No longer nursing

I weaned very gradually.  I had been nursing about 4 times a day, and I would cut out one of those for about 5 days before I cut out the next.  It worked well for us!  But I ad crazy pain.  I can't imagine what mother's who wean all at once go through!  Yowch!

She's still sleeping through the night *knock on wood*.  She had been pretty fussy at the beginning of the week (when I was still nursing at bed time) but that was because of teething.

The reactions I got were so varied.  Some people would have supported me nursing longer (including the amazing Mat), and some people were weirded out that I hadn't stopped yet.

I remember when I first started nursing I had a lot of people ask me how long I was going to nurse for.  The goal was always a year.  We made it!  But when I told some people that, they said "Good, just as long as you're not nursing a toddler, that's weird."

Um... not that weird. 

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 :)