The Minneapolis McCues: There's No Place Like Home

We're back home in Minneapolis after being down with my family in Blue Earth for 3 days. I packed up way too much stuff before going to my second lactation appointment on Tuesday so that I could make the 2 hour drive down to Blue Earth before needing to feed Meredith again. However, this did not quite go as planned since I am forever thinking that I have time to do just one more thing. Instead, I ended up taking an our to try to run a couple errands on my way out of town and then ended up having to pull over in Owatonna and change and breastfeed Meredith in my car! I left my appointment in Minneapolis at 2pm and didn't get to my mom's house until nearly 6pm, but we made it!

While I was in Blue Earth I got to spend quality time with my mom, step-dad, sister, niece and nephew. I also got visits from several family members and friends - including my brother, my Gma Wick, Aunt Sheila, cousins Alesha and Tanner, friend Danica, step-brother in-law Yankten and parent's friend Paul More! I even had time to get my haircut and high-lighted, go on a walk to the park with my sister, niece and nephew and have a girl's night in to watch Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. All-in-all it was a great trip. It was great to have some extra hands to help and just great to have family and friends around for support, love and company! The only bad part about it was missing Jon and he missing his little girl!

On Friday I learned my lesson and headed back up to the Cities with no delay after a morning feeding and made the trip in 2 hours, just in time to feed Meredith again! I'm very happy to be home again to spend some time with my husband and to give him time with his daughter, especially since it is his birthday tomorrow! Next week we get to spend more time with Gma Lacher as she will be visiting and helping out from Monday until Friday and then Jon's mom flies into town for the weekend. Then Jon has another week off. So, I guess I don't have to worry about being alone for awhile!

Lactation update.... my last appointment was last Tuesday and as it turns out, Meredith ended up losing a little weight, or at least not gaining any - depending on the difference in the scales from my Dr's office to the Lactation office. She had weighed 8lb 1oz at the Dr's on 9/30 - then only weighed 7lb 15oz at the Lactation office on 10/6. So, I'm back to every 3 hour feedings with one 6 hours break at night when she'll allow (which she has every night so far!) - whereas I was only waking her up to feed her every 4 hours before because she had gained so much weight. She also has demonstrated that she can latch on just fine - but it takes a lot longer to feed her without the nipple shield because she loses her latch all the time. So, basically now I'm trying to start all feedings without the nipple shield, but I almost always end the feedings with it to make sure she gets enough milk, plus I feel like she gets less air with her feedings with the shield, because she can maintain the latch better - which means less gas and fussiness. I've also started giving her Mylicon before every feeding and started giving her Gripe Water a couple of times a day. Is all of this making a difference, I can't tell - she still has her fussy spells and the whole time we were in Blue Earth she was literally pooping foam (lots of tiny gas bubbles in her poo!). But since we've been back home and I've been giving the Mylicon the foam poops have stopped. I just hope she gains weight by our next visit on Tuesday! Otherwise I'm completely comfortable with her progress and know it's just a matter of time before she completely gets this latch thing down! Also, Jon and I introduced one bottle feeding yesterday (in place of her normal feeding) and it went so-so. She seems to have the same problem with the bottle she has with breast feeding. She starts sucking so fast and hard at first that she ends up choking on the milk. Maybe it's just a learned behavior because of my overproduction?! Yet another discussion to have with my lactation guru - thank God for her!

More on that later. For now, enjoy some pics from our visit to Blue Earth!