Friday, January 30, 2015

Tales from a Breastfeeding Mom

Here is a post from Baby Elle's mom. 
Sharing how breastfeeding significantly play an important role on her and her baby.
Enjoy!

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While I was pregnant with my first (in 5 years of waiting), the thought of feeding my little one with (purely) breastmilk never crossed my mind; not until the need of taking her out from my tummy at 7 months happened. (Though I’m not here to bash moms who formula fed, just want to share the journey :) )

We welcomed our baby @ 2 months early weighing just merely hitting 1 kilo (picture out how itsy bitsy and fragile our baby is). Then our Neonatal Pedia advised us to produce milk for this tiny peanut since this premature can only tolerate her mama’s milk.

With the dilemma we are facing, I scrammed (not literally though) to search on breastfeeding - the whats, whys and how on premature babies. Everyone in the family was clueless, she’s the first preemie from my side of the family.

While doing my own research and forcing my body to produce liquid gold, I came across – premature gut, NEC, Kangaroo care (and I still feel helpless and clueless). On the 3rd day after delivery, my body started to nature’s gift to babies and on the 6th day after birth my little nut is now ready to feed with my milk.

The journey was never easy, though she’s tolerating the gradual increase in feeding volume, her weight gain was minimal, NICU nurses mentioned on milk fortifiers (Uh..oh..!) BUT..  if I can produce more hind milk the better. So breastmilk pumping became frequent to extract the elusive hind milk (the fatty and milky white part) to give her extra fat and protein intake (whew! the hands became numb).

We graduated from NICU at 1,950 grams on her 2nd month.

The next challenge was, the actual breastfeeding - latching on and position was not a walk in the park. I learned sleeping while sitting (no worries, I got loads of pillows on the side).

As the maternity leave is about to end, I have equipped myself on the HOWs on pumping while at work.

Did you know that RA10028 exists? Nursing employees are granted additional break time to extract milk. Well, lucky me, I have a very supportive colleagues.

At present, this tiny one is now at 5,400 grams, that’s 5X her birth weight!
And that’s my superpower – I’m a milking machine!


Thursday, January 22, 2015

When coughs, colds and fever strikes

Photo grabbed at www.wisegeek.com
For the first 2-weeks of 2015, we were sick.
I got the colds and headache first. My medication was to drink plenty of water, some lozenges for my sore throat and rest. These initial medication didn't work so I took Decolgen 3x a day for 2 consecutive days. Good thing I did, for the headaches are gone yet the colds are still there.

Then 8-yr old daughter has itchiness on the throat with occasional coughing. Not paying attention that these also are signs of cold infection, I just let her have water therapy, rub Vicks on her throat or spray some Kamillosan M and a dose of Vitamin C (5ml a day).

But because we (me and my daughter) didn't treat the infection well, it spread and infected my 3-yr old son. At first there was a sneeze (initially blamed the cold weather) but before the day ends the nose is dripping like water. So I let him take his medicine --> we let him take Gripp Heel (3x a day) and Vitamin C (2.5ml for 2x a day). The following day, I heard him coughing.

By the way, Gripp Heel is a homeopathic medicine for colds, coughs and fever. According to our pedia, Dra. Myrna Lopez of Mactan Doctors Hospital, homeopathic treatment is an alternative treatment that focus on boosting one's immune system in order for it to fight the infection. For viral infections, this is her recommended medication. Synthetic syrup and antibiotics is her last resort.
More on homeopathy information here
 

Three days of this treatment, my son had a fever. This time, I urged the husband to go to our pedia but he said not yet. (Natataranta na ako while wala lang si hubby! You see I decide based on my gut feeling but he decide based on logical reasons daw!) So we gave him 5ml Tempra every after 4 hours. On the 5th day (3-days with colds and coughs + 2-days of colds, coughs and fever), husband agreed to seek professional help since we see no improvement even when medication was already applied. However, the pedia gave the same medicine (Gripp Heel + Vitamin C + Tempra) with the addition of Allerkid (antihistamine). She said his lungs has no phlegm and that its only a viral infection.

