Aug 19
Gotta make more milk!
I have compiled a literature search of the most common presription drugs and natural or herbal galactogoues used for low milk supply.
Check out my comprehensive guest post over at Breastfeeding Mom’s Unite here! I would love for you to visit her awesome site and leave a comment for her (and me)!
Thanks!
The History:
One typical busy morning coming on shift, one of the couplets I received report on was a 3 day post-op C/S mom and baby who were scheduled for discharge this same morning. She had been a long 3 or 4 day failed attempt to induce a vaginal delivery for fetal macrosomia (big baby) at 40 5/7 weeks before the C/S. Lots of IV’s, lots of Pitocin… all before the birth.
Her baby weighed 10 lbs 4 oz at birth. We got in report that his glucose sticks had all been over 60 initially so they were stopped early on. His exams were normal. His total bilirubin this AM was 11.3 at over 72 hours of age. He was “breastfeeding only” (*sigh*from the nurse giving me report). She then expressed a concern that he was down 10% from birth weight weighing 9 lbs 4.5 oz today. When I asked her about the feedings, she said he’s been nursing beautifully all the time but nobody’s had time to stay in the room and watch him feed. I asked about the output and she reported he’s been voiding, the last stool was a couple shifts ago. Then the nurse added “We told her you were here today, Melissa, she has a lot of questions for you. ”
I was able to juggle some things around, have staff cover some of my other responsibilities temporarily to make this a priority. Since I am a general staff nurse, there are often more pressing situations. Fortunately, today I was able to manage the time to see her right away.
The follow up reports:
Meg’s case was a beautiful example of HOW a situation can turn around quickly. An individual mother’s determination coupled with a productive plan can produce these results. All situations are different.
Every mother and baby deserve our best!
Aug 11
A birth plan is usually a written plan from the mother to her caregivers describing her wishes, what type of options she’d like to take advantage of, things she would like to happen thru out her labor and birth, what things are important to her as she experiences birth. There are various resources out there to help a new mom explore options and formulate a plan.. especially for a hospital birth. It is important that the mom review this with ALL her care providers AND especially the L&D nurses…. the advocates who help you actually realize the goals with in your plan. I have a fellow L&D nurse blogger who has done extensive research on the topic and wrote a 2 part series on Writing Your Birth Plan- Tips from an L&D Nurse over at nursingbirth. I would highly recommend you check it out especially if you plan on a hospital birth.
Many times these birth plans accompany a mom’s prenatal chart weeks in advance of her birth. Over the years there has been a gradual acceptance of the plans in my facility where historically, there had been much resistance for the mother’s input what so ever. Much like the attitudes towards homebirth…. The doctors or nurses would casually peruse the plan then toss it aside and have a good laugh…. saying…. ” oh- she’ll end up a section for sure!” Unfortunately, they were often right about that– many of those early birthplans never seemed to go as mom wanted, giving the staff fodder for snide comments and remarks. Sad but true. 😦
Recently, we recieved a birth plan that was not at all like any other. Maybe some of you have seen plans like this… maybe some of you actually wished for births like this…. Hey~ who am I to judge? …. I am only here to help, it isn’t my birth.
Her Birth Plan requested:
My first thoughts were… Sweetheart, you could have ALL THIS without even asking!” ……..
Sadly, despite all efforts to improve, … things still happen exactly like this for many births. We just don’t usually see it written out as a formal request or plan! At least this is how this mother wanted things to happen.
This little mommy came in and delivered vaginally. Her plan was very easily carried out. 😉 I am very happy to report that she and her son were healthy and she displayed very postive interaction with him. Very loving and caring. She was very very happy with her birth and with being a mother!
That is all that really matters in the end. Options– and what you as an individual would like to have for your birth. How much education she had before chosing these options… I’ll never know.
Now I am asking the rest of cyberspace world.. have you ever seen birth plans like this???
Aug 7
My contribution to this fabulous Carnival of Maternity Leave , is a story of how during my maternity leave, an injury occurred leading to a career change specializing in Lactation… ! It starts with the birth of my third and last baby…… A girl….. (after 2 boys) was also born by C-Section.. a first for me.
Well– first, let me back up a few years… I’ve had a potpourri of maternity leaves. I have been a Maternity/L&D/Nursery since the mid 70’s. I always worked full time and had never entertained thoughts of staying home with my children once they were born because the USA didn’t assist in providing any type of viable option for families who rely on two incomes or single moms with one income. Prior to FMLA, maternity leave was pretty much up to the employer as far as I understand it. The USA doesn’t offer any paid leave (unless offered by individual employer). For my first baby in 1979- I took 7 .5 weeks and went to a weekend 12 hr shift job which at least allowed me 5 days each week with him.
