Getting Ready For Baby

Now that we (finally) believe that a baby is definitely coming, we have been furiously working to get ready for said baby.

The nursery is pretty much ready - the furniture is put together and arranged, the walls are decorated, the changing table is stocked complete with a diaper genie, the crib is made with mobile in place, and Baby S even has a fully stocked dresser and closet.  (Mark jokes that Baby S will be better dressed than he is - that may be the case).

Childcare is in place and they have confirmed our start date.

We have found a pediatric practice that is close to home, has night and weekend hours and is accepting new patients.

Decisions have been made regarding cord blood banking and whether or not Baby S will be circumcised.  We have even called insurance to find our when and where the circumcision is covered.

The car seat has been installed and the matching stroller is assembled and already in the trunk - along with a packed hospital and baby bag.

All baby equipment has been registered and checked for recalls.

I have already been in contact with a lactation consultant and have found my nearest La Leche League group.

Pretty much the only thing we need to do is figure out what to do with Baby S once he actually gets here......

In order to start finalizing preparations we went to a baby class today.  This class was sooooooo needed.

After my miscarriages I have been purposefully detached from children - especially babies.  I have become quite adept at avoiding babies when they are brought into the office and always "have a cold" whenever someone wants me to hold their little one.  I have basically spent the last 15 years of my life avoiding children and probably due to this fact, really don't know a lot about them.

So, now that I am (finally) having one of my own I need some crash courses on what to do.

We had trouble finding the room and got to waltz into class a good 5 minutes late.  I felt like everyone was staring intently at my suspiciously absent baby bump (the only baby bump that was missing in the room by the way).  But.....it may have just been that we were late.

It turned out that we all were pretty much in the same boat - that in a very short time we were all bringing a tiny human into the world and that none of us really knew what we were doing.

The class was great - by the end we knew how to give a bath, swaddle, diaper, (hopefully) read our babies subtle signs of being engaged or disengaged, and when to call the doctor (to name just a few of the important things that we learned).

I realize that no baby is the same and that I need to just be flexible and roll with the punches...... but at least now I feel a lot more prepared to do so.

The Uber Baby

We found out today that we are having an Uber Baby.

At every appointment Baby S has been measuring right on track - exactly at the percentile that he should.

Until today.....

Today Baby S is measuring ahead.  And not just a little ahead.  He is on track to be a 10 lber.

Seriously.

I can't say that I am surprised.  Myself and all of my siblings were all between 9 - 10 lbs.  Mark was also not a small baby.  And, they say (again the mythical "they") that baby size is genetic.

Our GC also wasn't completely surprised.  She grows big babies herself.  Her two children were close to 9 lbs and delivered a week early due to their size.

What did surprise me was that all of sudden he is measuring ahead. 

Maybe he went on a binge with the rest of us over the holidays?

In any case, 10 lbs. is pretty big.  We are now estimated that our GC will be induced a week early (like in her first two pregnancies) to try to help keep Baby S. a bit less uber.

Making Milk (sort of)

I would like you to meet my new best friend, the medela pump in style double electric breast pump.  It feels like my best friend in the fact that we spend so much time together - 4 hours if I get all 8 scheduled pumps in.  We are together in thick and thin, even in the middle of the night.  My entire day revolves around trying to get together for 30 minutes, every 2-3 hours, 'round the clock.

Wait....

This sound more like a metaphorical albatross than my best friend.

Oh the joys of pumping.

I started pumping right after Christmas.  It already feels like all I do is pump.....and I have a long ways to go until Baby S. arrives.

The goal is that by starting to pump (and taking a handful of herbs and other supplements twice a day) 8 weeks before our expected due date, that I would be able to breastfeed  Baby S when he arrives.  It is important to note that most women do not reach full supply when inducing lactation and will need to supplement, but more important is that we are able to breastfeed at all.

When I started my inducing lactation journey back in August I was very hopeful.  I had read success stories of some who were able to exclusively breastfeed from inducing lactation.  I was so sure that I would be one of those women....that everything would just work perfectly.

Ha, ha!  Reality just laughed in my face and stomped all over my hopes and dreams. (yet again)

I have no idea why I totally thought that for once my body would work exactly like I wanted it to....especially in something "female" related.  My uterus is less that 1/2 there, my ovaries don't like to produce eggs (and especially not good quality eggs) even with high amounts of hormones, why did I think that my boobs would work?

So if you haven't guessed by now, the process of inducing lactation is not going exactly as I had hoped.  Granted it is still pretty early - I am only 3 weeks in - but the production is LOW.  By low I mean drops.

Not bags or bottles full.....just drops.

Mark has been really great and keeps trying to reassure me that even though it is only drops, it is more and more drops every day.

Too bad babies eat around 25 ounces of milk a day and drops are not going to cut it.

I keep reminding myself that this was never about trying to breastfeed exclusively, that this was always about the experience of breastfeeding.  The experience of being able to nourish my child.  The bonding that breastfeeding helps to create.  The ability to feel a little "normal" in a less than normal pregnancy and birth.

Mark finds it fascinating that me who is a perpetual pessimist was quite the optimist when it came to inducing lactation.  I think that I just wanted it to work so badly, I found a way to convince myself that it would.

And, technically it is working.  I am producing milk.  Maybe not a lot of milk, but milk all the same.

PS - I have been pumping while writing this post :)

Breastfeeding Mothers Have the Right to be "Disgusting"

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/trump-to-breastfeeding-mom-youre-disgusting-125350815777.html

I usually try to stay away from politics and especially politicians, but I had to comment on this one. 

The actual incident happened in 2011, but just recently came up again the news.  In short, Trump told a mother of a 3-month old that she was "disgusting" for requesting a break at work so that she pump.

While some may find a woman pumping at work "disgusting", it is her right to do so and is protected by law. 


http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm

http://breastfeedinglaw.com/state-laws/minnesota/