Breastfeeding

DISCLAIMER******This post is heavy in the boob talk*****You've been warned.**********

I've had breasts since I can remember.  


I literally can't remember a time where I looked down and saw nothing.  In fact, they were/are so big that breast reduction surgery has been more than talked about.  I knew I didn't want to do anything until I was done having my children because I always knew I wanted to breastfeed.  I didn't want anything to get in the way of that!  I've wanted to breastfeed since I looked down and saw that I had breast.....so forever!  I didn't have a mother who breastfed so I don't know where this desire came from, maybe, it's because they are such a BIG part of me I had to believe they had a job to do someday. 


When I took the test that confirmed that someday sooner than later I will be a MOM I immediatly started reading.  I read everything I could on pregnancy, parenting and breastfeeding.  I read. and read.  and read.  Now fast forward to May 28, 2012.....


Gentry arrived in a very turbulent way.   I had read that it was important to try and let your baby latch within the first hour after birth.  I had read what to do if you had a C-section and wanted to breast feed but there was no article on losing too much blood and being unable to physically do much at all with your baby.  It was heartbreaking.  I tried to put her to my breast but the awkwardness of her floppy body and my big breast and small arms.  I couldn't get her positioned right.  I was shaking uncontrollably from the shock of birth and it was frustrating.  Did I mention that Nacogdoches Medical Center doesn't have a Lactation Specialist?  That was super frustrating!  I let Gentry go with the nurse to get checked out and I closed my eyes and prayed for the next encounter to be better. 


We got settled in our room and soon Gentry was brought back to me.  (Just thinking back to this time not long ago makes my stomach turn)  This time I asked for help from the nurse.  She took a few pillows set them around, took my boob in her hand and tried without success to pop it in Gentry's tiny mouth.  Gentry could care less.  She wanted to sleep.  She also had a hard time during labor.  I tried all day.  She would only latch on for 30 seconds at a time.  I tried to stay cool and remind myself of all the things I had read.  I didn't let her have a bottle and she stayed with me all day.  Then they took her back to the nursery at 11 PM.  I told them I wanted her when she was hungry.  Then in the middle of the night when they brought me to her.  The nurse also brought a bottle.  She explained to me that they really don't want her to go much longer without anything.  I felt like I had failed.  I was unable to do what should be natural.  I was starting to starve my baby!  I tried once more to breastfeed.  All alone.  Carl was alseep beside me.  And I gave up and tearfully gave Gentry her first bottle.  All Tuesday and Wednesday I would breastfeed, supplement with a bottle and then pump.  When I would pump for 20 min. I would get less than 1 ML.  It was thick and bubbly.  I would syringe it to Gentry.


We went home on Wednesday and I continued in the pattern.  I tried backing off of the supplements but pumped after every feed.  It was tedious and exhausting.  At most I was getting 1 ML and that was after my milk had come in.  I thought I was getting the hang of it.  Then we went to the Dr. for Gentry's 1 week check up.  She wasn't back to her birth weight.  Defeated.  I was failing as a mother to feed my child.  Or so I felt.  I was more diligent about feeding, pumping and I added back more formula supplemental feedings.  I wasn't ready to give up on the breastfeeding.  


By her second week of life I had turned my every waking attention to my boobs.  I started taking Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle.  I ate a bowl of oatmeal every morning and drank Mother's Milk tea.  My pee started to smell syrupy (Fenugreek does that)  but I didn't feel like my boobs were changing.  I never leaked, felt a letdown or had engorgement.  I would feed Gentry every 1.5 to 2 hrs whether she wanted to eat or not.  Gentry was starting to latch on better and I was more comfortable with holding her while she fed but even with those improvements our regular visits to get her weighed in at the Dr. still showed she wasn't back up to her birth weight.


