Getting Better

I realized that since reporting on our difficulties, about how Shahar was not gaining weight, I haven't posted an update. Well, I have an excuse, we were fairly busy...

Bottom line first - things are a lot better now.

Shahar has no serious medical problems, or any inherent growth issues, only some breastfeeding difficulties - he's having a hard time nursing.

Both Anat and I value breastfeeding tremendously, and are willing to go to great lengths in order for our kids to grow on breast milk (see more below).

That being said, 12 days ago, with weight loss and no bowel movements, there could be a lot worse causes, and we were very happy when it became evident that none of them proved to be real.

So, we first gave up (temporarily) on nursing, got Anat pumping breast milk, and myself feeding it to Shahar using a bottle. Within a few days, Shahar started eating beautifully, gaining weight and spraying poop generously...

We then got an excellent lactation consultant involved, and she diagnosed Shahar as having a tied tongue. We consulted a specialist, and ended up snipping Shahar's tied tongue; surprisingly to me, it turns out to be a not-terribly-painful, and fairly standard procedure. Shahar's nursing abilities have started improving as a result, but naturally not magically so. In the last 5 days, Anat is breastfeeding Shahar, with effectiveness mildly increasing by the day, and some fortification of pumped breast milk from a bottle. Typically, the middle-of-the-night meal is bottle-only, to allow Anat some sleep. Most importantly, we're happy that he is drinking only breast milk.

We still have a long way to go until Shahar will comfortably depend on nursing only, gaining weight steadily while doing so, but hopefully we'll get there within a few weeks.

The past week and a half were certainly hectic and challenging, but I believe we're in the right direction.

Cheers,

Giora

Difficulties

Our first 13 days at home with Shahar were so calm and peaceful, that it was hardly believable this was a house with a newborn.

He generally didn't protest about anything - a meal every 3 hours or so, and in between sleeping wrapped inside his favorite baby carrier, on our bodies, was all he was wishing for. Well, at least that's what we thought...

However, today we found out that Shahar hasn't been gaining weight as expected, and he's actually about 350 grams below his birth weight.

We were advised that this, combined with lack of bowel movement in the last 5-6 days, implies that he should be breast fed more, and more often.

So, starting earlier today, Anat has been breast feeding him pretty much continuously, including waking him up every 2 hours if he was still asleep.

Our immediate goal is seeing a bowel movement. Honestly - I never thought I'd ever wait so anxiously to see a diaper full of poop! :-)

We had raised 3 babies, and never had to do anything special in order for them to gain weight as newborns. Certainly a new challenge for us.

Clearly, so little sleep for Anat, with very limited ability of mine to make it easy on her, would make our lives a lot more difficult.

Combine this with circumcision (planned this Friday, after a lot of debate and deliberations we decided the social reality in Israel makes it the right choice for us), a start of a new school year for the girls tomorrow, and the constant stream of envious feelings expressed by Maayan - and we're probably facing a bumpy couple of weeks.

Hopefully sooner rather than later things will get on track again, and we'll end up stronger, knowing we've beaten all the difficulties...

Cheers,

Giora

Photos, mostly of Shahar

Due to popular demand, we've uploaded some recent photos - see http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/WelcomeShahar#

Enjoy,

Giora

Welcome Shahar Unger!!!

Dear family and friends,

We're thrilled to share some happy news with you all!

This morning, around 11am, Shahar Unger (שחר, free translation: Dawn) has joined our family. He burst out to this world - less than 3 hours from first contraction to first (baby) scream, and made all of us extremely happy. We came back home from the birthing center (not a hospital, but on that in another post) after a few more hours.

Shahar weighs 3.260kg, modest compared to all his sisters, and since labor he mostly sleeps. Anat is expectedly tired, but is feeling well and happy to be home with the most beautiful and perfect baby boy we could ever ask for :-)

Hugs and kisses,

A decade of parenthood

Dear family and friends,

This brief posting is meant to convey one thing - happiness.

I realize it might come across as somewhat corny, but I'll take that risk :-)

There are certainly also negative things going on in my life - my back is giving me a lot of pain, not allowing me any regular and fun exercise; my general health is not at its best; Anat is weak and tired of the pregnancy (getting there, real soon now...).

However, these are minor compared to having Maayan, Hadas and Noga and living our routine family life. The love and affection I get from these 3 princesses is something I can't explain in words. Cuddling with Maayan when she goes to bed, hugging and kissing Hadas when she wakes up, caressing Noga (well, when she allows me, she's now literally a teenager...) and chatting with her about this and that - all these little things make me very happy.

Two days ago, we celebrated Noga's birthday and 10 years of parenthood for us.

These have undoubtedly been the best 10 years of my life!

Giora

To Circumcise or Not To Circumcise?

Dear family and friends,

As I previously shared in this blog, we're expecting our 4th child, due in early September.

And since this is going to be our first baby boy, we're facing a dilemma. Putting it simply:

To Circumcise or Not To Circumcise?

I guess y'all know that we're Jewish, and that in Israel the definite norm is circumcising. In a way, not circumcising a boy might later alienate him socially.

But, since the religious motive is irrelevant to us, and since there are good reasons not to circumcise, we're not at all sure we want to.

We started talking to people about the issue, and did some reading.

We value your opinions, and we're keenly interested in hearing them - either in person, in a personal email or in a comment to this post.

Thanks a lot!

Anat & Giora

The photos are finally out!

Yes, it's been a long long while since we've published any photos. Bad us.

Now, thanks to Anat, there are quite a few of them, showcasing our life in Haifa, Israel, during 2009 and 2010.

See http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora

Hugs,

Maayan, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora