Nursing is hard... but it does get easier

I feel so blessed that I'm able to nurse Daughter.  So many people can't for any number of reasons. I know that many mothers really want to, and try so hard, but never succeed. 

It started to get easier about 2 months ago.  Then much easier about a month ago... I still have the occasional blister, but I'm toughening up.  Now Daughter is teething so she occasionally chomps.  Still- so much easier than it was at first!

Did I mention that 8 hour stretches at night are now the norm?  They are!  Plus then she usually goes back to sleep in about 30-60 minutes for another 2-3 hours :)

While nursing, she often strokes my chest.  It's like she's trying to swim.  It's so cute!  And I just love to look at her little hands on my chest.

Also adorable, is the addict look she gets in her eyes.  Like she's getting her fix- her eyes roll up into her head as I've seen countless times on Intervention.  A look of pure ecstasy without the actual Ecstasy!

Obviously, there are no pics of her nursing, so you can't enjoy how she looks while nursing... but I'll share some other pics :)

stop singing, Grandma!

Always happy to help with laundry :)

Tender Transitions

I went to the breast feeding mothers support group, tender transitions, yesterday.  It's an hour away, so I only went because Mat had an appointment there.  They weighed Daughter and she had gained 6.5 ounces since Friday!  She's really growing!

There were a couple of lactation consultants there.  One tried to help me with my blister problem, but the only advise she had was the same as Pauline's (the LC I had seen for private appointments).  Just pump for a while when it becomes unbearable.  Once it heals, put Daughter back on the breast.  She also said that it might be because I'm fair skinned... but, oh well.

So I've been pumping.

After TT, I took daughter to the floor that Mat was on.  She was getting really fussy so I ended up nursing again in the waiting room!  Thank goodness for nursing covers! I used this tutorial
http://madebythemamamonster.blogspot.com/2008/04/nursing-cover-tutorial.html
but made some adjustment. No D ring because my neck is always the same size... less boning because I wanted a bit more privacy.

here's a pic...

I'm going to make one for my sister :)  She wants one in a solid fabric though... I don't have any n my stash.  Guess I best get shopping!

I also made one of theses...
http://www.thecoterieblog.com/2012/05/diy-modern-nursing-shawl-sew-one-line.html

but I like the other so much I haven't even used it yet.

And here's a pic of Daughters "smiling for daddy" yesterday.  It's not the best quality, but it's a very happy pic :)

More blisters and post partum visit

Grrr!  Just when I think we're getting the hang of nursing, more blisters!

One was a milk blister.  Very painful, but easy enough to fix.  A long bath was what this mama needed anyway!  So, that's gone now.

On the right again, there is a normal blister starting.  It may be a blood blister... right now it's hard to tell and I don't want to let it get big enough so that I can tell!  So I'm doing a day of pumping from that side and nursing from the left followed by a bottle of expressed milk from the right.

I think it may be my nursing chair.  I primarily nurse in a very comfortable chair in our living room... I'm thinking that it's hard to get a good position in it.  It's a lazy boy chair... big and comfy.  I'm going to do more nursing in the nursery or on the couch.  Hopefully that helps! 

I had my 6 week post partum appointment this week.  It went pretty well... I had to see the OB GYN, though.  Not the midwife who I love... once someone has a C Section in ND, apparently midwives are off limits.

The OB GYN was very rushed.  She's nice, but much less warm than my midwife had been.  I miss my midwife.

Nursing my adopted daughter

It's so amazing that I'm able to nurse my adopted daughter. Most adoptive parents never get the chance.

Yesterday was the funeral of a childhood friend. He will be missed. Because of the visitation (Sunday) and the funeral (Monday) being in my home town, I rode there with my parents on Sunday and back to the lake yesterday. It was about 8 hours in the car with all of the driving for the visitation/funeral. So I had to nurse in new places. I used my nursing cover for 5 nursing sessions out and about. I had previously only nursed in public (with my cover) once- in the car. 

I am so thankful that its finally getting easier! I stuck with it and it paid off!  I may get more blisters in the future... But I think I can deal. 

And I had a revelation while nursing in the church nursery. I figured out why nurseries are called nurseries!

Cluster feeding until 3 am?!?

I'm exhausted and sore.  Daughter did allow me to get in a decent nap this morning because, surprise surprise, she was also sleeping.  But yeah, cluster feeding until 3 am. 