When my next baby was born in 1985, I worked at the same facility I am now. We were allowed to save up ALL Vacation, Holiday, and Sick time to be used collectively with your hospital allowed 12 weeks off. I was able to have 5 1/2 months total, partially paid time to be with my new baby. Since he had to have surgery at 3 months, I needed that time and could have used more.. My leave was actually supposed to end on Christmas day (YUK).. however, they graciously allowed me to come back on the 26th… also his first day in Day Care. 😦
So back to my third baby in 1988~I had had a C/S — (that’s another story). I had to be hospitalized for 10 days after the surgery with a whopping infection. A fresh incision and chills with a temp of 103.8 do not go well together! [Nurse Curse] Anyway, I made it thru–> healed and returned to life as a mother of three. The same type of collective accumulated paid hours were allowed withthe hospital’s offered 12 weeks. I didn’t have as many hours saved up as last time but was hoping for the best length of time. One day in church, I held my little 2 month old baby girl on my shoulder with one hand, while using the other to hold the hand of my active 3 yr old boy as we made our way down the aisle. Suddenly, my boy squealed with delight and whipped over in a different direction. I held my daughter and did a sudden twist and reach for my son as he squirmed away. I immediately felt something “give” in my back.
It took a few days for me to feel the true extent of the injury. I thought it was just a little pulled muscle. After a 5 hour drive to my sister’s for a family visit, I ended up writhing on the floor with the unstoppable intractable “fire hot poker” pain of full blown sciatica…. all down my right side. I had to go to the hospital ER away from home, unfamiliar doctors, for help and drugs! Boy, I needed relief. As explained to me by the doctors… this was not the same as sciatica from many other causes. This was a swollen inflamed sciatic nerve… we didn’t know why yet. The only thing helping at that point was medication and ice.. a lot of ice. I still insisted they give me meds I could take while breastfeeding, so they weren’t too strong.
I got home, went thru an MRI and diagnostic process, different doc’s, different opinions. I had a disc “blow-out” with”free extruded disc fragments” at L5-S1. Some felt surgery was needed immediately, others said to wait. After careful consideration, we decided to wait and do some conservative type treatments with oral and epidural steroids. I still had to heal well enough to work, though. I spent many nights crying and wondering HOW I could work ??? How could I go and be on duty…running all over to keep up with the pace, helping people thrulabor and delivery…respond to emergencies…how?? I could barely care for my family! I called many friends while I was on periods of bed-rest and had various treatments during the time I had left of maternity leave. (I eventually did have to extend the leave a couple weeks for more recovery. I ended up witha 5 month leave altogether). I was searching for ideas.. visions of something less physically taxing which could combine my knowledge of labor/delivery/postpartum and neonatal care….. and allow me to continue working. I was, after all, the major bread-winner in our family!
Finally, a friend came up with an idea. He was actually a formula and drug rep for Ross labs.. TRUE!! But he was a friend, had heard I was hurt and stopped by the house to see how I was. He was a rep to many hospitals in the NorthEast and had exposure to what else was going on– what other hospitals were doing. This was 1988, only a few years after the emergence of the Lactation Consultant profession. I had never heard of it. Sometimes word traveled slowly (by pony express) and things changed slowly in my little neck of the woods. He encouraged me to check it out and gave me phone numbers of LC’s at some of his other hospitals. I was really excited! I called a few and found out more about the lactation profession and the relatively new Board exam given every year in July to gain the credential of IBCLC. I was actually naiveenough to think I could take the exam with my current knowledge base! HA! (Unfortunately, this is what many nurses with a little experience think…we think we already know it all! Ha!)
I called one of the LC’s at a hospital not too far from me. We talked a while and I had my eyes opened as to the extensive and vast knowledge base needed to become a lactation professional. I launched a quest for the best way to gain this knowledge. I joined LLL and went to meetings. I made home visits with the local LLL leader. I wrote many letters, made many phone calls searching for some type of education program. (remember– no Internet back then!)
