that you’ve been doing Chiro twice a week for 3 weeks you’re doing so much better. We are graduated from continually releasing knots, to strengthening the muscles that weren’t able to move properly before, hooray! We went back to see the lactation consultant and she is over the moon with how you’ve progressed!

The Lactation consultant did mention that now she can see your tongue tie clearly (before it wasn’t visible due to all the knotting and muscle tension in your abnormally small mouth), and next month we will have to get it revised…

We saw an improvement in your ability to drink from the SNS, but then as your tongue tie protruded things went a bit backwards. You’re mostly getting milk from the bottle, but I manage to give you about ⅓ of your intake as breastmilk. It’s pretty good all things considered. Please G-D, when your tongue tie is revised, and we go through the re-hab for that we won’t have anything stopping us from succeeding in normal breastfeeding! This makes me think that I really need to make sure I am in the best health I can be (sleep, food etc…) for your recovery so I have the determination I need to help you through this and really make it worthwhile.

You love to chomp, chomp, chomp down on anything you can get your hands on. Fingers, chew toys, dummies… anything you can chew on, you do! It’s a great therapy for you to do, so we encourage it! You should see (I have photos, lol) the fat and muscle in your cheeks now that you’ve been working on your muscle tone so much!

On the 9th of February you did your first laugh! You were 3 ½ months old. You haven’t done many since, but it was definitely there – that whole weekend in fact you laughed many times. Maybe things aren’t so funny this last week!? Or maybe you’ve just moved onto your new skill – rolling over! You did this on the 21st of Feb – just a few days shy of 4 months old. We can’t stop you now – it’s definitely your favourite thing to do.

You still sleep wonderfully at night. You get a good solid 8 hours. You don’t even stir. I wish I could say that same for myself, but the medication I am on to increase my milk supplies keeps me up till all hours of the early morning! Your day sleeping has regressed a little, unless you’re in the ergo, then you sleep wonderfully, for hours and hours. It’s still so incredibly hot and humid though that it’s not always practical. I have to admit, we use the air conditioner daily – I just can’t cope with the heat under normal circumstances let alone with a baby on my chest! So we use it, and we both enjoy the snuggles!

Chaya, you are still the most happy and joyful baby ever. You love to give strangers smiles, and everyone is so grateful. Ahava loves to show you off at Kindy, and the boys love to carry you around the school when we pick them up. Actually, all three big kids have really taken to you in an extra special way this month. I suppose it’s because you’re starting to interact with them more – pulling at their hair and faces! You did make Eli cry the other day though when you scratched at his face! I told him you didn’t mean to hurt him, but he said you did it over and over and over again, and so he thinks you did! Oh dear.

I want to make a special note of how happy you wake up in the mornings, and what a blessing this is. I was scared about bottle feeding a baby, because I didn’t want to wake up to an inconsolable crying baby who wanted to be fed IMMEDIATELY, but you aren’t like that! You are just so happy when you wake up, and you are happy to wait for half an hour or more for your bottle or SNS feed. Thank you!

If I could sum up your fourth month, I would say that we made a LOT of improvements. We hit a lot of milestones, including reaching the 15th percentile for weight, and we made a lot of progress health and feeding wise. You and I are a great team. I told you over and over during the pregnancy, and even during the birth, and here we are still being a great team and working together to get stuff done.

I love you my CC. I am so grateful for you, and for your place in this family. I am so grateful for the love and joy you bring to each of us. Though she be little, she be fierce (in a good way!).

Love you to the moon and back Chaya, my life.

Love Mama.

Dear Chaya, this has been one of the longest months of my life, and this last week especially feels longer than nearly your entire life before this. We finally have some answers about your slow / non existent weight gain, which is great to have a light at the end of the tunnel. But it means we have a lot of work ahead of us. More on that later.

CC, you love to smile and watch people. You love facing out and watching the world, but also love love love being wrapped up tight. You still love your dummy, especially when your tummy is causing you pain. And even when it’s not!

You’ve started getting good at tummy time. Not your favourite thing, but you tolerate it for 5 minutes or so. You’ve started talking a LOT, and sometimes when there’s music playing it sounds like you sing!

You love to chew on everything at the moment. My fingers are a favourite, but also your own fingers, and handfuls of your clothes. Chewing on things at the back of your mouth is one of your exercises, so this has been a fortuitous circumstance.

We got in to see the lactation consultant on the 15th and she discovered you have low muscle tone in your mouth which is why you tire quickly at the breast, and aren’t efficient at sucking. You also have a high and narrow pallet so when you are making progress breastfeeding your tongue isn’t really pushing the breast up to the roof of your mouth to extract the milk. Also, an overbite which means your tongue is back further in your head making it difficult to really push milk from the breast even if you could get it up there, and had the muscle to do it for very long.

Of course, the food allergies have still played a part in it, but now we realise that affected your irritability, and weird stools more than your growth. I am still off a long list of foods, but slowly adding back in the least likely things like coconut and almonds. I did a dairy challenge last week and boy oh boy did I regret it. Definitely not coping with the dairy my dear!

So still on feeding, you are able to breastfeed lying down when you first wake in the night at about 3am (yes, this is your FIRST wake – I would not be able to do any of the following things if you weren’t blessing me with a full night’s sleep each night!). Sometimes you will have your second feed at about 6am (still asleep) also breastfeeding lying down. You wake up so happy though, that it’s not always necessary to feed you straight away. During the day I am using a Madela SNS (Supplemental Nursing System) which is a container of milk or formula (though it needs to be at least 3/5 breastmilk to flow properly) which I put up on my shoulder, and small thin tubes come out of it. I tape one to my breast and then as you breastfeed you get the milk from the tube as well as from the breast if you can manage it. Doing it this way helps you exercise those muscles to help with your low muscle tone, and also helps keep my supply up, as my body doesn’t respond anywhere near as well to the pump as it does to a baby’s mouth! If for some reason we can’t feed this way (sometimes you are too tired, and you can’t manage it, or sometimes we’re out and I don’t want to do it in public yet) you have a bottle.

At the moment feeding you is fairly all consuming. Before we started this I would try and breastfeed you (5-10 minutes of trying), then bottle feed you (10 – 15 minutes), then burp you and put you to sleep or hope you’re happy to lie down (20 minutes), then pump milk (45-60 minute). So that’s an hour and a half approximately, and we have to do that every 3 hours. So yeah, it’s a bit of a time suck. This is why sometimes I just can’t pump, and you have full bottles of formula.

The general question I get asked at this stage is why I am still persisting with breastfeeding even when things are so hard and tiresome. The truth is, while I still have milk in breasts I feel the need to give it to you. Especially with your allergies it’s the best thing for you, and I do have hope that you will be able to breastfeed normally eventually. Your big sister breastfed for nearly 3 years, so if we had a breastfeeding relationship that long, this is only just the start. 🙂

One day when you’re old enough to read this I hope you see the I am your Imma, and it is my greatest privilege that Hashem has allowed me to do this for you. I write it all down because I think one day when you are a mother (please G-D!), you can see what you were like, and it might help you.

Love, Mama

Dear CC,

You love to smile, cuddle and be wrapped up tight. You’re completely different to your siblings in so many ways. Unique. Fourth time around and apparently there’s still plenty for me to learn as a mother, a co-parent, and human being. Hashem is teaching me so much through you, and even when it’s so hard I break, I still pick myself up, look into your eyes and smile because I love you. You are a calm and peaceful baby and adored by all who meet you, and especially those of us lucky enough to live with you. You’re sunshine CC.

This month you have gained some weight! Baruch HaShem! You are gaining weight nicely now that you are on a special allergy formula – Novalac. At the time of your 2 month birthday this formula accounts for about 75% of your feeds. You have some pretty hard core nipple confusion and preference for the bottle, which has contributed to this high percentage of formula. Bottle feeding a baby is a very new experience for me, and there are some benefits I suppose (not least the fact that you’re gaining weight!), but I miss breastfeeding, and really feel strongly that because of your allergies breastmilk is the best thing for you (once the allergens are removed). The main ingredient in this formula is glucose syrup followed by various vegetable oils, so it’s not exactly the most nutritious stuff. Though certainly better than nothing!

This month you more or less stopped breastfeeding. I still offer you the breast regularly, before every feed, and if you’re fussy. But you rarely take it. Sometimes you put it in your mouth, and just don’t seem to suck, and other times you fuss and won’t even close your mouth to latch. We’re seeing a LC in January (Bli Neder) to try and get this going again. I am expressing at most feeds, so my supply is still… existing, but not great. I had a hospital trip, and some general illness this month which has left my supply lacking by the end of the month. I am so so hopeful that we can pick up breastfeeding again soon!

On the 5th of December, at exactly 6 weeks I weighed you once again after giving you 150mL of top up (either formal or EBM) a day on top of breastfeeds for a week. And guess what?! You gained! I took you off the scales and you gave me your first smile! It was big, and wonderful and I felt like we were connected, and you could feel my joy and relief that for the first time in your life you’d gained weight!

Since then you’ve been showering everyone with beautiful big smiles, and it is just wonderful. Your siblings love to try and make you smile!

We have been continuing with your osteo appointments, but stopped mid way through this month. The Osteo has done all she can for now, and I’m focusing on just fattening you up, and getting you back on the breast. We can re-visit these appointments later.

The paediatrician referred us to an immunologist, but we can’t get in to see him until June! It will be helpful to get your tested before we put you on too many solids, but it doesn’t really help me figure out what foods you’re currently allergic or intolerant to.

We got the stool samples back and it showed you definitely have a cow’s milk allergy. But it can’t tell us about any other foods. At the moment I am off the following foods (some are just for my own personal intolerances, and some are for you!): All dairy, soy, eggs, wheat and gluten, almonds, peanuts, and coconut. I still have macadamia milk occasionally. By now they should all be almost completely out of our systems. I’m very strict with these.

You are currently celebrating your first Chanukah, which is pretty special! You also had your first visitors (other than family) – Ada & Harvey came to see you, as well as Jaelle and Ori. You’re a bit… clingy (especially in the evenings), but you have given Rachel quite a few cuddles, as they visit us every other week at the moment (yay!).

Pa has also been getting some lovely long sleeping cuddles from you in the day, as has Grandma, who is our lifesaver – coming down to help out and entertain your sister, pick up your brothers from school (it’s holidays now, yay!), and look after you while I got to my Chiro appointments.

Even with all these health problems, and feeding problems and clingy-ness, I think it’s fair to say that you’re pretty chill, and pretty wonderful! You are like an open book – easy to read and a clear communicator. Everyone loves you, and I get such nachas when I leave you on the mat and your brothers and sisters entertain you for a while. The kids at school adore you, as do their parents, and I am so immensely proud of you and love showing you off.

I love you sweet Chaya. I’m so glad we called you “life” – may you have it till 120, and may the one who gave you life, Hashem, also give you healing.

Love Mama

This is the story of how we gave our daughter Chaya her name. Watch the video below:

I sort of say Chaya named herself – I knew I would have a daughter named Chaya one day, and when I saw her heart beat on the ultrasound at 5 weeks pregnant I knew 100% that this was Chaya.

Dear Chaya,

You are one month old! I’m not exaggerating when I say that you are one of the best things to happen in our family. Your three older siblings absolutely adore you and love you and dote on you. Your daddy and I are totally in love, and thank Hashem every day that you are in our family.

CC, at one month old you have eyes the are clearly a blue ring on the outside and brown on the inside. You are a skinny girl, but we’re trying to fatten you up! You love to stay in the little froggy pose you were in when inside me, and you are easily comforted with a dummy and being held close. You like it when I sway side to side with you wrapped up tightly or holding your hands, and you also like it when we bounce on the fit ball with you.

I have to mention that your first four weeks have been marked with lots of appointments. You see, after your first initial weight loss in week 1, you had failed to gain more than 5 grams by 2 ½ weeks. Now that you’re 4 weeks you’ve gained 70 grams total, and I’m sorry to say, it’s not enough! Everyone is both worried and puzzled by you! We’ve done a blood test (not fun!), stool sample, eliminated dairy, soy, gluten and eggs from my diet and started topping you up with expressed breast milk – 150ml a day on top of your normal breastfeeds. Your poos have been green and mucusy, sometimes frothy, and causing you a bit of pain. This makes the Paed think that you have a food intolerance and so we’re starting with the most likely – dairy.

While you’re not quite the enthusiastic breastfeeder your siblings are, you still enjoy it, and have been getting better at having longer and more meaningful feeds. I’ve taken some herbs to boost my supply, and this coupled with the milk expressing makes us (by us, I mean Daddy, me, your grandparents, my midwives, the hospital, and the private paediatrician!!) think that this isn’t a milk supply problem (you actually gain quite a bit of weight during a feed, but use it all up by the next day! Such a puzzle!). Anyway, all this to say that we are not sure what’s up! In a few weeks I will have been off dairy for a month, and the Paed thinks you’ll be better by then. I really hope it’s true! In the mean time this week I have an insane amount of poop and wee to collect from you to send off for testing!

Chaya, I think about the day you were born. I remember talking to you when you were still inside me. I remember that sweet feeling you gave me, reassuring me that you loved me and were ready to enter the world. You name means “life”, and I am sure, without a doubt, that you are absolutely FULL of life. I know you are a healer, that as you grow up you will get great insight from Hashem on how to heal people with medicines and the like. I know you are part of my healing journey.

You are so beautiful, and sweet and perfect. You make me want to have a hundred more babies! When I hold you I often think “Ooh, baby. I want a baby!” and then I remember that YOU are my baby, and you are all mine, and I do a big happy dance inside and say thanks to Hashem again that you are mine. I am so in love. You are so deserving of all the love and attention and kindness. You are a special baby.

Every day one or all of your siblings ask to hold you. Lior even carried you from one room to another! Ahava is desperate to, but we won’t let her yet. Eli is happy just to sit and hold you. He really adores you. They all do. I love it when I ask one of the boys to sit and hold you or lie next to you and mind you while I do a quick job, and then listen to the sweet nothings they say to you. Just showering you with their sweet words and kind gazes. Ahava loves to give you your bottles when we top you up with expressed breast milk.

Chaya Sefira, you are a precious soul. I look forward to seeing you grow and us continuing to be the great team we were in pregnancy and childbirth, and now through these rough waves. We will always be a great team.

May you live to 120 sweet girl. Hashem has great plans for you, I’m sure of it. xo

Welcome to the world sweet Chaya Sefira!