Mat is awesome though.  He came out several times to ask if he could get me anything.  I asked him to feed her at 5 (his usual bottle time before leaving for work) and just let me sleep through it.  When he kissed me good bye this morning he told me that she only took an ounce.  What?  Only one ounce?  She must still be full from her extreme cluster feeding last night.

Not only did she nurse almost constantly from 9 to 3, but she was getting frustrated about me being out of milk and crying so I gave her 3 ounces of pumped milk as well.  3 ounces plus whatever she got out of me!  I really hope this is just a growth spurt... my boobs can't take it!

I woke to Daughter babbling in her sleep at 8 and pumped and tried to get more sleep... she had other plans so at 9 I gave her the rest of the bottle from 5 am (I try to pump three 3 ounce bottles and keep them in the fridge).

Then she quickly fell asleep...

At this pace, I honestly don't see myself building up a freezer stash.  Right now we have one 3 oz bag in the freezer.  I'm taking blessed thistle and Fenugreek.  Eating oatmeal every day... She's gaining weight and has plenty of wet and dirty diapers, so I know she's getting enough... but I want to be able to build up a freezer stash!

More blisters...

I had a blood blister on Thursday and Friday.  Looking online, everything said to pop it.  So I called the LC office on Friday and they said not to pop it and just to allow it to break naturally- even though it may pop in daughters mouth.  It got larger and larger with each nursing session.  It did pop on its own yesterday though. 

So I feel much better... but now there's another plain old blister appearing.  So I have pain from that, too.  I don't get it!  The LC says Daughter's latch is good... the one I spoke with on the phone said that it might be poor positioning.  I'm trying some new positions.  But I think that the blood blister may have caused the poor positioning which led to the other blister....

I think the blood blister came from Daughter suckling too hard through the sheild.  It first appeared when I was using a shield...

And Daughter hasn't been sleeping that great last night or Friday night.  So we're pretty exhausted and I'm sore.  Good thing this happened over a long weekend!

Lactation Consultant appointment

We met with Pauline yesterday.  She's the LC we had seen in the hospital and one week after Daughter was born.  She told me that it's perfectly OK to use the nipple shield for as long as I'd like and as often as I'd like.  She had me nurse with the shield and without it.  She told me that it will be easier for Daughter to get milk from a less-than-full breast without the shield, and from the nursing at the visit, that seemed apparent. 

I nursed on both sides with and without the shield.  She took over two ounces from one side with the shield (the fuller side) but then only 2 ML from the other.  We then tried without the shield and she took a whole ounce.  Pauline said that she latches on pretty well both with and without the shield.  Apparently it's hurting me because I have a fair complexion.  Who knew? 

So, since the appointment I've nursed about 75% with the shield and 25% without.  That's manageable.  Plus, that way I don't have to worry about attaching a shield if I ever nurse in public using my nursing covers.

After the appointment we ran some errands.  Then we went to my parents place in Fargo to nurse again and she got a "milk coma" (aka milk drunk)

Nursing is hard!

Daughter has been exclusively breast fed since day one.  I've pumped some so that she could have bottles of breast milk, but no formula.  We have some formula because we heard that some women who have C Sections have difficulty with milk supply.  With how she's growing and the amount of diapers she's going through, this is not an issue!  Thank God!

But her latch is an issue.  She is no good at the wide latch.  I'm in pain.  I developed a blister on my right nipple last week... so I exclusively pumped from that breast and fed her from the left (followed by her heart breaking cries when I set her in her swing and I pumped to give her more milk) for a solid day and the blister went away.  So I started nursing normally again, but her latch was the same.  Ouch!

So, tomorrow I have an appointment with the lactation specialists up in Fargo.  It's over an hour away, so my mom is going to come with me so that Daughter won't have to ride in the back by herself.  Thanks, mom!  Hopefully they'll fix things... right now, I can only nurse using a nipple shield (which I'm very thankful were invented!) but hopefully they'll be able to show me how to get Daughter to latch properly and nurse successfully :)

Honestly, this has been very hard on me.  Knowing that I can make enough milk to feed her, but not do so in a way that isn't excruciating for me, is tough.  Both physically and emotionally.  But Mat's wonderful (again!) and he's calmed me down and dried my tears when we have to resort to a bottle (our store is slowly depleting faster than I can replenish it) rather than nursing our baby girl.  Hopefully, we can figure it out tomorrow and the nipple shield holds out till then!

68 Milliliters!

We had our lactation appointment on Monday and Daughter was weighed before and after nursing.  She took 68 Ml (2.3 ounces)!  The lactation nurse (Pauline, who we had seen at the hospital) said it was quite good.  Most one week olds only take 40-45 Ml.  I really think I would have given up if not for her and Jaime, the other lactation nurse. 

I'm getting better at nursing... but I'm also getting more sore.  She's doing a lot of cluster feeding now, so I hardly get a break before she's hungry again.  She'll be back to her birth weight in no time!

Here's our little angel sleeping on mommy after nursing :)

I'm so blessed :)

39 weeks and nesting kicks in!

We decided to try to take some maternity pics, despite my swollen state.

39 weeks!

And today after church I went crazy... I needed to sew!  We needed to get the nursery done!

So that's what we did... I sewed, Mat hung things on the walls and curtains... now he's bathing Mookie and he's going to vaccuum before 6:00... at 6:00 the night turns into a relaxing date night.  Trying to stay relaxed before tomorrow's version!

Here are some of the things I sewed today and Mat finished in the nursery...

Niece's quilt front and back

Daughter's quilt top, Niece's bottom

Curtains (now with black out backing) and valence

Mommy's tactical beverage holder

 This I made to hook onto the day bed in the nursery.  I plan on doing a lot of nursing in there and it makes sense to have a hands free drink available.  Just lean over and suck the straw without disturbing Daughter :)

Snowflake pattern for our little snowflake :)

curtain tie backs

I may do a tutorial on how to make curtain tie backs... I took a lot of pictures and it's just scraps (the left overs from backing and binding niece's quilt and the white ribbon thingy's that come around so many new born things).

Well, tomorrow's the big day!  We're putting our trust in God and praying like mad!  Please pray for Daughter to turn so we don't have to have a C Section. 

Daughter is breech

At the midwife appointment today we found out that Daughter is breech.  Jen told us that we could either schedule a C Section or do a version.  http://www.webmd.com/baby/external-cephalic-version-version-for-breech-position So they did an ultrasound to determine her health and amount of fluid so that we could do a version.  We have one scheduled for Monday.

Prayers are greatly appreciated!  We really don't want a C Section, but if it's the only way to get Daughter out safely, we'll do it. 

She's measuring in the 33rd percentile according to the US today.  She is healthy and mobile, so lets just hope she turns back to the head down position! 

On Monday my dad was telling Daughter to do a somersault for Grandpa.  I told him not to say that because she was in the right position.  If he says that to my sisters kid or any future kids he'll get smacked ;)

38 weeks! And Mookie's birthday :)

38 weeks and still pregnant!  :)

It's Mookie's birthday today!  He's 8.  He got some special bones and new toys.  We're planning on taking him to the drive in for a sundae tonight, but that depends how I'm feeling.

38 weeks!

38 weeks!

So I've been having pretty regular contractions since last night at around 9.  Every 10 minutes or so.  I'm also pretty nauseous and not hungry at all.  Yesterday I ate two English muffins at 4 and then wasn't hungry for the rest of the day.  Mat and I decided that I should eat something before bed, so around 10 I had some applesauce.  But that is nowhere near enough to keep pregnant me satiated!

Throughout the night I got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  I kept waking up from contractions-but they weren't getting stronger or closer together.  This morning I texted my mom to let her know and she came out here to work today.  

Based on my google search, this might be prodromal contractions.  http://www.babies.sutterhealth.org/laboranddelivery/labor/ld_lbr-begins.html

Thoughts and prayers are appreciated!  Not sure whether this is early labor, prodomal contractions, or false labor... but I'm definitely contracting pretty regularly!

Visit to the birthing center and 6th midwife appointment

Monday I was cramping constantly.  It was about on par with my worst period cramps.  So I called the midwife nurse and she thought that I might have a UTI, changed my Friday appt to Tuesday, and told me to take a warm bath and tylenol.  If it didn't improve, I was to come into the birthing center. 

It didn't improve. 

So, at about 7:00 Monday night, Mat and I made a trip to the birthing center.  I was still cramping pretty bad (a constant cramping, not come and go) and when we got there it got worse from the walk through the hospital. 

Turns out everything is fine.  I'm just one of those lucky women who starts to cramp and contract really early.  They did a UTI test, monitored me for a bit, I had two contractions, and we came home.  We got home just before 11.

