What we learned from the Dr appt

Finn's doctor appointment went really well today. He was 6 lbs 13 oz, so that was a nice improvement (I guessed 6 lbs 13.5 oz this morning before we left!). Jim and I obviously had a lot of questions about what happened regarding Finn's weight over the last week. The bottom line is that his doctor isn't concerned necessarily about what percentage he is at...just that he maintains or increases that percentage and certainly doesn't lose any weight at any point. Does that make sense? So it doesn't matter than he is at 7% as long as he continues to trend at the same or better. She said that full term newborns gain about an ounce a day, I think (seems like a lot, but my perception is out of whack).

I talked to her about my milk supply and pumping. Basically, she said there isn't any product out there what will artificially increase my supply (even though they claim they will). She said to pump every time Finn gets a bottle and that should keep my body regularly producing milk. I'd been pretty down because I've been getting so little (between 10 and 30 ml total each time), but then this afternoon I got 60ml! I'm hoping it is a trend. She said I'm not selfish for wanting to continue nursing him because it is the best thing for both of us. But if I were to have to quit, he would still get breast milk, so that is still good.

Because there was a case of the swine flu in Cold Springs and Austin was in that area for three days over the weekend AND because we were all so sick, we asked Finn's doctor a little bit about it. The swine flu is a respirator flu, not intestinal. We has the intestinal flu. She said Finn will most likely not get the flu we had because of the antibodies in my milk. Yeah, one less thing to worry about. If he did, we'd have to bring him straight to the hospital, so hopefully it doesn't come to that. She said not to even worry about the possibility of the swine flu. We are already washing hands and being careful, so it isn't a huge threat. I personally don't get the big hype with the whole swine flu thing. I mean, at this point, seriously!

Finn's doctor ordered more home health nurse visits (our insurance only covered the first three without doctor's instruction). The purpose is to keep a close eye on him (especially his weight obviously) without having to go to the doctor office all the time. He has his four month well-child appointment next Thursday (can he be four months already?), so I think I will schedule her to come on Monday (half way between both doctor visits).

Finn's monitor had to be downloaded today, so I went over to Children's after his appointment. I wanted to check in on my friend Becky and the girls, but she was busy feeding one of them, so it didn't work. Plus, I wasn't sure how it would work since Finn was with me and he can't go in to the ICC. Oh, well, Maybe next time. I did get to see Finn's ICC nurse Joann, though! She happened to be working and came out to see little Finn. She said how big he is getting, of course. It was good to see her. Seems like a life time ago already!