Finally Getting to Your Questions

Ilahee asked:
as a breast feeding mom of a singleton, i'm curious as to what and how much you eat... are you still constantly hungry?

I'm supposed to eat 3500-4000 calories per day. In reality, I eat far less than that. I eat at least ine Quaker Oatmeal To Go bar per day, as that's the only way I like oatmeal. When I do eat, I eat ridiculously sized portions, because I never seem to be hungry until I start eating and then I'm positively ravenous. I definitely crave more protein than I used to, and I have to work harder to make healthy choices because I don't have so much time to make food, so convenience foods are tempting. Mostly, though, I have unquenchable thirst and I go through water like you wouldn't believe.

Anonymous Wrote:
Is this the OB/GYN for whom you weren't sure of the best way to switch to the perinatologist without harming the relationship? It sounds like things between you are well. How nice that he visited you in the hospital!
Would adding calories to any EBM feedings Ellie takes be useful? Is the issue more to figure out what is going on, why she isn't eating enough, and that if it weren't for the hunger strikes, she'd be gaining fine?

Yes, this is the very same OB/GYN, and things did work out fine. I told him he'd be delivering my next baby, darnit, because my NEXT baby is going to be a SINGLETON, so help me! It was lovely that he visited me in the hospital and if I ever get around to writing about my last couple days in the hospital and my birth story (yes, I was supposed to write that before I start work tomorrow...yeah, um, that just didn't happen), I'll write about that visit.

Adding calories to Ellie's EBM feedings wouldn't necessarily have been useful before because she really wasn't getting any EBM feedings. Now that I'm going back to work she's getting many more EBM feedings so it may be more worth it. HOWEVER, what it will accomplish is curing the symptom (poor weight gain), but it will be unlikely to solve the underlying problem, if there IS any underlying problem. The real question is why doesn't she want to eat more often? Babies, as a general rule, do not go on hunger strikes, so why does she? Today she ate like a mad woman, but that's unusual. Most days she has to be woken up every 4 hours and force-fed. Anyway, it's not a bad idea, and certainly one we've thought about, but not necessarily one that fixes the problem.

My Reality writes:
I have a question. Can we have more pics of the trio? Please?

Yes! I'll take care of that next!

Carol Asked:
Speaking of weight - how's yours going? are you still losing? I'm down 23 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight now. Breastfeeding multiples is great!

I'm down 65 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, but that's a little unfair considering that I lost about 30 pounds while I was pregnant. I lost another 35 pounds within a few weeks of delivering the triplets and have been holding steady since then. Considering how much I'm eating compared to how little I normally eat, I'm surprised I'm not packing on the pounds. Truth be told, I still have about 40 pounds to lose before I'm down to my "ideal" weight, so I have nothing to brag about!


On a personal note... a lot of people write that they are in awe of me for breast feeding triplets... If I could get my shit together to write my birth story, I've got a post brewing about bresat feeding also, but the long and the sort of it is that I can't imagine it any other way. I can't say that I believe formula would be any easier, and it would certainly be more expensive. We've had every single breast feeding problem you could ask for... plugged ducts, mastitis, thrush, latching difficulties, short frenulum, sore nipples, you name it, but I still cannot imagine not breast feeding them. They have received no formula since they were four days old and the three of them together received a TOTAL of fewer than three ounces of formula in their lifetime (not counting fortifying Abby's EBM for a while), and I'm very proud of that. I'm terrified that when I go back to work I won't be able to keep up with it, but I'm going to do my best. I've got 99 ounces of milk in the freezer to help me keep up in case I slip with the production at first, so I feel fairly confident that I'll be able to keep up once I get a handle on my schedule.

Finally, two great things happened today: First, I got to meet Jessica and her Five Little Monkeys and her fabulous husband Jon today. They were fantastic and I'm so glad I finally got to meet them in person. Second, my friend Connie delivered her triplets at 34 weeks, 5 days gestation. She's a superstar. She had 2 girls and a boy, just like me, so I have someone I can pass on lots of stuff to! I'm so thrilled for her and now I have to convince her to start a blog! :)