Who would've thought I would write about nursing challenges when my baby is approaching his first birthday? But it happens. sigh.
We found out in early December that we were expecting our third child. Around week 6 of pregnancy, like clockwork, morning sickness struck with a vengeance. It was just the yucky nausea, but when you're not used to it, it feels completely miserable...until the vomiting begins and then you realize that all-day nausea was the good life.
But what happened with me was that any time I would nurse my baby, I felt an overwhelming wave of nausea that was way above the usual nausea. I can't even explain it except to say that it was a whole different kind of miserable. Sometimes, the simple act of feeding my baby would send me running to the bathroom to lose my lunch.
And that's about the time that it hit me. I'm not eating for two, I'm eating for three. Mommy, Andrew, and the baby bagel that's in the oven.
I googled the subject and found a few things that simply said yes, this happens. No real explanation beyond the usual "hormones," which, if you didn't know, are to blame for pretty much anything during pregnancy. Morning sickness? Hormones. Puffy eyelids? Hormones. Spontaneous combustion? Hormones.
I tried to think of which friends of mine have had kids close together and breastfed. Because breastfeeding can be a great form of birth control (hahahaha, that's funny), my list wasn't too long, but I called a couple of women. And of course, they had never experienced this phenomenon.
In the meantime, breastfeeding my 10 month old was a real act of love because for the first time, I hated it and dreaded it. I didn't want to quit when the goal (1 year) was so close. But even if I did, it wouldn't make sense to introduce formula for two months. And I'd have to put it in a sippy cup anyway because Mr. Picky won't take bottles. As for introducing milk just a tad bit early, that was completely out of the question. Andrew has shown signs of food allergies so the pediatrician has instructed me to introduce milk on his birthday at the earliest. No sooner. I did try significantly increasing my caloric intake to avoid nausea caused by a blood sugar drop, but I didn't notice a difference.
I discussed the problem with my mother, who sucessfully nursed all seven of her babies, including twins. She figured out part of the problem immediately. She asked "But the nausea can't be that bad...at ten months, you're probably only nursing him a few times a day, right?" I sheepishly said "Um, more like 5 or 6 times, and whenever he wakes up at night." Mom said it was time to start dropping feedings. Now. For my sake. There was no way I could make it to 1 year with the way I was feeling. I tried to take it just one day at a time, but those days were rough.
I've always let the baby take the lead with dropping feedings. With Isabelle, I don't remember how we dropped feedings, I just know that eventually, she was only nursing 4 times a day, then 3, and 2 times a day by the time she had her first birthday.
I tried the "don't offer, don't refuse" method of weaning for Andrew and he was totally fine with it. he just became a bigger pig at mealtimes. By the end of that week, I was down to nursing three times a day, morning, noon, & night, with no middle of the night feedings whatsoever. And he went back to sleeping through the night again too.
The result was that my crazy nausea was at least reduced because I was nursing him less. Since dropping those feedings, there have been a few yucky moments where I feed the baby and run to vomit immediately, but those times are few and far between. He's now down to only two nursings a day, and as we approach his first birthday, I'm kind of sad. I've never weaned a baby at one before, but I know it's time. And lately, Andrew's nursing behavior indicates that he's ready to be done too. He's hardly interested in it at all, but that just makes it easier for me.
Oh, these babies...they get too big, too fast.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A New Blog
I've started a new blog with a completely different audience in mind. If you've read my blog over the past year, you know that our son was diagnosed with a rare lung defect, Congenital Lobar Emphysema, when he was almost six weeks old.
While we can find some very basic information about CLE, there's just not a lot of information about what to expect as your child progresses. What does recovery look like? What does a child look like 6 years after a lobectomy? These are questions that the doctors can give us estimates to, but CLE can vary so much from child to child that it's just hard to know what to expect.
Because newborns are being diagnosed with this every year, I wanted to start a blog to help parents come together and share information to encourage, inform, and support each other.