The nurse, Natalie, was awesome.  She said that she was comfortable letting me go home because I had the midwife appointment the following day.  My mom came to drive me yesterday.  Krista checked me over and everything looked good.  She said Daughter had dropped.  Cramps were normal... and they can't tell if I'll go into active labor in a couple days or a couple weeks.

So... Daughter's still in me, I'm still cramping, and I'm taking it pretty easy.  The cramping gets worse when I'm up and doing stuff.

I want Daughter to come when she is ready!  :)

37 weeks! Meet Bucky and LWML quilt for daughter :)

37 weeks!

37 weeks!

You may have noticed a furry new addition to the pics... not talking about Mookie, but Bucky.  The deer that Mat had gotten a few years ago that was the biggest anyone had taken on my grandfather's land in many years.  I think he's pretty impressive!   Tasty, too!  Provided good venison for over a year.  But since the move he had just been sitting on the floor in the nursery but Mat got him hung up in the living room this weekend.  I think he looks good!

LWML quilt for daughter

close up of the quilting

The LWML ladies at my church made Daughter a quilt!  Daughter is very blessed to have so many quilters around her!  One can never have too many quilts :)  This is our first "whole cloth" quilt and very beautifully quilted.  I love how the quilting details differ in the different sections of the picture.  And the small animal pics are even framed!  My mom and I have never done anything like that!  When we rent out a Gamill Long Arm we just pick one pattern and stick with it.  Which is still beautiful (what home made quilt isn't?) But I'm loving the new quilt, too!

5th Midwife appointment

I met the last one!  Christa.  She was just as nice as all the rest.  Beginning next week, I'll see my midwife, Jen, for the remainder of my pregnancy. It's so great to be able to visit with everyone who could possibly be delivering Daughter. 

My mom drove me to keep my stress levels down.  Thanks, mom!  I got to recline in the passenger seat for the hour long car ride (each way!) rather than getting a sore back in the upright car seat.   Plus, the AC in her car works great!

Christa answered questions and did my Strep B test. 

Turns out, I can't swim for 6 weeks after Daughter is born :(  That stinks.  Not that I'm a huge swimmer, more of a player-in-water, or now just a floater.  Floating is so nice!

My belly button is purple.  It has been protruding for at least 2 months now, and Mat just noticed that it was purple and wanted me to ask about it.  Apparently that's normal.

She poked around and told me where Daughter's body parts were.  Her HB was upper 140's and I was measuring right on track.

She looked over my birthing plan and told me that it looked good...

Daughter's been getting the hiccups 4-6 times daily but she said that's normal. 

Her guess was that Daughter would be 7.5 - 8 lbs.  The last midwife guesstimated 8.5.  So I'm guessing daughter will probably be somewhere in there :)

36 weeks!

Today I'm officially 36 weeks!  If I went into labor now, they wouldn't try to stop it.  Wow!  We still have so much to do!

36 weeks!

36 weeks!

So I've just noticed that my face has severely pudged out.  Eh, that'll happen.  I'm swollen everywhere.  I had to wear my tennis shoes to church because my church shoes just don't fit anymore. 

Yesterday Mat was being awesome as always, and he made a frozen pizza because I'm always so exhausted.  I was reclining in bed and we decided to watch a movie on the lap top once the pizza was done.  so I attempted to sit up some and balance my pizza on my lap (or lack there of) and it ended up falling.  I got pretty upset and Mat quickly helped me rescue my pizza and asked if I wanted his pillow.  I angrily said "It's MY pillow!" because he was leaning against the pillow that I would ordinarily use as a table or to hold up my book in bed.  Then I just started laughing hysterically because I was so angry and needlessly so.  Thankfully, Mat's quick to forgive his crazy hormonal wife.  We've been laughing about the "It's MY pillow!" comment ever since.

Baby shower and 35 weeks!

Daughter had another baby shower this weekend!  It was very fun and we got so many adorable gifts!  We got the cutest framed name made by my cousin-in-law and her mom.  I want to show it, but we've decided not to use Daughter's name on here... it's on Facebook, though :)

Preggo sisters!  22 weeks and 35 weeks.

Preggo sisters with our grandparents

Aunts, Grandma, sister and I.  

