Frenulum? I hardly knew'em!

Today was the day that Kristen has been dreading - poor little Luella had her frenulum clipped! For those of you that are unfamiliar with what a frenulum is: it is the oral tissue that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. If it extends too far toward the tip of the tongue it causes a condition referred to as "tongue tie." Being tongue tied can cause difficulty nursing (which we are not really having) and speech problems down the road, not to mention the inability to lick an ice cream cone! After a consultation with a pediatric ENT wherein he pronounced her tongue tie "moderately severe," we decided to go ahead with the procedure while she's still young enough (and the frenulum thin enough) that the clipping is a relatively simple procedure. (Waiting until toddler age or older requires stitches and sometimes general anesthesia)

So, this morning we set the alarm for 5:45 to ensure that Luella was able to get a little nibble before she was forced to fast prior to the procedure. We rolled into the doctor's office at 8:15 and they stuck Lu in a cozy backboard papoose, lifted her tongue, applied a topical anesthetic, and - snippy snippy. Mom opted to sit this out in the hall, so Dad watched and did some creative camera work (sorry for the crappy photog - trying to be like an undercover, investigative reporter). When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, all was fine. After the doc applied pressure to her tongue for 1 minute, Kristen came in and Lu breastfed like a champ. I think that Kristen was more affected by the procedure than little Lulu was. To make sure all was well, Luellabelle and I took momma K-mizz out for ice cream.