I went to my Dr. at the month mark.  He checked me out and asked about breastfeeding.  I told him I wasn't ready to give up yet but that I was having trouble with my milk supply.  As proof in my daughter's lack of weight gain.  Dr. Vineyard prescribed me some Reglan to help with my production.  I discontinued all of my home remedies (except for the oatmeal)  for the time being.  I also bought a new pump.  I had been using a 12 year old Medela.  I decided that this was it.  I was going to try the Reglan (it was a 2 week prescription) and if it didn't work then breastfeeding must not be in the cards.  I basically gave it all to God.  That's exactly when  I started seeing a change.  I could tell Gentry was getting bigger.  She felt bigger.  We had a schedule down and we were pretty happy with our days at home.  Then I started pumping more.  First 2oz.  Then 3.  Then 4!!!!  At Gentry's 1 month check up, which was a week late, she had gained 9 oz in one week!  I finally felt like I could breath!  The best part was I had only given her formula a couple of times that week!  


On Monday morning of this week I finished my 2 weeks on Reglan.  I was worried that with the end of Reglan I would be ending my milk supply.   I immediately started the Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle.  I haven't stopped eating oatmeal since I started on her 4th day of life.  This morning I pumped almost 6 oz!!!!!!!  I couldn't be happier!  I still as a rule don't leak.  I have started feeling a twinge when I can tell milk is filling in my boobs (yes, it's weird)  and I only get engorged in the morning.  I don't have the typical tell tell signs that you have tons of milk but I've learned that it doesn't mean your not feeding your child adequately.  I learned that you can't even take what you are pumping as a rule of what you are able to feed your child.  Babies are more efficient at getting milk from the breast than a pump.  


I type all this to say to other new moms and future new moms BREAST FEEDING IS HARD, IT'S NOT EASY, GO WITH YOUR GUT, STICK WITH IT IF YOU CAN AND YOUR DOCTOR DOESN'T NECESSARILY KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU.  I just needed more time than most women.  I will say I feel blessed to be able to stay at home and figure this whole thing out!  I would probably have given up if I knew I had to go back to work at six weeks.  I hope this post helps any newer than me moms or moms to be!  


Here are the sites that helped me the most:


http://kellymom.com/


http://www.thealphaparent.com/2011/12/timeline-of-breastfed-baby.html
I wish I had read this before I had Gentry!  


http://www.thebump.com/?MsdVisit=1


http://www.babycenter.com/


Hope this helps!


Love, 


The woman with the Maple Syrup urine

1 Month 2 Weeks Late

Gentry is sitting in her daddy's childhood rocking chair with her friend, Giraffe.  

I've come to the realization that I have a red head.  Who knows if it will stick around or not but you can see the red in this picture so well!  

I hope I can capture her smile in her 2 month pictures because it's so darn precious!

Just Born

Month 1

You've been alive through a whole moon cycle!

Gentry,

I can't believe how I am so in love with you.  I enjoy almost every moment watching you learn and grow.  In the last month I have really gotten to know your cry.  I love to watch you cry.  You give one little wail and then the biggest, cutest pout.  You don't last long at crying either.  You usually give up pretty easily unless you are hungry.  The faces you make are hilarious.  You look like your dad often.  So serious.  I hope I am in there somewhere!  If not naturally then I will drill smiling into you!  You are a pretty chill kid going from quiet content to sleep to eat.  I love it!  You do whimper in your sleep and I wonder if you are remembering the rough way you entered the world!  The breastfeeding thing is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life!  Just before your month birthday I got on Reglan and got a new pump and it seems we've got the hang of it!  I couldn't be more proud when you spit up all over me because I know you actually have something in your belly to spit up!  You really have only spit up a hand full of times since you've been born.  I will say.  You have some wicked gas.  You even grossed out your Uncle Evan!  That takes talent!  You are so very loved by many Gentry!  I mean I couldn't believe who all came to see you when we went to Lolli and Pops house!  You are a very blessed girl!   I can't wait to see who you are going to become over the next months and years!  We love you very much!  