The shower was thrown by my dad's sisters.  It was amazing!  First of all, it was only a half hour away- I can handle a 1/2 hour in the car better than a four hour car ride.  Then there were fun games, good food, and wonderful presents.  We are truly blessed :)

4th midwife appointment and pregnancy related craziness

At my 4th midwife appointment I met Linda.  She was a very nice midwife (I'm starting to think that's a prerequisite!).  She answered all of my questions fully and I really liked her. 

She said that if my heart burn continues to get worse, I can take two prevacids each day.  In the mean time, I'll continue with the one and she said to take Tums in addition. 

She told me that there's not much I can do about my aches and pains; they're just part of pregnancy.  Which I embrace and am glad about!  I'd gladly go through much more if Daughter needed me to!  I'd just like it if I handled pregnancy a bit more like those women with all the energy and level-headed.

She recommended I wear my wrist braces during the day to cut down on my hand tingling.  I can't bring myself to do it.  I'm so hot!  All the time!  Wearing wrist braces at night is hard enough... it's like sleeping with gloves on.

I asked her about the tingling in my legs and she said that Daughter was probably pushing on my sciatic nerve. 

Anyway, after going into the Fargo office yesterday morning, lunch with my mom, and then my appointment, I had to drive across the border to Moorhead for a quilt shop to find borders for my quilts.  Yes, quilts, I'm making "cousin" quilts for Daughter and our niece due in November :)

Anyway... I was thinking of doing lilac because that will match with both nurseries. 

Now I've changed my mind.  While there is lilac in the quilt, and it's a beautiful fabric, I just don't feel the "YES!!" that I should.  My mom (and quilting sous chef) agrees and thinks we need to find something brighter.  She's going to look at some other quilt stores.

Then I had to run to Target to fill a Rx.  Then I went over to Arby's because I was hungry, needed to put my feet up, and I had a coupon!

So I didn't get home until after 5.  That's a really long day for me... last night I had a crying melt down and Mat was once again amazing.  He asked what was wrong and the only thing I could think of was "it's so hot!".  I realized how ridiculous this sounded and started laugh/sobbing- a phenomenon related to pregnancy.  It's happened a few times now.  Very weird.  Anyway, he held me until I calmed down, OKd me turning down the thermostat, and told me that he would install a ceiling fan in our bedroom.

Surprise baby shower and tactical beverage holder

Last night at Bible study they had a surprise baby shower for Daughter and another little girl who is due to come out in July.  They are so sweet!  They are such a nice group of gals.  I'm so blessed to know them and be able to meet with them to study the Bible :)

Now we're taking a summer break from the Bible study.  We just finished the lessons in Pew Sisters, a really good small group study.  It sparked some very interesting conversations.

Today was a hectic day for work, but I'm feeling pretty good anyway.  So I made Mat something he's been wanting for a while, a beverage holder for the tractor.  We had plenty of denim that I found at a garage sale, so I was just going to make it out of that.  But Mat wanted me to use some of the Crye Multi Cam that we picked up at a fabric outlet.  So, I did. 

Tactical Beverage Holder

With some left over Velcro, it seems to work pretty good!  He's very excited to hang it from the light bar... so we just went outside to do it. 

It makes me happy when I can do little things for my family to make them so happy :)

34 weeks! And crazy amounts of rain

I'm 34 weeks!  Woot!  6 weeks until due date... Daughter is now about 4 3/4 lbs.  At this point, she's just fattening up to prepare her for life outside the womb.  She'll be gaining about 1/2 lb each week!

34 weeks!

34 weeks!

There have been some bad storms rolling through eastern ND lately.  We're getting "swaddling practice" from tucking Mookie in really tight to calm him during the storms.  I would guess that we got about 8 inches of rain since Thursday.  We don't have a rain gage up yet, but the radio said that a neighboring town got about that much. 

 

This is a shot of the neighboring field.  The tree line on the left is half on our property.  We own lakeside property!

 This is a shot of a ditch with about 5 feet of water flowing through it.

Same ditch, with the standing water in the fields showing behind.

When we moved to ND we expected some spring flooding, so we made sure to get a "higher" house and prepare ourselves for road closures.  This flooding is every bit as bad as it was this spring!  Talking to some people at church today, nobody ever remembers it raining this much.  Lots of crops are lost.  

On the bright side, my garden is doing pretty well.  The weeds are growing like weeds!  It's hard to get out there to weed with so little energy... at least a few of my plants are doing great :)