Stuff for Nursing Moms

*****If you are not a nursing mom, this is going to be WAY boring and probably WAY to much information.  You're warned!  Read at your own risk!*****

Oh, nursing.  I really thought I crossed that bridge a while back... I mean, I finally stopped cringing, stamping my feet and holding my breath the first 30 seconds after she latched on.  I was no longer blistered and I wasn't bleeding or cracking.  I could take a shower and actually enjoy it.  I had conquered the awkwardness of nursing pads, nursing tanks and nursing bras.   I could nurse evasively in public.   I thought I was in the clear of everything about nursing.  

Wrong.  About 3 1/2 months into things, I started to think I was not making enough milk.  Boo.  Because I am committed- downright, wholeheartedly, two feet in -committed to exclusively breastfeeding until Little Miss is 6 months old.  (And I'd still like to make it to her first birthday).  So this is quite the point of frustration for me.  I have been back at work for 3 weeks now.  And I am pumping away, trying to make extra to feed her, and yet still keep her belly full daily.  This is a challenge.  I have added in extra "feedings" (also known as pumping) after she goes to bed at nite.. or I get up at some ridiculous hour in the early a.m., to stagger into the kitchen and "swish-suck-swish-suck-swish-suck" for 15 minutes.  And it's sad.  I get a few drops.  Okay, I get more than that, but I really only do get a few ounces.  Quite discouraging.   Because it takes me at least two pumpings to make enough milk for one bottle feeding.  I'm no math whiz, but that clearly isn't good.  

Thankfully, I have lots of support.  Lots of moms have offered their tips and hints.  And it's been SO GREAT.  

Unfortunately, I have a kicker.  Here it is.  Charlie Ann is now not seeming full after a regular nursing session with me.  She gets mad and frustrated and cries and arches her back and wants more.  Well, kiddo, I'm all out.  This is no bueno.  So I have been using some of my stock pile in the freezer for an additional "dessert" for CA.  Sometimes she just wants an extra ounce and two.  And sometimes, like yesterday, she gulped down 5 more ounces.  What?!  So now, I am really nervous about not making enough milk.  I dont know if you can "over feed" on breastmilk or not.. but my little munchie is quite on the small side..  (she just hit 12 pounds and she's 3 1/2 mon old) so I'm not really thinking she's being a little porker, I do think she is genuinely hungry.  I'm hoping its a growth spurt.

Meanwhile, to help (at least ease my conscience) I made these tonight: http://www.drmomma.org/2010/08/major-milk-makin-lactation-cookies.html 

and read this article - http://www.drmomma.org/2010/08/lactation-cookies-recipe-increasing.html I started taking fenugreek capsules about a month ago.  Unfortunately they made me incredibly dizzy and lightheaded.  So those are out.  I have however, picked up this tincture: http://www.motherlove.com/product/530-More-Milk-Plus.html. I just started it yesterday, so the verdict is still out on it's effectiveness.  I do know that a nursing mom needs extra "good" calories (and let me tell you, it's hard not to want to count and cut every one, post-pregnancy) so I made a "fortified" banana bread the other day [packed with bananas, whole wheat flour, flax, yogurt, walnuts, etc.] and cut them into portion sizes and froze them.  Now, I can just take out on, set it on the counter and then I have a great breakfast with zero effort.  

On that note, it's time for a "feeding".  Swish-suck-swish-suck.

Charlie Ann's Story of Arrival

Baby Girl Sickler is finally here!  She is darling and wonderful and such a sweet little thing.  Jarod and I both are still in shock that we have a little one of our own... I think the reality has yet to hit either of us.  But, alas, she is here!

Here is her story of entry into the world.

October 31st - Go to the hospital at 10am because I have felt her move very little all weekend.  All checks normal (silly girl was just having a three day r & r, I guess).  My doctor checks me, says I am at 2 cm, and 70% effaced.  He proceeds to "strip my membranes"(that just means 'get things a-goin').  He leaves us thinking we'll be back in the hospital that evening having a baby.  I have my first contractions that day.  We both get excited, but none of those contractions amount to anything.  So we wait.

November 1st - a few more contractions, and still we wait.

November 2nd - less contractions than the days before... and we wait some more.  Meanwhile, I finish packing the hospital bag.

November 3rd - Nothing.  My mom arrives and she is ready to be a grandma.

