My friends, this is our newest little soul to nurture! Her name is Aubri Ann. I will post her birth story (and Chloe’s for that matter) in all its gritty details sometime in the future. But please know that Aubri’s birth was super smooth and honestly couldn’t have gone much better! We are so excited she is finally here!!!

Aubri was born on February 27th at 12:38 pm. She weighed 8 pounds and 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. She is really an easy baby and has already been sleeping in 5-7 hour stretches most nights now that she’s a little bit older. Chloe has made the transition from only child beautifully so far. She loves to help and adores her sissy!

We’ve had some moments, though, where things weren’t all sunshine and roses.

Our amazing midwife, Deidre did a postpartum house call on March 2nd and was a little concerned about minor dehydration and the amount of weight Aubri had lost (for those of you who don’t know, it’s completely normal for a newborn to lose a little weight right after his or her debut). Deidre felt around in Aubri’s mouth and she wasn’t getting a good suction with her tongue to help her nurse correctly. After further examination, a posterior tongue tie and upper lip tie were the suspected problems. Deidre walked us through our options, and after some discussion, Adam and I decided to wait a couple of days to see how things would play out. After all, who would choose to traumatize their baby with minor surgery unnecessarily?

The following Wednesday, March 6th was the soonest that we were able to see Deidre to check Aubri’s weight. The night before that appointment, Adam and I were talking through the options we were given. It was decided that if she hadn’t gained any weight, we would have Deidre cut her tongue tie (this is something that was encouraged by the dentist to which she referred her clients). Our quick weight check turned into a two hour appointment where we initially weighed Aubri, assessed possible problems (low milk supply?), cut the lip tie, nursed, weighed her again, and nursed some more. Despite Adam and Deidre’s best attempts to encourage me, I left that appointment feeling that I had failed my baby. By that point Aubri had lost almost a pound and she had only transferred one ounce in her feeding in the office. We bought a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) and were given donated breast milk, we also left with an appointment to see a Lactation Consultant the next day.

To make the last six weeks fit in a blog post, our appointment with Julie, the certified lactation consultant in our area, was extensive. We were re-learning everything about breastfeeding (it’s so easy to do in an ineffective way). When all was said and done, Aubri had transferred three ounces, enough that Julie said we didn’t need to use the SNS. The tongue tie was confirmed and it was decided we set an appointment with Dr Fetzik to have him look at it and see if she needed a frenectomy (I may also use the term revision in reference to the frenectomy). Before they could do that though, Dr Fetzik wanted her back at her birth weight.

Birth weight was achieved on March 21st and due to a cancellation our appointment with Dr Fetzik was bumped up to March 22nd. From the moment that appointment was set, I had this ridiculous irrational fear that she was going to die during her revision. I’m sure my blood pressure was through the roof! I was so anxious I barely ate the next day. I just took in all her cuddles “while I still could” and tried so desperately to trust Jesus. Let me tell you guys, that was so hard to do. I was in tears by the time we got to her appointment and I prayed so much that day, begging God to give me His peace that passes all understanding and for the life of my daughter. In what seemed to be the 11th hour, that perfect peace washed over me. Then I swaddled Aubri, Adam and I gave her kisses, and they took her away.

Her revision went without a hitch. Aubri was only gone from the room about three minutes before she was returned to us ready to nurse.

There’s a lot more to this story, follow up appointments with Julie, Dr. Fetzik, and an amazing lady named Dr. Kaileigh that we took Aubri to for chiropractic work following her revision.

Adam and I learned so much through this whole process!

• Breast milk is anti-inflammatory.
• The tongue is connected to your whole body down to your toes through your ligaments.
• Tongue ties affect speech development and the ability to eat solid foods correctly.
• Babies heal quickly and fortunately don’t remember a thing.

I have also learned that I’m an anxious person and I’m not quite sure what that means or how it will manifest itself. But here are some verses that helped me dwell on Christ rather than worry and anxious thoughts.

Psalm 94:19 NIV
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”

Matthew 6:34 NIV
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

For those of you that are wondering, Aubri has recovered splendidly! She is six weeks old and weighs just shy of ten pounds.