Thursday March 25, 2010

Finally a decent sleep! Lately I consider a sleep decent if it doesn't involve getting up for long periods before 4 am. Waking up today at 5am with Anaya hungry was refreshing. I think she slept so well because I set the feeder to give her 20mls of milk every hour for the second half of the night. Not enough to fill her up- but enough to keep her from waking up really hungry.

My Procter friends who are nursing moms that were providing Anaya with fresh milk both had to stop pumping due to a cold and a pumping issue. I am going to post on the breastmilk page that we need some of the milk (15-20 oz a day) fresh. We use the milk from the freezer mixed in with the freesh milk so that Anaya gets a mix of beneficial enzymes and bacteria. I'm still pumping about 6-8 ounces daily. I'm taking herbs, domperidone, vitamin D and drinking a bone broth soup with marrow daily. I feel like my supply is not catching up very fast. But here I am - feeding the baby on my lap through her little tube while the breast pump works away.

We have given Anaya different things as supplements to help her get better. She gets digestive distress with some of them so now I take them for her and hope that the benefit of them will pass through my milk to her. In the past few weeks the supplements we've given her have included: DHA oil, Hemp oil, Acidophilus, Bifidum infantis, Iso Phos, Vitamin C,Vitamin D, Iron, coenzyme Q10, Antioxidant superfood from univera, kidney and spleen herbs from traditional chinese medicine, and homeopathics. I've just ordered a new homeopathic remedy for throat mucus that i hope will really help the baby on the phlemmy days.

Some of the above gave her crazy gas, the superfood made her throw up. We only continue to give her what her body responds well to. I give the rest through me.

Anaya's cranialsacral and acupuncture session went really well the other day. It seems as though Laurie gently relieved Anaya's stresses and anxiety throughout her body. She slept very well afterwards. Micheal smith suggested we eat bone broth with marrow everyday to give Anaya's brain the building blocks it needs to repair itself. It's now a permanent kitchen fixture - on the counter in the slow cooker- simmering away. I'm supposed to cut back on starches and eat nutrient dense foods for Anaya's benefit - so lots of meat and veggies and fruits. Less dairy, less pasta, less sugar. This will be difficult as it can be so hard to cook a meal while caring for the baby. And I love sweets.

My friend Ellen came by yesterday afternoon with some food and she watched the baby for a bit so that I could nap. I was exhausted. It was so great to sleep a bit. Ellen is one of my friends who really understands what it is like to have a very sick baby. After Ellen left, Penny came over to help with Anaya so that I could do something about the color fading in my hair. I want to look ok at the event on saturday. When we were at the childrens hospital I put some purple chunks in my hair to lighten my mood and make Anaya smile. I've never had vibrant color in my hair before. I love violet. Anaya likes to watch my violet bangs falling beside my face. Anything for the baby!

Brent and I got a gift yesterday of some hand made tea mugs from Lisa Martin. They are beautiful and as I sip from this cup of chai I am warmed and soothed.

Our elder daughter just headed out the door to school and now it's time to prepare for our medical team meeting today. Let's hope the scale shows positive results!