Around the time that I got pregnant with Brighton I was really starting to have some major problems with my hips. I scheduled an appointment with an orthopedist, and by the time my appointment rolled around, I had just found out two days prior that I was pregnant! Good thing too, because otherwise I would have been in a back room getting x-rays taken of my pelvis! eep! So thankful we found out super early (a big thanks goes out to our prophetic little oldest daughter, but that's another post for another time). The only thing the doctors could guess without seeing any x-rays was that I had mild hip dysplasia which had never been diagnosed, and that I would need to be careful not to dislocate my hips while preggo and then come back after the baby was born and get x-rays, MRIs, etc.
Well, I went and did just that. I woke up one morning midway through being pregnant with my hip partially dislocated again. I thanked God my belly wasn't too big to lay face first on my chiropractor's table yet, and called to make an appointment. At which point I found out that he was in California for the next week. So I panicked a little, and then hobbled around for the next full week with a partially dislocated hip. Once the chiro was back, he was able to mostly fix it, but not completely. So I continued to hobble around. By that point, I was beginning to get quite concerned about the possibility of birth hurting my hips.
I went round and round, back and forth, with just scheduling another c-section to ward off that risk, or continuing on with my VBAC birth plan. I finally decided that fear was not going to be my master, and that pending some ultrasound results, I would go for the VBAC.
When I hit 37 weeks (with quite a bit of anxiety and thankfulness since Lorien was a preemie), I had a dream that Brighton was already over 7 lbs. And I just felt like I was SURE that was true. A few days later, I had an ultrasound and the ultrasound tech guesstimated Brighton to be about 6 lbs. with a huge head, just over 2 weeks growth size bigger than her body. I also have a shallow birth canal, and there was a smidgen of concern about how big of a head I could birth. So I started to get nervous. And WAY more uncomfortable than I ever got near to with my first pregnancy. So I had a serious talk with my doctor about baby options. He told me that the size of her head could become a concern in the next couple of weeks if she didn't come on her own and suggested the idea of putting a c-section on the books, and delivering that way if she didn't decide to come on her own before then. But I told him I just could not do that. No c-section for me. Finally, we had some good communication, and we established that I would rather be induced than have a c-section, and that frankly, the sooner the better because it would increase my chances of having a successful VBAC. He agreed to allow me to deliver at 38 weeks (especially because of my hip problem) as long as I saw a specialist first to get an amniocentesis to determine her lungs were mature. Normally, big huge scary needles would have deterred me from even considering this, but I just knew in my heart that this was the right way for me.
Brian came with me to the specialist appointment, and yet again, I got all jellied up for an ultrasound so that the specialist could see where a safe spot would be to insert the needle into my belly without poking Brighton with it. It was super cold in the room, and technician who was doing the initial look around wasn't seeming very pleasant. She did the scan, and I laid there watching her type up her data on the computer beside us. I kept seeing her type "Sub-optimal" next to every single category. I will never forget the surge of emotion that came over me at that moment. "What do you mean? Sub-optimal?!" No one had said anything to me prior to this about anything being less than perfect with the health of my baby. She snarked at me that delivering any baby before 39 weeks meant that their conditions were sub-optimal. Like she knew my file and why I was there looking to deliver early. When you're that pregnant, and also concerned about other health issues, it can be hard not to be easily offended, and sometimes hard to even be nice. So I opted for the good ole "when you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" method and didn't open my mouth again. Thankfully, neither did she.
Then, we waited for so long that I was getting so cold I started to consider wiping the jelly off my belly and covering back up. But finally, the doctor arrived and said he needed to take a look for himself at a few things before we went on with the procedure. The jelly had gone so cold he ended up having to start over anyway, and within a few minutes he told us that I wasn't going to need an amniocentesis after all. I was so confused, and also relieved, but quickly followed by scared. WHY NOT?! He began to show me how they measure the amniotic fluid levels for a baby, and explaining that the level was getting too low. Not an emergency today or anything, but also low enough that regardless of whether Brighton's lungs were ready or not, she would need to come out soon or the low fluid levels would begin to effect her kidney function.
So, I left the specialists office, and went across the hall back to my own doctor's office for an appointment with him about the follow up of our results. He walked into our room, and asked, "So, what were the results of the amnio?" And looked quite confused when I told him that I didn't have one, but that we were recommended to go ahead with the birth the following day. He took a look at my chart, and agreed. I really just love my doctor, and am so thankful for him. He shoots it straight, is quite funny, and also cares very deeply about each patient as an individual. I knew it meant a lot to him to help me achieve a VBAC this time, and he articulated exactly what I had been thinking ever since the amnio had been called off, "It is a good thing you were insisting on delivering earlier. We wouldn't have done another ultrasound, and wouldn't have ever have caught this." He also mentioned that Brighton was weighing in at 7 lbs by this point.
I left that Wednesday morning, May 23rd, with a check in time for the hospital the following day at 2pm. And I can't tell you how excited I was that I was going to get to meet my baby! Just absolutely, giddy! And also, overwhelmingly thankful that God had led me once again with how to approach the health and delivery of my baby girls. I knew that this was going to be quite different than the all natural/no pain meds approach I had used with Lorien, and also, hopefully, have a very different end result with no emergency c-section. God was proving himself so faithful, and the labor hadn't even started yet.
To be continued. :)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Why I LOOOOVE Coupons!
Today, in addition to a wonderfully fun day hanging out with my family, I took a brief trip to Publix to pick up a couple of things before some of my coupons expired. And I was reminded once again why I love couponing so incredibly much.
See this?
I purchased all of this at Publix for $7.15+ tax.