Your Mom and Dad

Update:

Weight: 8.9 lbs  (24th percentile)
Length: 22 in (84th percentile) 
Head: 15in (90th percentile)
Eating: On Demand.  Morning feed is bottle of breast milk and may have one more
Bedtime: 10:00 to 10:30 (wake up at 3:00)
Rise: 6:30-7:00
Naps: ummm....whenever.
Diapers: size 1  We are waiting for 2 more lbs to be in cloth!
Clothes: NB and 0-3
Favorites: Your Soothie Pacifiers, Your Mom's Arm, Lavender Body Lotion and the ABC book from Lolli for your 1 month birthday!
Latest tricks: Holding head up, going from back to side, looking at the baby in the mirror!
Firsts:  Umm....EVERYTHING DUH!  Went to Blueberry Festival, swam in Lolli and Pops pool were the highlights!

4th of July

Need something for your adorable baby girl to wear for The 4th of July?  So did I.  I made this.  It's NO SEW.  It took about 15 minutes minus drying times.  

Here is what you need:

Fabric Glue

Red Grosgrain Ribbon

Blue Grosgrain Ribbon with white dots

Scissors 

Binder Clips

Onesie

 Cut the ribbon to your sizes.  The blue ribbon will be looped.

Here is how to loop the ribbon.  

Binder clip it to stay.  Let it DRY!

Glue all the pieces in place.  Let it dry.  Pictures are worth a thousand words so I feel like it's in no need of much explanation!

Gentry has her 4th outfit ready!

The Ideal Day

The following is the day in the life of a newborn and her mom.  This is what it looks like on paper but isn't necessarily what happens!  Most of the time Gentry and I fly by the seat of our pants!


2:30-3:30:  Wake, Change Diaper and Feed.  I drink a Mother's Milk Tea
3:30-4:00:  Back to Bed (Gentry is currently sleeping in a bassinet in our room)
5:00-6:00:  Wake, Change Diaper and Feed.  Gentry has a bottle of breast milk.  I pump.  I eat oatmeal with fruit.  I take my first set of Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek.  I put up dishes from the dishwasher and bottles that have been drying from the night before.  I wipe down kitchen countertops.  Gentry generally stays awake for 15 min to an hour.
6:30-8:30- Back to Bed!  This time she joins me in our bed.  At this point Carl is up and getting ready for work.  I put on the TV and watch the news and snooze.  Carl kisses us good bye and it's just us!
9:30-10:00-Wake and Change Diaper, Put on Clothes and Feed.  I eat a Fiber One bar or have "Second" Breakfast.
10:00-12:00-  Move from Tummy Time, Swing, Rocker and sing or talk about all of Life's little secrets and maybe snooze.  I try and sneak in a little chore here and there.  IF SHE LETS ME!  Sometimes she just wants to be held.  

I do have a daily chore list for me to hopefully stay on top of keeping our house clean.  I have a cute little SAHM binder I made well before Gentry was born.   

Monday: Laundry Day!  Iron Carl's clothes.

Tuesday: Meal Planning and Coupon Day and Baking/Baby Food Day

Wednesday: Grocery Shop, Clean Out Fridge, Wipe Down Kitchen Trash 

Thursday: Bathrooms and Mop all Areas

Friday: Vacuum, Mow and Bank Run

Daily: Pick Up, Dishes and Sweep

I also have Monthly and Quarterly Duties!

Every other day will be Diaper Washing Day

12:00-1:00: Feed Her while watching The Chew.  I take 2nd set of pills and eat lunch.  Carl comes home to eat lunch (rarely).  

1:00-2:00:  Gentry naps while I do chores or maybe just try and shower!

2:00-4:00:  We nap together in bed/watch Ellen

3:30-4:00:  Change and Feed Gentry

4:00-7:00:  More hanging out around the house/snoozing for Gentry.  I get dinner ready.

6:30-7:00:  Change and Feed Gentry.  Feed Carl.  I eat and take round 3 of pills.