Finally I found the perfect program for me. There was a correspondence course offered to be done all through the mail and phone calls designed to be an 18 month course. It was a Lactation Consultant Course offered by BSC Breastfeeding Support Consultants! (the link shown is for their current course) Back then, you could be called a Certified Lactation Consultant after completing the clinical practicum and final exam. Because of continued back problems, I started this course in early 1989, had to take a few months leave from the course and completed it in early 1991. I then went on to continue studying and sat for the IBLCE exam in 1993 earning my IBCLC status!
I have always continued to work as a staff nurse. I found a corset style back brace and found the best balance possible between family, back pain, work and more pain. I was able to get the pain subdued with steroids to carry on with life. In 1992, during a particularly gruesome relapse, I eventually consented to a myleogram… something I had previously NOT wanted. They also did a CT scan while the dye was in place. These tests showed my right Sciatic nerve had been pushed way up out of place by the disc material. I consented to surgery by a fabulous neurosurgeon the very next day. It turns out, the disc was actually adhered to my sciatic nerve!! He had to meticulously excise it off the nerve!! My post-op pain was minimal compared to the pain I had before surgery. I was able to go back to full duty in 8 weeks!
Over 20 years later, I am still working as a staff nurse and am now a CLC… Certified Lactation Counselor. Becoming a breastfeeding professional has enhanced and fortified my life! I am immensely happy I have gone down this road. To think it all came about as a suggestion from a Formula Rep!?!?!
Hope all had a great WBW 2009!!
Aug 2
August 2nd…..Today is my son’s 24th birthday. Yeah…I’m old 😉 This is not really the theme of WBW but I will take this opportunity to tell his breastfeeding story on his birthday.
In 1985, I gave birth to my second son. C. Michael. He was 37 weeks and behaved like many near term babies… Breastfeeding got off to a slightly delayed start but then was awesome and without problems! Yay!
I wish C. Michael’s physical health was the same way.
C.M. was born with craniosynostosis. Specifically, saggital craniosynostosis. Infants skull bones are purposely NOT fused together at the time of birth so the head can mold as baby makes his way down the birth canal and into the world. The different skull bones will overlap easily along the suture line so as to fit thru the pelvis. These bones then gradually reshape and the sutures eventually fuse.
My son’s saggital suture line was prematurely fused…causing a misshappen head. When there is a premature fusion, the growth can only occur parallel to the fusion. The saggital suture goes from the anterior fontanel along the top of the head to the posterior fontanel. Parallel growth would cause his head to be really oblong, or football shaped.
We took him to 5 doctors to decide if we would have corrective surgery… Yes that’s right…. it had to be OUR decision. Although this is a birth defect and causes a visual deformity, it does NOT affect healthy brain function UNLESS there is fusion of more than one suture and growth is impeded. So it is cosmetic surgery.
We decided to go ahead with the surgery at age 3 months and had everything arranged at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). The craniofacial team was amazingly supportive. I was so very scared. My husband and I could not sleep. I hadn’t been able to sleep well since he was diagnosed. How many new mom’s tell you the baby is sleeping but they can’t sleep??? I’m not going to get into the whole surgical procedure… but the main point of this story is how breastfeeding not only provided C.M. with the best nutrition and immune system protection, it also saved me thru my son’s ordeal. My husband was able to pre-donate blood so we both felt like we were doing everything physically possible as his parents to help him tolerate and recover from this major surgery.
I was so pleased to be able to sleep right next to him in the hospital. We had to go in the night before and the he was not allowed anything after 4 am… he could nurse up to that point. I woke him to nurse around 3 am. It was very bittersweet. I was crying and he was happily nursing, not know what was coming next. It was difficult just to see the IV placed, let alone the actual surgery. I was so grateful and happy they had done alot of pre-op procedures the night before when I could nurse him after each study. Now , when they wheeled him off to the OR, I was almost happy he had been slightly sedated because as hard as it was, I could never have handled him screaming at that point.
While he had the surgery, I headed first to the pumping room to try and get as much milk stored as possible. I had not been able to pump well before this so I had limited expectations. It was the first time I had used a hospital grade pump so I had much better volume than I expected. I stored a couple bottles and was feeling actively involved in his recovery already!
They called us to meet him outside of recovery a couple hours later. It was very difficult to see his head swollen and heavily bandaged. He had had a blood transfusion once already in the OR and they expected he would need more. Apparently the bone edges ooze when cut. We took turns with him until he wasn’t groggy any more, then, once awake…. I rarely left him. I was told he had to have a little bit of an electrolyte solution in a bottle first before I could nurse him, just to make sure he didn’t vomit. He was ready to nurse in about another hour. They took him out of the crib, with his massive head bandage, black and blue eyes and 2 IV lines….place him in my arms and we gently rocked and nursed.