November 4th - Dr. Appt.  Doctor says I am at 3cm, about 80% effaced and all looks well.  I get a second "stripping of the membranes."  I get a few more unproductive contractions.  So we continue waiting.

on the way to the Dr.'s Appt - big belly!

November 5th - I walk 3 miles trying to get this ball rolling... but all I get are contractions that stop when I stop walking.  And so we wait.

November 6th - My due date!  Hello 40 weeks.  Goodbye 40 weeks.  I am still pregnant.

November 7th - Dad arrives and he is ready to be a grandpa, but still we wait.

November 8th - Here a contraction, there a contraction, everywhere a contraction.. but nothing is really happening.

November 9th - Dr. Appt.  3cm, 80% effaced, he is quite surprised that I still haven't gone into labor.  He lets us decide if would rather wait for Baby Girl or be induced.  Meanwhile, he suggests a fetal heart monitoring test and an ultrasound.  All checks healthy and normal, but the amniotic fluid is approaching a danger level.  We can wait, but I have to get monitored and ultrasound-ed every 2 days to make sure all stays well; or we can induce.  My doctor is on call the next day.  We choose to induce on November 10th.  Jarod and I go on a last date that evening as a family of two.  I cry a lot.  I am nervous and anxious and excited and scared.  Jarod is as cool as a cucumber.

November 10th -
       7am - I shower.  I cry.  I eat cereal.  I have butterflies in my stomach.

       8am - check into the hospital.  Gown up.  Sign my life away on a million forms.  I have a mild panic attack that I cant go through with birthing a child.  I'm tempted to run out of the doors.  But I stay.

All ready.

     10am - Get an I.V., I cry.  The I.V. hurts and I cant bend my left wrist.  The pitocin drip begins.  We watch the Price is Right and decide Bob Barker was a way better host.

     12pm - Mom and Dad bring Jarod lunch from Panera.  I suck on ice chips.

       2pm - My contractions are getting stronger.  The doctor comes in to check me.  Still at 3cm.  90% effaced.  The doctor breaks my water.  I am pretty sure I lose 15 pounds in all that gushing fluid.  Very awkward feeling.  Contractions intensify.

Looking pretty tired already.

       3pm - After 5 hours of contractions, and knowing I still have 7cm to go, I decide I want an epidural. The nurse proceeds to say there is an emergency and the anesthesiologists are unavailable for another several hours.  I tell her I need something, anything.  She gives me analgesics (I.V. drugs).  Within 2 minutes I was whistling Skip to My Lou and seeing double.

       3:15pm - The nurse tells me there is an anesthesiologist available and that if I do want that epidural, now is the time.  I say fabulous, I'll take two.  Jarod proceeds to stabilize my loopy self and watches the epidural procedure.  He is joyously amazed and wants to know if he can tell me how big the needle is.  I reply, "as if.." and flop into a pile on the bed.  The joys of being doubly drugged.
In a few minutes, my blood pressure drops dangerously low and I sway between consciousness and passing out.  The nurse and anesthesiologist give me ephedrine on 10 minute intervals for over an hour to stabilize my blood pressure.  Meanwhile, they stop the pitocin drip due to the complications.

       5pm - Doctor check.  3cm, 90% effaced.  No progress.  They must start the pitocin drip over from the ground again.  This is slow going.  My epidural is working really great on my right side.  My left... eh, not so much.

       7:30pm - nurse changeover.  Our new nurse, Lolli, says it's time to have this baby.  She checks me.  I am still at 3cm.  She stretches me to 5cm, I am sure that would have been painful without an epidural. She cranks up my pitocin every 20 minutes.  Things are rollin' now.

     10:15pm - Jarod is a zombie and asks to take a nap.  I dont mind.  Sure enough, as soon as he falls asleep, I have to change breathing techniques to endure the contractions.

    11:30pm - I wake up Jarod to say that I need some help.  The nurse checks me, 8cm.  I'm really wishing that left side felt as numb as my right side.

    12:30am - I tell Jarod I need the nurse, that the pain is near intolerable.  She comes in, checks me, and asks if I'm ready to push.

     1:15am - I do my first push.  Jarod said it was pretty much worthless (well, he told me that later).  I tell them I'm going to be sick.  I throw up green stomach acid everywhere.  My throat feels burned.  Both the nurse and Jarod say that the heaving was my best push.  I'm dying for a drink.  I can only think about the two bottles of Gatorade I packed and how good they are going to taste.  I thinkI repeated the word 'Gatorade' 400 times in my head during the pushing.

