Untied

So we had his frenulum clipped yesterday afternoon. He was born with a very short one, and it restricted his tongue from being able to stick out very much past his gumline. This has hindered him from getting good latches while breastfeeding and if left as short as it was, could possibly cause speech problems later down the road. It’s also what they call being “tongue-tied.”

This procedure was suggested while we were still in the hospital. Which was somewhat horrifying, because we had already made the difficult decision to have him circumcised, and we weren’t thrilled about the idea of letting another blade anywhere near him. But over the course of the past three weeks, it had become more apparent that it would be better to go ahead and have the procedure done now rather than later. Apparently it’s done a lot and is really not that big a deal. When the folks at the La Leche League actually recommended it yesterday at the meeting Michelle went to, that pretty much sealed it for me. So we made an appointment at the pediatrician’s office and took him to see Dr. Ragsdale yesterday.

She sent us out of the room, which I guess they always do when they perform even minor surgery on your children. And this really was minor. It sounds so much worse than it actually is. There is a risk if they cut to much off, that the baby could bleed, but apparently they don’t have any nerve endings or blood vessels where she was going to cut. So we left exam room 3 and waited and held hands in exam room 1. For about two whole minutes until she came and got us. We went back and saw him and he was perfectly fine, awake, aware, and, it seemed, happy. And he was already sticking out his tongue a little bit and we got to see the underside of his tongue for the very first time.

Michelle’s already noticed a little improvement with the breastfeeding, and we think it’ll just get better in the next couple weeks as he acclimates to the fact that his tongue can flap freely now. But the thrush is still there, which we’re dealing with, and he might be in the middle of his first growth spurt, which means he wants to eat all the time and is fussy non-stop. So there are lots of hurdles right now, but we’re getting through them. And in case you didn’t realize it, Michelle is practically super-human through all this. The leaders at the La Leche League meeting were thoroughly impressed that she is still determined to breastfeed, because she’s dealing with a low milk supply, short frenulum latching issues, and the thrush infection which causes excruciating pain, and most women justifiably give up if they just have to deal with one of those. So for Michelle it started with 40 hours of back labor (33 of those completely drug-free) and the pain has not let up. But she is STILL trying to do what’s best for HIM. She’s amazing.

Note to Sebastian: When you get older and inevitably think that your mom never wants you to have any fun because she has to say no every once in a while, remember that she is more than willing to put absolutely everything she has on the line for you because she is completely and undeniably in love with you. This is something I need to remind myself of as well, because she does the same thing for me.