I felt completely lost, even as a nurse or especially as a nurse…. because seeing your child like that is very difficult. I kept thinking all the worst possible complications would happen to him. I wanted to keep him safe, protect him. I struggled with tremendous guilt, thinking I must have done something to cause this to happen… It must have been my fault. Many parents go thru that, I’m sure. Breastfeeding him thru the hospitalization, two more blood transfusions and recovery period helped me feel like I was actively healing him. My husband felt similar thoughts because they used his blood for the first 2 transfusions. It was an empowering feeling.
I’ll close by saying that finally being finished with the decision process, the surgery completed (sucessfully I’m happy to say) and on the recovery road also cured my sleeplessness.
The night nurses at CHOP laughed at me! There I was, sleeping right next to my precious brave 3 month old post-op son…and they had to wake me up to tell me he was crying to feed in the night. 😉
What a handsome guy now!
Aug 1
World Breastfeeding Week
WBW Theme Logo 2009
WBW Theme for 2009
Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response
Are you ready?
OBJECTIVES OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK 2009
RATIONALE
Source: http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/
What we are doing…….
At my facility we are working on action plans to include breastfeeding support in our exisiting disaster response plans. We are never immune to disaster…. we just had a tornado here on July 29th with a lot of damage, small flooding and many homes with loss of power and clean water.
We are promoting WBW with staff and physician education as well as small gifts to new moms congratulating them on their decision to breastfeed!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? I really would love to hear your stories and your efforts so that we can share ideas.
My front porch~ still raining lightly
Taken at the same time with a flash
I had a fairly productive morning and had plans to do a lot of computor work this afternoon….. I had NOT intended to hang around with more “ME” time today… really!
We’ve had a day of severe Thunderstorms and an unconfirmed TORNADO about 7 miles from my house. Reports of blown off roofs/barns leveled and unconfirmed~ one person missing….. We are certainly hoping everyone is alright. My power was out for 5 hours. It just came back on.
In the meantime… what could I do??? I took advantage of the natural light, enjoyed a very good book on my front porch when the rain wasn’t so intense…with my very scared Chocolate Lab…Joey.. (Sir Joseph Clay Augustine of Belmont)….I can’t think of a better companion to hang with since my children are not around….
I just heard more thunder mommie...
I know it was THUNDER mom...
Rain glistening in the pines...
More rain in the pines
Jul 19
I wrote a few stories a few weeks ago because I was proud of my hospital that week– sorry I didn’t finish the stories until now……
~She lived about 8 -10 miles outside of town. “Ellie” was having her first baby at age 32. First baby, first pregnancy, no risk factors…. an easy uncomplicated pregnancy. She had done some research, not extensively, judging from some of my conversations with her and her husband…but she knew what she wanted. She had made a beautiful plan with a CPM for a water tub home birth. This particular midwife has been doing home-births in my area for a long time.. (She was the one cowering in the L&D hallway in this story…). The story of how things progressed up to transfer to the hospital was told to us by both the mother, father and midwife.
~Her labor started with regular contractions at 39 weeks. They progressed from early labor which lasted around 6 hours to a more active labor with contractions about every 2- 3 minutes. Her cervix had dilated to 6-7 cm. This pattern of contractions continued for hours. Ellie was in and out of the tub, walking, dozing, in and out of the shower, squatting, doing many different position changes throughout the next 6 to 8 hours. When she was re-examined by her midwife, she had made no cervical change in all that time. This can happen sometimes, things can stall out and pick back up again. Ellie reported that the contractions may not have been as strong at that, so she wanted to wait it out, maybe nap. The baby’s heart rate checks were all good.
~Everyone rested about 2 hours … Ellie’s water broke (clear fluid) about 1 am and her contractions got more intense. The CPM checked her cervix about 3 am and felt no change. She still was 6 -7 cm dilated and the head was at about -2 station. The midwife then brought up the idea of possibly transferring to the hospital. Ellie said NO! Is my baby alright? “Yes….” said her midwife.. “Then No..I’m staying here, — I can do this.”
~Back to the tub… In and out of the shower, total body massages.. contraction pattern the same with increased intensity…next cervix check at 730 am… still 6-7 cm. Now Ellie was tired. Really tired. Exhausted! The baby was great on all checks. Her midwife again brought up the transfer to hospital idea, talked to her about the possibilities of pitocin, epidural etc… Ellie was now wanting anything, agreeing with anything–to get this over with.
