Getting Chubby

Magda had her 4 month doctor visit last week and it turned out that her weight -- which we had thought was "kinda small" or maybe even just "dainty" -- was off the charts! It's not that she's trying to stay slim due to peer pressure or because of my slender genes, it turns out that she simply hasn't been getting enough calories and we, the clueless and "let's not be overprotective" parents that we are, didn't notice. She's been healthy and not really complaining, so we didn't think anything was amis.

So after a session with the lactation consultant and another trip to the doctor, we're focused on our mission of making her chubby. Jennifer took it initially pretty hard -- feeling guily about being an inadequate provider and such -- but I think all three of us are dealing much better now. We're keeping track of how much she eats and every time she nurses, she also gets a bottle of formula which she's gotten to enjoy. The silver lining for me is that I now get to feed her a lot. There is nothing quite like having your baby on your lap, contently sucking on the bottle. (I'm sure Jfer would disagree about the bottle part)

Jfer's also taking better care of herself, doing herbs and making sure she gets enough protein (hmmm, steaks!) We have another weigh-in on Monday. The doctor said that if her weight didn't improve, she may have to go to the hospital. Luckily, after some initial hesitance, Magda has taken to the bottle and is now sucking the extra food down like there is no tomorrow. She has also discovered what "spitting up" means and usually reserves it for me (since I've been doing the bottle feeding this weekend). On the other hand, she's more content and sleeps for longer stretches of time and quite deeply! And I could swear that she's put on some baby fat over the last couple of days, so things are definitely looking up.