The Tongue Tie. Again.

Well, here we go again.

As I mentioned in my birth story, it was indicted in the hospital that Hudson may be having trouble feeding because he had a possible posterior tongue tie. *Easton had a tongue tie at birth, it was corrected and I was never able to successfully breastfeed) I shed so many tears in the first 8 days of Hudson's life because I just didn't know what was wrong, was it me? Was it him? Either way, Hudson wasn't getting the good he needed from me. all I wanted to do was breastfeed my children. I know its not the end of the world… but something important to me.

I reluctantly started pumping a few bottles a day. I knew something was wrong when I would try and breastfeed, even with a shield for an hour or more, and then watch my newborn guzzle a bottle with as much milk as an entire feed should give him. 

The hospital sent a referral to specialized nurse practitioner that could help diagnose Hudson's tie and suggest treatment.

Because Hud was born before a long weekend, I had to wait until he was 8 days old to get into this appointment. Those 8 days we're torture. I tried not to bottle feed, because I didn't want him to get confused, or get so used to the bottle, that he wouldn't ever want to feed from me again, I just couldn't picture my life pumping full time again with a 1 year old. I nursed and nursed and nursed, but he never seemed full. his Jaundice picked up and his diaper output was decreasing. 

When the day of the appointment came, I was anxious. They had me put him in a clean dry diaper and weighed him.

Hudson was born at 8 pounds 14 ounces. 

Today he weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces. 

I was devastated. The guilt that come over me all at once was horrible. How was I trying to hard, and essentially starving my baby? I know it is normal for a newborn to lose some weight, but it should never be more than 10%, and they should be back to their birth weight by about 10 days old. 

Erika (The nurse practitioner) came in a few minutes later and immediately looked into Hudson's mouth and under his tongue. 

She identified, as they noted in the hospital, a posterior tongue tie. it looks something like this:(I pulled this off of THIS WEBSITE - It has the best information about tongue tie classification I could find)

She explained to me that Hudson could latch well, but because his tongue is essentially tied down, he can't use it to suck properly, so he has to use his check muscles to suck, which is exhausting. What I was interpreting as "milk drunk" was actually him just too exhausted to keep trying to feed. he fatigued out in a matter of minutes and just couldn't eat anymore. 

Then we made a plan. she scheduled a "release" for this coming Thursday with a plastic surgeon at a hospital here in Edmonton. until then we needed to get his weight back up. Every 3 hours I feed him off of both sides using a shield (much easier for him to eat out of) and then follow up with 2 ounces of pumped breast milk to make sure he is full. Then I have to pump again to make sure that I keep producing milk, while he isn't able to drain me. 

Let me tell you after 3 days of this that it is exhausting, but I think is producing results. it helps knowing that it is not for the long term, and that hopefully after this release, I can breastfeed my guy. 

EDIT - *we weighed Hudson today and in 3 days he is back up to 8 pounds 6 ounces!*

The release has me a little nervous, its not like Easton's tie where you can just take a little pair of scissors and clip it and its done. this requires a laser to essentially burn a diamond shape under the tongue to create enough space for him to move his tongue freely, afterwords I need to be constantly caring for it, flexing the tongue up and down with coconut oil on my finger, to prevent it from reattaching.  

I had to really evaluate if this procedure was worth it. The most important outcome of this procedure is that Hudson gets to (hopefully) be able to breastfeed. This is super important to me, but I also know I could pump and get the same results for him. I did some follow up with the doctor about other possible complications of a tongue tie and she said sometimes, but not always, complications could be: swallowing problems, problems with solids and both of those problems can have high choking hazards.

In the end we decided to do the procedure on Thursday. I think it will be worth it. It doesn't mean I'm not terrified.

Huds is a happy baby. He barely cries and has taken plenty of strong "pets" and kisses from his brother. 

The grandmas took Easy this week so that we could focus on Hudson and his progress gaining weight and going to various appointments. its been such a blessing having help on all sides from family and friends. 

I have taken some pictures of Huds with my real camera… but this week is busy and my priorities (and brain) are other places right now ;)

soon!

xx - r