You may (and probably) have no interest in my new blog whatsoever, but I wanted to let everyone know that I've got a second blog going now too. It has happened that other CLE parents found me through my previous blog posts about it, so if you're out there, hop on over to my Congenital Lobar Emphysema blog.
Today, I kicked off the blog by sharing Andrew's story. Hopefully we'll have more stories to share in the coming weeks.
While we can find some very basic information about CLE, there's just not a lot of information about what to expect as your child progresses. What does recovery look like? What does a child look like 6 years after a lobectomy? These are questions that the doctors can give us estimates to, but CLE can vary so much from child to child that it's just hard to know what to expect.
Because newborns are being diagnosed with this every year, I wanted to start a blog to help parents come together and share information to encourage, inform, and support each other.
You may (and probably) have no interest in my new blog whatsoever, but I wanted to let everyone know that I've got a second blog going now too. It has happened that other CLE parents found me through my previous blog posts about it, so if you're out there, hop on over to my Congenital Lobar Emphysema blog.
Today, I kicked off the blog by sharing Andrew's story. Hopefully we'll have more stories to share in the coming weeks.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Honey: The Natural Cough Syrup
Cold and flu season can be miserable for a mom with young kids, because it seems the kids just get one cold after another. We just finished our third straight week of breathing treatments for little Andrew, with no end in sight.
But nowadays cold and flu season can be downright confusing. All cough syrups have been recalled for children under 2, and most are no longer recommended for children ages 6 and under. Some folks aren't familiar with the new "rules," and I nearly flipped my lid when I visited a doctor's office out of town and the receptionist advised me to go home and give my 10 month old Triaminic or Dimetapp. Check out this article on Dr. Sears' website for more information on the recalls.
So what do you do when your kid has a hacking cough? First, keep in mind that a cough is a good thing! It gets junk up and out. So you really don't want to suppress the cough if you can help it. But when you keep hearing your child's dry, hacking cough over the baby monitor and you know they're not sleeping well, there's got to be something you can do. In desperation one night, I reached for the honey, but I googled it first before giving it to my 2 year old.
As it turns out, research shows that honey works better than cough suppressant syrups! Here's one article that you might find interesting. Of course, you want to make sure your honey isn't old, because then you could give your child botulism. Not cool. It's also not advised for children under the age of 2 (or 1, depending on what you read).
Just give up to 2 teaspoons of honey at bedtime and their coughing should improve quite a bit. Cough syrup companies are starting to catch on, and now they're making honey & lemon juice coughs syrups.
My pediatrician brought this up at Andrew's last appointment. He and I have really gotten to know each other well over the past year. He and his nurse give me the gold star treatment and will do anything for my baby boy. They are sweethearts!
Anyway, we were discussing coughs and colds. He said he doesn't take anything during a cold, he dosen't think children should either. We talked about the only cough syrup that their office recommends for toddlers, which is guaifenesin, the active ingredient in Mucinex and Robitussin. It's supposed to help thin mucus and get the junk out. But he also told me about the research on honey, with a little lemon juice, and how it's just as effective for coughs. I was glad to hear that the results of my googling were supported by our MD!
But the best part about giving honey to Isabelle, at least in her mind? She gets to be just like Winnie the Pooh.
This is part of The Humbled Homemaker's Healthy 2Day Wednesday Link-up.
But nowadays cold and flu season can be downright confusing. All cough syrups have been recalled for children under 2, and most are no longer recommended for children ages 6 and under. Some folks aren't familiar with the new "rules," and I nearly flipped my lid when I visited a doctor's office out of town and the receptionist advised me to go home and give my 10 month old Triaminic or Dimetapp. Check out this article on Dr. Sears' website for more information on the recalls.
So what do you do when your kid has a hacking cough? First, keep in mind that a cough is a good thing! It gets junk up and out. So you really don't want to suppress the cough if you can help it. But when you keep hearing your child's dry, hacking cough over the baby monitor and you know they're not sleeping well, there's got to be something you can do. In desperation one night, I reached for the honey, but I googled it first before giving it to my 2 year old.
As it turns out, research shows that honey works better than cough suppressant syrups! Here's one article that you might find interesting. Of course, you want to make sure your honey isn't old, because then you could give your child botulism. Not cool. It's also not advised for children under the age of 2 (or 1, depending on what you read).
Just give up to 2 teaspoons of honey at bedtime and their coughing should improve quite a bit. Cough syrup companies are starting to catch on, and now they're making honey & lemon juice coughs syrups.
My pediatrician brought this up at Andrew's last appointment. He and I have really gotten to know each other well over the past year. He and his nurse give me the gold star treatment and will do anything for my baby boy. They are sweethearts!
Anyway, we were discussing coughs and colds. He said he doesn't take anything during a cold, he dosen't think children should either. We talked about the only cough syrup that their office recommends for toddlers, which is guaifenesin, the active ingredient in Mucinex and Robitussin. It's supposed to help thin mucus and get the junk out. But he also told me about the research on honey, with a little lemon juice, and how it's just as effective for coughs. I was glad to hear that the results of my googling were supported by our MD!
But the best part about giving honey to Isabelle, at least in her mind? She gets to be just like Winnie the Pooh.
This is part of The Humbled Homemaker's Healthy 2Day Wednesday Link-up.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Isabelle's thoughts on Baby #3
Isabelle turned 3 in December, and she is very excited about this new little baby. You'd think she'd be fed up with babies by now, and all the attention the little boogers get, but nope, not Izzy.
In fact, it's often Isabelle who gives her little brother lots of attention, declaring "Mommy, look at Andoo's grin! He's so cute!" Or she'll tell me at random times "Andoo's so funny!" She loves it when he makes what she calls "baby noises," like raspberries, and she gets pretty frustrated when he's not in the mood to make them. She says "Andoo, make baby noises! Make baby noises!"
She was 25 months old when Andrew was born, and while she understood a lot of it, she definitely gets it a lot more this pregnancy. Here are some Izzy-isms on the new baby:
After we saw the baby on the sonogram, she was so proud to have a picture of our baby. Damian strolled both Isabelle and Andrew around the big clinic while I finished with the doctor. Isabelle showed the picture of the baby to everyone she passed, saying "Yook, it's o baby!" She doesn't say L's and instead of a dog, a cat, or a baby, she says o dog, o cat, or o baby.
While looking at my belly. Izzy: "Is there o caterpillar in there?" Me: "Nope, it's a baby." Izzy: "How 'bout o giraffe?" Me: "Nope, it's a baby." Izzy: "Maybe o Yion? (Lion). Me: Nope, it's a baby.
She lays on the couch, pulls a blanket up, and puts her stuffed puppy dog on her belly. Izzy: "No, yiddle puppy, you can't climb on me. I don't feel well. I have o baby in my belly." Wonder where she got that from? Hmmm...
The night before we went to the doctor's office for my first checkup and a sonogram. Prayer time, talking to God: Izzy: "We going to doctor's office to see Dr. 'Cales. Dr. 'Cales doesn't have suckers. He doesn't have red ones, or blue ones, or purple ones, or green ones, or yellow ones..."
I'm glad to see my firstborn excited. I'm sure she's thrilled about having another little brother or sister to boss around.
In fact, it's often Isabelle who gives her little brother lots of attention, declaring "Mommy, look at Andoo's grin! He's so cute!" Or she'll tell me at random times "Andoo's so funny!" She loves it when he makes what she calls "baby noises," like raspberries, and she gets pretty frustrated when he's not in the mood to make them. She says "Andoo, make baby noises! Make baby noises!"
She was 25 months old when Andrew was born, and while she understood a lot of it, she definitely gets it a lot more this pregnancy. Here are some Izzy-isms on the new baby:
After we saw the baby on the sonogram, she was so proud to have a picture of our baby. Damian strolled both Isabelle and Andrew around the big clinic while I finished with the doctor. Isabelle showed the picture of the baby to everyone she passed, saying "Yook, it's o baby!" She doesn't say L's and instead of a dog, a cat, or a baby, she says o dog, o cat, or o baby.
While looking at my belly. Izzy: "Is there o caterpillar in there?" Me: "Nope, it's a baby." Izzy: "How 'bout o giraffe?" Me: "Nope, it's a baby." Izzy: "Maybe o Yion? (Lion). Me: Nope, it's a baby.
She lays on the couch, pulls a blanket up, and puts her stuffed puppy dog on her belly. Izzy: "No, yiddle puppy, you can't climb on me. I don't feel well. I have o baby in my belly." Wonder where she got that from? Hmmm...
The night before we went to the doctor's office for my first checkup and a sonogram. Prayer time, talking to God: Izzy: "We going to doctor's office to see Dr. 'Cales. Dr. 'Cales doesn't have suckers. He doesn't have red ones, or blue ones, or purple ones, or green ones, or yellow ones..."
I'm glad to see my firstborn excited. I'm sure she's thrilled about having another little brother or sister to boss around.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
My Top Posts of 2011
I blog for fun because at heart, I'm still an English teacher, a literature-minded person who loves to read and write. I also blog to keep family in the loop and share fun pictures and stories of the kiddos. But I also enjoy blogging to inform. One of the primary reasons I started this blog was because so many people would ask me questions about cloth diapering. I ended up having to type massively long emails full of links and and "what works for us" stories. Finally, I decided to create a blog. Now all the info. for any of the "strange" things I do is all in one place, complete with links and anecdotes.
I didn't create the blog because I've got this mothering thing figured out. Far from it! In fact, I'm working on putting together a post or two about the one of the things that I'd "figured out" with my firstborn and have had to re-evaluate with my second child. I had to totally revamp my approach to sleep training and my thoughts on doing BabyWise. What works with one kid doesn't always work with the other!
So hopefully you've figured out that I'm a mom-in-progress with a long way to go. I'm a mom who is clinging to the grace of God to make it through each and every day, and when I get an "aha!" moment, I do like to share it with the world.
With that said, this blog has been fun and I've had more than 26,000 pageviews. For anyone who has a "real" blog (like, with their own domain name, ads, etc.), this isn't a lot of views, but for my little blog with only 30 followers, I'm thrilled to see this many pageviews. Become a follower, by the way! It makes it easier to comment, and if you enjoy reading 2 or more blogs, then you should follow those blogs because it's a real time saver to have them all in one place.
So without any further ado, here are my top posts for 2011, with more readers for these posts than any others, and over 2,000 views for one of the stories. Crazy, I know.
Oh Baby! A Baby Story: The story of Isabelle's birth. I'm planning on sharing Andrew's birth story soon too.
Broccoli Wokly: A brief description of my beginnings with Baby-Led Weaning.
Barbie: Random thoughts on if Barbie really does affect self-image. I'm still undecided, but there are so many good toys out there that we haven't bothered to enter the world of Barbie at our house, and I'm not sure if we ever will.
Oh Baby: Nursery Photos: Pictures of Andrew's nursery and the bedding that Damian's aunt and I made. I could only find the bedding for $300 and up, but we made it for around $100. The boutique look without the boutique price tag. Oh yeah.
7 Tips for Cleaning and Organizing Baby Clothes: Ah, and now it's time to re-organize said baby clothes. Sigh. They grow so fast.
A Thank You Note from a Student: Five Characteristics of Good Moms & Teachers: A back to school post.
Andrew's Emergency: The entire series had a huge number of readers. In it, I explained the events we went through in March, when Andrew had emergency surgery to remove one lobe of his lung.
I didn't create the blog because I've got this mothering thing figured out. Far from it! In fact, I'm working on putting together a post or two about the one of the things that I'd "figured out" with my firstborn and have had to re-evaluate with my second child. I had to totally revamp my approach to sleep training and my thoughts on doing BabyWise. What works with one kid doesn't always work with the other!