Hubby got sick too and my daughter's condition also worsen as she complained for being too cold and that her tummy aches so much. I'm too occupied with my 3-yr old that I forgot my 8-yr old baby being sick too :-( And because she has
phlegm and has swelling on her throat, pedia gave her Zinnat (antibiotic). This time I requested hubby to treat his fever and colds. He took BioFlu and Nasathera.
We also clean the bedroom (as in general cleaning), changed the sheets, air dried the pillows under the sun, washed the blankets and sprayed some disinfectant. After two weeks, with medication and cleaning and constant prayers, we're good and virus free.

Note:
This treatment works for me and my family. As each of us have different reaction to treatments, please do consult a health professional before trying this.


Update as of January 27:

Added information related to BIOLOGICAL HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL CORP, in case you'd like to know more about homoepathic treatments. Heel products can be bought here.

Found this related sites about BHMC
http://bhmcphilippines.com/
http://bhmccebu.ph2.biz/ 


BHMC Clinics:
BIOLOGICAL HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL CORP - CEBU
0356 Don Mariano Cui St., Capitol Site Cebu City
Tel# (032)253-3746 / (032)253-3099

BIOLOGICAL HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL CORP - Cagayan De Oro
SE JO Lim BLDG., Gemilina St., Carmen, CDO City
Tel# (088)858-73-92 Telefax# (088) 233-3139

BIOLOGICAL HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL CORP - DAVAO
# 123 Camia St., Juna Subd., Matina, Davao City
Telefax:+6382-299-1619

BIOLOGICAL HOMEOPATHIC HEALTH CENTER -  ALABANG
Unit E Upper Ground Floor, West Gate Tower, Investment Drive
Madrigal Business Park, Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City
Tel# (02)842-7005 Telefax: (02)850-6249

BIOLOGICAL HEALTH CENTER - MALATE
1691 Maria Orosa St., Malate, Manila
Tel# (02)523-1211 Telefax# (02)522-5823

IBARRA BIO MED INTERNATIONAL TRADING CORP.
Suite 301 Marbella 1 Condominium
2223 Roxas Boulevard,Pasay City 1300
Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel# (02)833-9142 / (02)833-1005
Email: ibarrabiomed@yahoo.com


NOTE: I am not paid to do this post. Just sharing information.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Elle, our Warrior Princess

Meet baby Elle.
She is my niece.
She's a preemie.
Born too soon at 30 wks old.
Yep! She's too excited to meet her mom and dad and the rest of the family.
With the prematurity, her lungs are too young too. She was given a pulmonary surfactant to aid her lungs to work on their own and with the help of the hospital oxygen.
She had few bouts with apnea but was able to recover – thanks to all the beeps of the modern monitoring machines (and apnea are no jokes.)
She also developed ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity, you may look up Stevie Wonder) and needs to undergo laser procedure to prevent blindness and take note the whole session was anesthesia-free.
But God is Good! Always!
Not just Good but Super Duper Awesome! Full of mercy and grace.
By His grace and thanks to the love and care of her Pedia (one of the best) and her nurses (ever dependable nurses), she was able to go home after 8 weeks in NICU. They were her great comfort at times when mommy and daddy are not at the hospital.
Fast forward today.
She's now 7 months and 6 days old.
Smiles a lot and loves to stick her tongue out.
She never fails to give joy to all those who surround her.
Cuddling time with her mommy is her best bonding time.
Yes, it is a bitter-sweet journey but she's thriving taking one step at a time to recovery. Full of hope!
By the way, this is her fave sleeping position – closer to the heart.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Thank You 2104! Hello 2015!

Happy New Year. 
Yes I am excited on what 2015 would bring to us.
But seems like I am not over with 2014 yet. Yep! Not yet!
But can't also wait for 2015 to unfold too and receive its offers.
So before anything else, we want to say Thank You 2014 for the goodness you have brought to us. It was full of challenges and stress, yet it was full of hope, love and happiness. It was fun.

So here it is, some random photos of our holidays as we celebrate the joys of 2014 and open arms welcome of 2015.
Packed bags
Our little boy who's excited to fly
Annual family photo
Gift-giving
Cousins
And cousins
Newest member of the family
Our warrior princess
My Lola
Fireworks
Food
And more food


Thank You 2014 and Welcome 2015!

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