     2:30am - Still pushing.  I'm exhausted.  And I can feel her on my left side.  The pressure is unbelievable.  I throw up again, but at least I get a good push out of it.  The doctor and his entourage of his nurses arrive.  She comes slowly; the doctor is letting me do all the work.  The nurse makes me feel her head during the crowning.  She has so much hair and it's so soft!  I've never been thirstier in my life, oh Gatorade.  The last half hour is the worst. With every push I am sure I am going to throw up.  Waiting between contractions is the hardest, the pressure and pain makes me groan and cry.

     2:55am - One last push and Charlie Ann is here!  They put her immediately on my belly.  She's goopy and soft and wide-eyed.  We look at each other.  She's beautiful.  She nurses immediately.  Everyone leaves and we are a little family of three.

Welcome to the world, Charlie Ann.  We are so thrilled you have joined our family.

39 weeks

Well, I will have finished 39 weeks of pregnancy tomorrow.  And I think my body proves I am near the end...  belly is HUGE, face is starting to get puffy/ultra-splotchy and my ankles are the size of my knees.  Surely this little girl is ready to come out and join the party!  Well, this momma is ready for her little girl to come out and join the party, that is.

So these were taken last nite, on our way to Buffalo Wild Wings to cheer on the Cardinals in Game 7 of the World Series.  What a fun evening!  AND, I even managed to squeeze (just barely) into my Cardinals tshirt :)  Yay, me.

35 weeks Pregnant!

We had our 35 week ultrasound.  I know these pictures are always difficult to make out, so I labeled to try and help.  They are pictures of only her face.  We think she's pretty cute.

In this first one, her mouth is open and she is sucking on the back of her hand.

This one just basically shows that her eyes are open!

5 1/2 Months

Finding Out Our Christmas Present

The big day finally arrived this week--June 8th, the day we would get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.  It was like anticipating Christmas morning, impatience for what's in that present!

Our ultrasound was just so fun!  There has been tremendous change since week 7's ultrasound :)  It was amazing, I could have watched all evening.  We saw all the fingers and toes, watched the heartbeat just thumping away, and oh, the kicking!!  Right leg, left leg, both together, and repeat!  I said it was cute, and Jarod said, wait til you're about 7 months along... Im not sure you'll think the same about all that kicking.  And the cutest part of all was watching the little hands reach and play with the umbilical cord.  Haha.  I guess, why not?  Nothing else to do in there til November :)

Head, belly and arms (there's crazy kicking legs too, just not in the picture :)

Profile

We had the tech write the gender down and seal it in an envelope, and from there we went to Buca de Bepo for a celebratory dinner.  So over rigatoni and meatballs, we found out we were having...

A BABY GIRL!

From the restaurant, we called my friend back in Missouri, Becca, who has a new, wonderful event planning business, to tell her the news.  She had a double layer cake waiting to be filled with either pink or blue icing.  She did a wonderful job!  The cake was gorgeous and she had it in my brother's hands (who waited in the living room, so he couldn't see) within ten minutes.  

My brother rushed off to surprise my parents at their house, as it was already 8pm, central time, and my sister in law was running out of stalling antics to keep my grandmother up past her bedtime.  

Well, one fiasco later, two stop signs away from Becca's house, the cake slid under the back seat, completely removing all of the icing off the top!  My poor brother turned back around to Becca's place in a state of confusion.  Poor Becca came to the rescue a SECOND time and apparently fixed the cake back to unnoticable perfection.  

Twenty minutes later, my brother pulls into my parents house with the surprise cake, but Dad has gone to take my GrannyAnnie home.  Austin leaves the cake in the vehicle with the air-conditioner running, as it is 90 degrees outside, until my Dad arrives.  FINALLY, at 9:30, Austin comes in with the cake, and announces the the surprise!  Mom got to cut it and they were all were excited to see bright pink icing.  

Jarod and I sat enjoying a lovely meal here in Los Angeles, while we were causing an absolute debacle back home in Missouri!!  Haha, it was quite funny to hear them retell the story over the phone.  Oh well.  I tried to be creative for them :)  Maybe they would have just preferred a call.  Haha.  

One Cute Onesie

This came in the mail from Auntie Aimee a few weeks ago - too cute!!  

4 Months Pregnant

4 months pregnant, and yep, it's startin' to show.