7:00-9:30:  Gentry hangs out with Daddy if he is home.  Otherwise more of the same.

9:30:  Bath time is every other day or so.  Then we have the beginnings of our night time routine. I take her and change her.  Rub her down with lavender lotion.  Put her in night clothes.  Later we will add a book reading and stay in her room for her to stay in her crib.

10:00-10:30:  Last feed before bed while watching Conan!  We wrap her up in her baby burrito and put Gentry in her bassinet.  

10:30-11:30:  Load dishwasher.  Pick up junk.  Gather and clean all the bottles and pump stuff.  I set out all the pills for the next day.  Put out the oatmeal and tea so I don't have to think in the morning.  Get the pump stuff ready.  Get ready for bed.

11:30-3:00: SLEEP!

There you have it!  A Day in the Life of us!  For now.  Sometimes this whole day gets scraped for holding Gentry.  And you know what!  That's ok!  She's only this little once!

Gentry's Room

This is Gentry.  She is our beautiful daughter.

Welcome to Gentry's gender neutral room.

This is her crib.  Thanks Mom and Dad for her pretty white crib!  My mom made all of her bedding!  Thank you Pinterest for the tissue paper pom poms!  I made the Winnie the Pooh quote for my preschool classroom and once I cleaned it out at the end of the school year I put it in her room!

Mom did her curtain and underneath the window is the missing book sling!  It's being modified.  Thanks Mom for making it and thank you Pinterest for the idea!  The rocking chair was Carl's when he was a boy!

The cool thing to note here is the hat box with the big G.  It was made by Mrs. Billie Tillis!  

Here is my old dresser and her new diaper changing table.  The shiny 'G' is again from Pinterest!  It is amazing how quickly pink infiltrated the "neutral" nursery!

The table used to be my changing table for my baby dolls when I was a kiddo.  I painted it blue.  The rocking chair is the same chair my Mom was rocked in as an infant!  Mom made the blanket and it has animals in all different bright fun colors.  I accented the room with metal.  You can see with her toy bucket and fun lamp.  The picture frame on the left of the lamp has her ultrasound picture (Thanks Andrea and Justin for the frame!)  and the one on the right has the saying from her shower.

I made these animal prints just the other day.  I am pretty proud of myself!

This is another Billie Tillis creation!  It is her hospital wreath!  It received a crazy amounts of compliments!

 Once again here is more Pinterest inspired art.  I just used my Mom's handy dandy Cricut.  The prints on the right I bought from Etsy.com.  Not so much happy with the quality for what I paid for them but I will put them up by the changing table once I go out into the world and buy picture hangers.  

I am pretty proud of Miss Gentry's room!  Now I just can't wait until she sleeps in it!

How Gentry Got Here

This is Gentry's LONG birth story!  It's proof that even when you have plans God's plans are bigger!  I couldn't have imagined this would be how my daughter would come into the world but I wouldn't change a second of it!  God is Good.  Here is our story:




Saturday night Carl and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in the metropolis of Lufkin, Texas!  We went to see MIB 3 and then went to dinner at Del Rio!  Exciting I know!  Just as the movie was starting our friends Dan and Bevin Jackson called.  They were in a panic because they were staying in a Nacogdoches hotel that night and they found out Ruby, their dog, couldn't be in the hotel room with them.  Ruby is a cool dog so we let her stay with us that night.  Bevin, Dan and their 10 week old Olivia came over for a visit after we got back from dinner.  Dan schooled Carl on what to do in the delivery room and I got to hold sweet, beautiful Olivia!  After they left we got ready for bed and I put Ruby in her kennel!


Sunday morning at 7:30, after battling wicked pregnancy heartburn all night, I got up to let Ruby outside.  I bent over to let her out of her kennel and my water broke.  I knew immediately that my water broke but I didn't want to be the girl that thought her water broke and it was really just pee  pants.  I went to the bathroom and when I stood up another gush.  WEIRDEST.  FEELING.  EVER.  I stood at the door of our bedroom and told Carl.  He jumped out of bed.  I called my mom and told her that I was pretty sure my water broke and that I would call her from the hospital to let her know we were for sure having a baby today.  Today.  HAH!  I took a little time to have one more pregnancy vomit for good measure. Carl took a shower.  I took a shower.  Carl washed dishes and took out the trash while I finished getting things together.  No contractions.


