Dr. Kenawy

Caleb had his first check up Wednesday, August 3, 2011 with our pediatrician, Dr. Kenawy (pronounced Ken-Owie). It was a pretty devasting but wonderful appointment. Since we had come home from the hospital 2 days earlier, Caleb had done A.L.O.T. of crying/screaming. We did not think anything was wrong, but wondered why he would shake his head out of what appeared as frustartion at the breast when eating. We just thought, "what have we gotten outselves into!" Turns out our poor little man was starving, literally! He had dropped almost a whole pound since birth, weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz. Dr. Kenawy immediately thought my milk production was the issue and Caleb had lost to much weight. This being the reason for the screaming so much. He was hungry! Per Dr. Kenawy's instructions, I went home and pumped to confirm that my milk had not fully come in meaning Caleb had not been getting any where close to a full feeding. I was only making about 0.5oz total. We supplemented with enfamil formula and begin pumping every two hours to get my milk supply up. Big huge thanks to my sister, Carrie, for immediately driving over from P*Cola to help a sista out! (Also thanks to Freddie for keeping all the kids so she could focus totally on helping me!)
We think Dr. Kenawy is a genius! :) After we gave Caleb his first full feeding the worn out baby slept for 2 1/2 hours. Matt and I were AMAZED! I cried because he had not done this since we brought him home. I felt terrible that he was starving and sleep deprived because of me. I know it was not really my fault, but I was a post partum hormonal mommy, so I didn't make total sense those days!After about two weeks of supplementing, and being on herbal supplements and perscription meds to get my milk to come in, I finally made enough milk to provide his daily intake. Praise the Lord!

Funny side story: I called my dad on the way home from Dr. Kenawy's office to tell him Caleb had been super hungry and my milk hadn't come in. My dad being his usual self did not take into consideration I was an emotional basketcase. He joked around saying something to the effect of, "way to go, you were starving the poor kid!" I immediately lost it, and he began to back peddle his way out of the hole and started encouraging me out of the depths of despair realizing I thought it was my fault. Looking back this is so hilarious! Normally I wold laugh with him, but again hormones did not make me think rationally! He did great encouraging me after that :)