c'est ma vie: Two weeks and tongue (and lip and buckle) tied.

Per usual, Scarlett spent most of her first week sleeping. She was a bit fussier than our other two boys, but maybe we're just more tired because we are busy chasing after two big brothers now?

Case in point - swim lessons for the boys when Scarlett was exactly 1 week old. We watched from the windows outside because the chlorine smell was a bit too strong inside the pool area. She passed out in the car afterwards.

The struggle..

...to stay awake...

...is real!

Bryon is allotted 2 weeks of paternity leave, which is such a perk. It's nice to not need to ask him to take vacation time off of work. However, it's not really paternity leave if he spends all of his time working from home, right?! In all honesty, he's a HUGE help and I'd be drowning if he wasn't around as much as he is. We made it through the 2 weeks with him only leaving to fly out of town on ONE trip (and it only lasted 24 hours).

However, during that 24 hour trip, Scarlett became irritable and increasingly fussy. I just knew something wasn't right. Each time I would nurse her, she would fall asleep and I'd rock/bounce her in my arms for a good 15 minutes afterwards to make sure she was sound asleep. I'd put her down and she'd be screaming within 5 minutes. This would go on round the clock. One time it took me 5 hours to get her to sleep! On top of that, she would want to nurse CONSTANTLY. Within 5 minutes of finishing a long nursing session, she'd be thrashing about looking for more milk. For the first time ever, I was cracked and bleeding and in a lot of pain - while nursing & afterwards as well. Nursing is always tough the first few weeks, but this was beyond what I remembered enduring prior.

We took her into the pediatrician for her 1 week checkup a day later and I expressed my concerns. She was back up to her birth weight and doing well in all areas. We did notice thrush in her mouth/tongue/cheeks, so quick prescriptions to clear that out (for her any myself) and the pediatrician thought we'd be set.

But things just continued to get worse. I was unable to nurse and resorted to pumping (which I've never done in a cumulative 3 years of nursing my boys). I called up some of my midwife and doula friends and explained the situation on the phone. Every single one of them would ask me if Scarlett had been evaluated for lip/tongue tie. And, of course, she had. The pediatrician at the hospital cleared her when she was born, as well as our primary care pediatrician who cleared her just a few days later. My friends all suggested that I have someone other than a pediatrician evaluate her mouth, just to be safe (a lactation consultant, for example). Too many of my symptoms suggested that the thrush and pain with nursing - as well as the fussy behavior and wanting to constantly nurse - pointed towards a lip/tongue issue.

I went ahead and pulled up some photos online and then took a peek in Scarlett's mouth myself. I noticed that neither doctor had held Scarlett while sitting knee to knee with me and placing her head in his/her lap. As soon as I looked at her upper lip, I knew she was lip tied.

I called the pediatrician and made an appointment for first thing on Monday morning specifically to evaluate for lip tie. Sure enough, when we went to the appointment the pediatrician agreed that she thought Scarlett was lip tied, and possibly tongue tied. She referred me to an ENT asap. Cue my midwife/doula/lactation consultant friends. They all told me to skip the ENT and take her to a dentist instead. I found a local dentist who specializes in lip/tongue ties and had Scarlett in her office by the end of the week.

On Friday, Dr. Rosenberg diagnosed Scarlett with a total of 4 ties!!! Her upper lip was tied, she had 2 upper buckle ties and she had a posterior tongue tie. I had the ties cut (with a laser) on the spot and within minutes we were on our way to recovery. We stretch Scarlett's mouth/lips to keep the frenulum from reattaching every 4 hours, round the clock. This will continue for at least a month. We also discovered that there's a genetic component to these issues and Bryon had an upper lip tie. I checked out both boys and the dentist believes they also have lip and/or tongue ties, so those may be getting fixed in the relatively near future as well.