We walked into the ER by 8:30.  They brought us up to Labor and Delivery.  We were the only ones!  They had me change into a gown and checked to see that indeed my water broke not that you couldn't just look at my pants.  Nothing can hold all that!  Once we were checked in we called our parents, my brother, and various others to let them know that today was baby day!  TODAY!  HAH!


And then we waited.  And waited.


No contractions.  They gave me something to thin my cervix and that is when things got started.  By 10AM I started having regular contractions.  By lunchtime my family arrived.  All at the same time even though they left hours apart!  Pastor Josh, Cullen, Bevin and Dan all came by to say hi.  We waited.  I was at a 5 for SEVERAL HOURS!


Pitocen was started.  That is when the contractions reached misery.  Carl was wonderful.  I birthed on a birthing ball and Carl was a great coach.  Listening to what I needed and was just there.  I told myself if I was still at a 5 for the 4th time I was going to break down and get the epidural.  So I got an epidural at 5:00.  That was amazing.  I didn't realize how much I hurt until I got the epidural! Kelly came directly from Houston.  After that most people left to eat dinner and I dozed.  While dozing I noticed my contractions were not as strong.  Sure enough....I was still a 5.  At this point in the evening 3 other girls had come in and 2 of them had their babies already.  Dr. Kyle McMorries (I had his son at school this year) came in to check on me after delivering the other baby.  He said my contractions were not helping me progress and I showed him how Gentry was not dropping.  In fact she was going more into my ribs with every contraction!  He said because my water broke so long ago and now I was getting a fever which is a sign of infection, we would have to move quickly if I didn't want a C-Section.  Finally at 1 AM I was at a 7!  Evan and Dad went back to the house at midnight.  Lisa and Rachel went to the hotel at 1.  Mom and Kelly tried to stay awake and Carl dozed on the couch in the room.  Well, he more than dozed.  He was sawing logs.  At 2AM I was at an 8!  At some point a nurse came in and told me that Dr. McMorries wanted to go ahead and try pushing.  I was starting to get super nauseated.  At 4AM I puked my guts out (Not that I had eaten anything but a Popsicle in over 24 hrs!)  and in walked Dr. McMorries ready for me to push.  It was 4:15 when I started to push at 8 CM dilated.  Dr. McMorries was fabulous and he made sure I got to a 10!  Then out came the forceps and he pulled Gentry from my ribs to her exit hatch!  A couple of rounds of pushing and out popped Gentry at 4:41 AM!  

She didn't cry.  She was suctioned out by Dr. McMorries and he put her on my stomach all blue and whimpering.  We rubbed on her to get her going.  Finally the nurse took her to get her to breath.  She was pretty cute even in a blue state!  I told Carl to go with the baby and he gladly obliged!  I started to lose too much blood and I felt like it!  I had a special shot to stop the bleeding and Dr. McMorries continued his work.  All the while I am shaking and watching my baby be passed from Carl, to my Mom and Kelly.  They all looked up in time to see my face go white.  The shot worked!  I didn't even pass out but they still let us recover for a little longer since I had lost so much blood.  The saddest part was I couldn't hold my baby because I couldn't even lift my arms!  I finally held her for a bit and they came to take her to the nursery and me to my room!  We were in our room just before the 24 hr mark of my water breaking.  Delivery was a wild ride!  

Dr. McMorries did an AMAZING JOB!  I am so glad I didn't have a C Section and I know that would have been the easy way for him to do things.  He let me keep my wishes!  Gentry is so perfect for our family and I wouldn't have her enter the world any other way....even if it wasn't my original birth plan!