~She arrived at the hospital around 8- 830 am very upset. Her husband and midwife were with her and her CPM had all her prenatal care info. Some of the first words out of Ellie’s mouth were that she wanted an epidural and a Cesarean! The nurses on duty this morning were awesome! They calmed her down, had her hooked up to the fetal monitor and observed her contraction pattern and the fetal heart rate pattern response. The baby looked excellent! The midwife and hubby coached her through the contractions while the nurses gathered their admission data. The doctor checked her and she was still about 6-7, swelling of the cervix noted, about -1 station. Ellie asked him if he would please do a C/S and he said no… (yeah!). He said that he felt the best option at this time was to do the epidural she was asking for and observe her contraction pattern… possibly add Pitocin. He talked to her so nicely and non-judgmentally. Many of the other docs would have taken her right into the OR with very little discussion of options. She had been 6-7 cm dilated for some approximate 16 hours.
~After the epidural, Ellie and her husband and midwife all slept. The doc did NOT start pitocin right away, he said that she may need to rest and the contraction pattern couldstart to become of better quality once she rested and was better relaxed. WOW! Where did this guy come from? I’m so amazed and happy and quite frankly, shocked. This was a newer OB here.. I wanted to ask him where he’d been all my life! I went in to talk to Ellie and introduced myself. I told her I was so sorry thingsweren’t progressing the way she had hoped and sorry she didn’t get to stay home. She thanked me and said at this point, she was ready for it to be over! I told her she was really quite fortunate to have this particular doctor on duty today. Except for one bad apple from the night shift just leaving when Ellie arrived, everyone was wonderfully supportive and accommodating. Ellie’s contractions indeed did start up in a better intensity pattern on their own….. however their continued to be a lack of progress. Once again, she asked the doctor to get it over with now and please do a C/S.
~The doctor said NO again! He explained that her uterus was probably tired and the quality/intensity of contractions just may not be what was needed for the job to get done. He explained that the fetal heart rate tracing was beautiful and her membranes had been ruptured less than 12 hours. No baby risks… He felt it possible the baby merely needed to get in better position and the contraction quality needed to improve.. and then he would re-evaluate. Ellie agreed with renewed optimism. The pitocin drip was started. She didn’t need much before the contraction pattern got much stronger, longer and better quality. He came to re-evaluate her only after these better contractions had been consistent for 2 hours. The vaginal exam revealed the cervix was the same ..still the same and possibly more swollen. He said he felt the head was not as well applied to the cervix as it had been.. but still at -1 station. He examined her with and without a contraction. Same in his opinion. Ellie lost all her fight. Her support people rallied to help her, but she was now insistent.
~This time the doctor said she certainly had reason to feel this way, had given this a great try. He told her he still felt she could try longer… that we could alter positions with the pitocin, keep her comfortable with the epidural and keep going… the baby was handling all this just fine. He did say that there was a possibility the baby had his head in a tilted position making it difficult to descend the birth canal. He then let it up to her and told her if she wanted the C/S, he would do it at this point.
~YES I want a C/S! Ellie exclaimed. We did the C/S about 3 pm… some 7 hours after transfer and approximatelyclose to 24 hours of being 6-7cm dilated. Her gorgeous 7 lb baby boy was delivered operatively with apgar scores of 9 and 9. Pink and vigorous! Beautiful. I was able to get him skin to skin in the OR.. that was one of the first times all the players didn’t object and I went with it! (It won’t be the last….and next I’m trying for breastfeeding on the OR table!) Upon delivery, the OB noted the baby had been acynclitic . This is when the head is tilted to the side, ear towards the shoulder. It is probably responsible for her long stall in labor. The OB still felt she could have delivered vaginally given time and good management. I am just so happy he was there. I am proud of this mom, her partner and midwife and of our whole team! This mom was able to make good educated choices about her care despite dealing with the stress of a transfer.. and was able to feel so very very proud of how hard she tried.
In the end it was her…… who gave in to the C/S … not her doctor.
Of that we can be proud
🙂
Jul 5
I’ll be away and offline …on vacation at a Connecticut Beach House until after the 12th.
Later…………
I hope you enjoy reading...Please let me know what you are thinking with a little comment, note or just to say hello~ Thanks for stopping by!