So hopefully you've figured out that I'm a mom-in-progress with a long way to go. I'm a mom who is clinging to the grace of God to make it through each and every day, and when I get an "aha!" moment, I do like to share it with the world.
With that said, this blog has been fun and I've had more than 26,000 pageviews. For anyone who has a "real" blog (like, with their own domain name, ads, etc.), this isn't a lot of views, but for my little blog with only 30 followers, I'm thrilled to see this many pageviews. Become a follower, by the way! It makes it easier to comment, and if you enjoy reading 2 or more blogs, then you should follow those blogs because it's a real time saver to have them all in one place.
So without any further ado, here are my top posts for 2011, with more readers for these posts than any others, and over 2,000 views for one of the stories. Crazy, I know.
Oh Baby! A Baby Story: The story of Isabelle's birth. I'm planning on sharing Andrew's birth story soon too.
Broccoli Wokly: A brief description of my beginnings with Baby-Led Weaning.
Barbie: Random thoughts on if Barbie really does affect self-image. I'm still undecided, but there are so many good toys out there that we haven't bothered to enter the world of Barbie at our house, and I'm not sure if we ever will.
Oh Baby: Nursery Photos: Pictures of Andrew's nursery and the bedding that Damian's aunt and I made. I could only find the bedding for $300 and up, but we made it for around $100. The boutique look without the boutique price tag. Oh yeah.
7 Tips for Cleaning and Organizing Baby Clothes: Ah, and now it's time to re-organize said baby clothes. Sigh. They grow so fast.
A Thank You Note from a Student: Five Characteristics of Good Moms & Teachers: A back to school post.
Andrew's Emergency: The entire series had a huge number of readers. In it, I explained the events we went through in March, when Andrew had emergency surgery to remove one lobe of his lung.
- Where did March go? Andrew's Emergency
- Andrew's Emergency: It's not just a cold.
- Andrew's Emergency: Flight
- Andrew's Emergency: Recovery
- Mommy, I'm OK
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
We're Pregnant (again)!
"Honey, we're gonna need a minivan!" is how I broke the news to my husband about a month ago, when two pink lines showed up on a stick.
I'd suspected a little bit, but I wasn't completely sure until I saw the lines appear. As soon as I saw them, I burst into uncontrollable laughter. My 2 year old kept asking "Mommy, are you alright?" Her younger brother was 10 months old.
Our due date is August 6, so Isabelle will be 3 1/2 and Andrew will be 18 months when this baby arrives.
Yes, I know what causes that.
Yes, I know I'll have my hands full.
But they'll be full of good things, sweet little blessings.
I don't mind sharing publicly that this baby is quite a surprise. But not a complete surprise, and not one we were unprepared for. We wanted more children, but we thought we wanted a bigger gap between #2 and #3. Evidently God had different plans!
And yes, I know we just might be crazy.
I've gotten a couple of "you're crazy"s already, and those remarks were made by people who love us and are excited for us. My husband and I just had a good laugh about it. We know that our lifestyle choices may look crazy sometimes, but we're fine with that, and since we know a family who welcomed baby #11 last year, we know that we're not that crazy for having a third child, even if #3 is a little soon after #2 and his lung surgery ordeal.
I think what looks crazy is having 3 children, ages 3 and under. But again, I'm OK with that!
When I think about it sometimes, I just get tired. So I don't think about it. At our house, we're taking things one day at a time, making plans for our new little bambino and trying to navigate the woes of pregnancy once again.
So how am I feeling?
That's the perpetual question any time a woman is pregnant. If you read my blog during my last pregnancy or if you've talked to me in depth at any point when I'm pregnant, then you know that pregnancy and I have a love-hate relationship.
Basically, I love the idea of being pregnant. I love babies, so when I'm not pregnant, I pretty much always want to be pregnant. But once I am, I'm completely miserable. Morning sickness never leaves, and I'm generally still losing my lunch (or breakfast or dinner) the week I deliver my babies. Weight gain is a struggle, but it has gotten easier with each pregnancy. I gained 12 pounds with Izzy and 20 with Andrew, and he was also a bigger baby. But my husband still refers to pregnancy as my diet plan.
