The Whisler Life

Time flies… and before you know it, Ayden Thomas is already 25 days old!  I’m already depressed about him driving and graduating high school!  I’m desperately trying to cling to every moment of every day.  I know they’re only this little once, and we’ll look back fondly - even on the sleepless nights, and sore breasts!  Needless to say, Patrick and I are utterly smitten with this little treasure of a boy.  He has us wrapped around his tiny little finger!  He says JUMP, and we say HOW HIGH?, no matter how early in the AM it is.

As many of you know, we’ve had our fair share of challenges in these first few weeks of Ayden’s life.  We had a couple of feeding issues that were cause for serious concern.  The first happened between about days 5 and 10.  My milk had so engorged me that Ayden couldn’t "latch on" to eat properly.  We were both very frustrated and he wasn’t able to gain weight as quickly as he should have.  We resolved that issue by visiting with a Lactation Specialist who got us set up on a silicone "shield" that allowed him to latch on more effectively and actually draw out a tummy full of milk.  Once we had jumped that hurdle, the next food crisis actually involved a shortage of supply on my part.  Since he was having so much trouble getting a good meal in him for that span of several days, my body thought there was no demand and started to shut down the "milk factory".  In a major panic, I found myself once again at the Lactation Specialist.  They offered me many troubleshooting tips to try, including herbs (Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle), electric pumping, having Ayden at the breast as much and as often as he was willing (to stimulate my brain to realize there is still demand), and the midwife even suggested a beer or two a day (Microbrew specifically for the yeast content).  Well, I religiously took ALL of the advice to heart and thank goodness for small miracles - IT WORKED!!!  So both mother and child are happy and well fed, we’re happy to report!

Other than that, the three of us have just been enjoying getting to know one another and finessing this whole parenting thing.  You quickly become an expert on midnight feedings, changing diapers in the dark, bathing a baby without risking drowning, that Pampers really ARE the best diapers, and that this is going to be the most challenging and rewarding endeavor in this lifetime.  Patrick and I have both realized that we were more ready for this parenting adventure than we realized.

Lastly, we know that you are all anxious for more pictures… and believe me we’ve taken many!  I can assure you that I’m working on it and I’ll let you know as soon as we’ve posted more!