Officially: 16 weeks and 2 days

Baby Sickler is the size of my hand this week!  Whoa!

I'm Back to "Me" Again

About a month ago, I was beginning to wonder if I could truly handle being pregnant (although it's not like you can exactly smack the "quit" button and eject yourself off the ride).   I was having some SERIOUS doubts and some serious self talks on a regular basis...  Never in my life had I felt so bad for so long.  Nothing was bringing relief.  I tried every trick in the book, old wives tales, friend's suggestions, my doctor's advise...  But the sad, bad truth was I just needed to wait it out.  I remember going to bed and thinking, "Whelp, guess I'll wake up sick again tomorrow."

So from week 6 to week 15, my life looked like this:

• 6:30am- wake up (not take shower, since heat from hot water made for extra nauseousness in the morning)
• 6:35am- sip milk, while sitting on couch
• 6:55am- try to make self look presentable
• 7:30am- commute to La Puente for work, keeping heat on and windows rolled down for fresh air
• 8:00am- eat crackers
• 8:30am- see first student
• 9:00am- eat more crackers, see more students
• 12:00pm- lunch break = lying down in my car, sipping Gatorade and eating crackers
• 12:45pm- see more students 
• 1:30pm- eat crackers, see students, suck on Jolly Rancher suckers
• 3:00pm- commute home, blasting air-conditioning with rolled down windows
• 3:30pm- change into sweatpants, lie on couch, eat crackers, sleep
• 6:00pm- talk to Jarod while still lying on couch, have another sucker
• 6:30pm- pysche self up for shower
• 7:00pm- eat more crackers, gag on prenatal vitamin, climb in bed
• 7:30pm- watch reruns of Simpsons and the Office on Hulu.com, while "enjoying" another Jolly Rancher sucker
• 9:30pm- fall asleep, with sleeve of crackers near pillow 
• 11:00pm+ - wake up multiple times in the nite, sometimes to pee, but mostly because I was uncomfortable, hot, nauseas, hungry or cold 

I bought Saltines in the large boxes from Sam's.  I was hungry, yet grossed out by food.  I wanted crackers (obviously), french fries, biscuits and milk.  Mix in a few popsicles and suckers, and that was my healthy first trimester diet.

My doctor was not pleased with me around week 10.  I was losing weight, dehydrated, tired and he even said I looked bad.  Imagine that.  He prescribed Zofran.  I would love to say that I could pop a Zofran and I was queen bee again... but not so much.  At times it helped, but most times, I couldn't even tell.  My doctor said I must be on the tail end of my morning all day sickness.  Uh huh.

Week 14 - STILL SICK!  I was for sure I was one of the "few" that would be sick the entire nine months.

However, something magical happened the beginning of week 15, I woke up and did not have that bad taste in my mouth like I was going to puke!  It was a miracle.  I ate a normal breakfast, I showered, we went to church, I enjoyed the car ride to Newport Beach, we shopped at REI, I was up and walking about, ENJOYING LIFE!  No afternoon nap for me, instead I organized my closet, washed Taiga's bedding, lysoled her kennel, vacuumed behind her kennel and febreezed the crap out of everywhere she is (I love having superhuman smelling powers)...  I felt like a new woman!!

I am now on Nausea Free Day Four.  Hooray!  I am feeling like my old self again, cooking dinner, exercising the dog and smiling.  I can honestly say I am enjoying being pregnant now, and getting excited to meet our baby.


I would like to add a plug for my husband now.   That man has more patience, compassion and understanding in his little finger than I do in my whole body.  I would be crying on the couch, so frustrated and self-consumed that I couldn't "do" anything helpful...  and he would tell me to just lie down and rest.. and then bring me Chic-Fil-A fries and red boxes.  For over two months, Jarod managed to keep our place in order, take care of all a dog's needs in the city, baby me, fix his own meals (even if I made him open all the doors and turn on the fans when he made curry stir fry- gag!!) and make A's on all his assignments.   How did he do that?  He's just that incredible.  And well, he did say that he did get me into this mess and being responsible, he would assist as much as possible  :)

14th week

First Pregnancy Photo 

What's funny is that when I stepped on the patio, the dog ran out with me and sat right down.  Apparently, she wanted in the picture too.  Silly girl.  

Well, I am into my 2nd trimester already!  What?!  And, unfortunately, still feeling not the greatest.  I am praying that I am not the exception when it comes to feeling better in the later months.