I'm feeling OK today. Again, we take things one day at a time around here. Yesterday was awful, and so was Sunday afternoon & evening, but my husband was home tohelp out pretty much do everything. I was really concerned about getting dehydrated, but since I kept food down fine last night, I'm doing OK. I've only gotten sick once today, so that constitutes a good day. I had a week or two of being exhausted and feeling nauseous all the time, but that has subsided and I only have bad days from time to time. Still, my doc gave me a prescription for phenergen gel, and I'm hoping that will bring some relief.
One neat aspect of getting pregnant when you still have an infant is that when I finish getting sick again, I see Andrew's big happy grin and tell him "you were worth every bit of this." I know the next one will be too.
If you want to pray for us, pray for "normal" morning sickness...you know, the kind that goes away around week 14. And pray for a healthy baby, of course, but more than that, pray that our baby and all of our children will know the Lord at an early age, walk with Him, and want to honor Him more than anything else.
We are completely thrilled about a new baby. Time to go shopping for that minivan!
I'd suspected a little bit, but I wasn't completely sure until I saw the lines appear. As soon as I saw them, I burst into uncontrollable laughter. My 2 year old kept asking "Mommy, are you alright?" Her younger brother was 10 months old.
Our due date is August 6, so Isabelle will be 3 1/2 and Andrew will be 18 months when this baby arrives.
Yes, I know what causes that.
Yes, I know I'll have my hands full.
But they'll be full of good things, sweet little blessings.
I don't mind sharing publicly that this baby is quite a surprise. But not a complete surprise, and not one we were unprepared for. We wanted more children, but we thought we wanted a bigger gap between #2 and #3. Evidently God had different plans!
And yes, I know we just might be crazy.
I've gotten a couple of "you're crazy"s already, and those remarks were made by people who love us and are excited for us. My husband and I just had a good laugh about it. We know that our lifestyle choices may look crazy sometimes, but we're fine with that, and since we know a family who welcomed baby #11 last year, we know that we're not that crazy for having a third child, even if #3 is a little soon after #2 and his lung surgery ordeal.
I think what looks crazy is having 3 children, ages 3 and under. But again, I'm OK with that!
When I think about it sometimes, I just get tired. So I don't think about it. At our house, we're taking things one day at a time, making plans for our new little bambino and trying to navigate the woes of pregnancy once again.
So how am I feeling?
That's the perpetual question any time a woman is pregnant. If you read my blog during my last pregnancy or if you've talked to me in depth at any point when I'm pregnant, then you know that pregnancy and I have a love-hate relationship.
Basically, I love the idea of being pregnant. I love babies, so when I'm not pregnant, I pretty much always want to be pregnant. But once I am, I'm completely miserable. Morning sickness never leaves, and I'm generally still losing my lunch (or breakfast or dinner) the week I deliver my babies. Weight gain is a struggle, but it has gotten easier with each pregnancy. I gained 12 pounds with Izzy and 20 with Andrew, and he was also a bigger baby. But my husband still refers to pregnancy as my diet plan.
I'm feeling OK today. Again, we take things one day at a time around here. Yesterday was awful, and so was Sunday afternoon & evening, but my husband was home to
One neat aspect of getting pregnant when you still have an infant is that when I finish getting sick again, I see Andrew's big happy grin and tell him "you were worth every bit of this." I know the next one will be too.
If you want to pray for us, pray for "normal" morning sickness...you know, the kind that goes away around week 14. And pray for a healthy baby, of course, but more than that, pray that our baby and all of our children will know the Lord at an early age, walk with Him, and want to honor Him more than anything else.
We are completely thrilled about a new baby. Time to go shopping for that minivan!
Baby #3 at 9 weeks. We had my first prenatal checkup today, and so far, everything looks great.
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