Ashley & Austin's Journal

Austin was born April 15, 1998. He is my second child. I breast feed my first son for only 11 days. Due to lack of knowledge and support it didn't work out. I really do regret this and was even more determined to nurse Austin.

We had a hard first couple of days. Austin had to see his doctor when we was 2 days old to have the PKU test done. When we first saw the nurse she did a weight check on Austin. He had dropped from 7 pounds 12.5 ounces down to 7 pounds 5 ounces. I knew that it was normal for a newborn to loose weight, but I wasn't prepared for that much.

Then nurse came in to do the PKU test. She noticed that he was jaundice. So the doctor came in and said he wasn't to bad, but to keep him in front of the window. I wasn't ready for a word of this, so I thought I was failing at breast feeding. Thank God my husband was there to keep me going. He said why don't I just continue for the next two days. Then we will see if the baby has gained any weight.

Two days latter we took Austin back to the doctor to get him weighed. He had gained 3 ounces. I was very happy about that, but he was more jaundice. The doctor had a test done on him to see how bad. Austin wasn't bad enough to have anything other than sunlight. When Austin went back two days latter he had gained 2 more ounces and was not jaundice any more.

So far we have taken Austin back to the doctor two more times. Both times he had gained 1 pound a week. I was so happy about this. It made me feel great to think he was getting fat off of my milk, not something made in a factory.

Austin also loves to be held. He likes it a lot more than my first child. If he is awake he wants to be in mommy or daddy's arms. It is hard sometimes, but I don't like him to cry or fuss. He really loves to be in the sling. I think that was the greatest gift I received!

When I was pregnant with Austin I wanted to breast feed him until he self weaned. Then I had him and said I would try it for at least six weeks. Now I think we are up to saying I will be happy for at least 3 months. What I am getting at is we are taking it slowly & not expecting anything from each other. I think that is the key for us.

Until next month,

Ashley & Austin Hiskes

hiskesfam@hotmail.com

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2738/

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