To give you a feel for the value, that is the price of just the two Wholly Guacamole packages. So, effectively, I got 2.5 lbs of ground round, 2 packages of King Hawaiian Sandwich Buns, and 2 packages of granola bars for free. And the only thing that was really on sale were the granola bars. Everything else was regular price (notwithstanding a 50 cent per pound markdown on the meat).
Here's a look at the receipt to get an idea of it all, and I can break it down for you to give you an idea of how I swung this. Even the cashier was impressed today. :)
Bummer, I think it's too small to read. But either way, I'll break it down for ya.
The Hawaiian King Rolls were 2.99 each. I had 2 Publix coupons, A.K.A. PQs for short, (which can be used in addition to manufacturer's coupons) for $1/1. I addition to this, I had a $1/1 Manufacturer's coupon, MQ for short, that I got from a magazine I subscribe to, and a $2/1 MQ that I got for signing up for email newsletters from Hawaiian King. That made for a total of $5 off of $6 worth of bread.
Next came the Wholly Guacamole packets which were $3.59 each. I had 2 MQs for $1.50/1 that I received for "liking" Wholly Guacamole on facebook. This brought my price down to $2.09 each. I would consider this to still be pretty expensive, but in this case, I needed to purchase the guacamole and the bread in order to be able to use my coupons on the meat.
For the ground round, I had 2 coupons which I got out of the Sunday news paper from my mother-in-law who brought all her coupon inserts with her from Texas when she came to stay for a month when Brighton was born. The coupon is an MQ for a FREE pound of ground beef with the purchase of Hawaiian King Rolls and Wholly Guacamole. I knew that if there was a good sale on either of these products or high value coupons were to arise, that it would make for a great deal. So I kept my eye out for coupons or sales. So, purchasing the bread and the dip earned me $4.91 and $4.99 off my meat. I realized after the fact this was an error on the cashier's part...I couldn't find packages that were exactly 1 lb., so I got the next smallest sizes... 1.23 lbs, and 1.25 lbs. He accidentally took off the full price of both packs instead of $3.99 per package (the cost of 1 lb.). This ended up being an error of almost $2 in my favor. Very rarely does that happen, but occasionally it does.
And last but not least, I had a $1/2 MQ for the Quaker granola bars that I found on a couponing website and printed off. The regular price of these granola bars is $2.99 per box. They were on sale BOGO, which in GA means half off (i.e. you don't have to buy two to get the sale price), making them $1.49. Thus with the coupon they were .99 each.
All in all, between my coupons and the store sale prices, I saved 23.11. That means I got a whopping $30.26 worth of groceries for $7.15, which is a savings of just over 75%.
And my favorite thing of all...it's on yummy, high quality foods my family will love to eat. Often, I think coupons get a bad wrap because people think that you can only get junk food with coupons. And it's true -- you can get a lot of junk with coupons. But you don't have to choose to buy that junk! We sure don't! In fact, we consistently eat higher quality, even organic foods that I wouldn't have probably ever tried or even noticed in the grocery store because of coupons! Did I mention I LOVE COUPONS! :)
I'd love to give any tips, or answer any questions about couponing if anyone has any. It's really not as hard as it looks, I promise! And it has done a lot for our family's wallet and health. Cheers!
See this?
I purchased all of this at Publix for $7.15+ tax.
To give you a feel for the value, that is the price of just the two Wholly Guacamole packages. So, effectively, I got 2.5 lbs of ground round, 2 packages of King Hawaiian Sandwich Buns, and 2 packages of granola bars for free. And the only thing that was really on sale were the granola bars. Everything else was regular price (notwithstanding a 50 cent per pound markdown on the meat).
Here's a look at the receipt to get an idea of it all, and I can break it down for you to give you an idea of how I swung this. Even the cashier was impressed today. :)
Bummer, I think it's too small to read. But either way, I'll break it down for ya.
The Hawaiian King Rolls were 2.99 each. I had 2 Publix coupons, A.K.A. PQs for short, (which can be used in addition to manufacturer's coupons) for $1/1. I addition to this, I had a $1/1 Manufacturer's coupon, MQ for short, that I got from a magazine I subscribe to, and a $2/1 MQ that I got for signing up for email newsletters from Hawaiian King. That made for a total of $5 off of $6 worth of bread.
Next came the Wholly Guacamole packets which were $3.59 each. I had 2 MQs for $1.50/1 that I received for "liking" Wholly Guacamole on facebook. This brought my price down to $2.09 each. I would consider this to still be pretty expensive, but in this case, I needed to purchase the guacamole and the bread in order to be able to use my coupons on the meat.
For the ground round, I had 2 coupons which I got out of the Sunday news paper from my mother-in-law who brought all her coupon inserts with her from Texas when she came to stay for a month when Brighton was born. The coupon is an MQ for a FREE pound of ground beef with the purchase of Hawaiian King Rolls and Wholly Guacamole. I knew that if there was a good sale on either of these products or high value coupons were to arise, that it would make for a great deal. So I kept my eye out for coupons or sales. So, purchasing the bread and the dip earned me $4.91 and $4.99 off my meat. I realized after the fact this was an error on the cashier's part...I couldn't find packages that were exactly 1 lb., so I got the next smallest sizes... 1.23 lbs, and 1.25 lbs. He accidentally took off the full price of both packs instead of $3.99 per package (the cost of 1 lb.). This ended up being an error of almost $2 in my favor. Very rarely does that happen, but occasionally it does.
And last but not least, I had a $1/2 MQ for the Quaker granola bars that I found on a couponing website and printed off. The regular price of these granola bars is $2.99 per box. They were on sale BOGO, which in GA means half off (i.e. you don't have to buy two to get the sale price), making them $1.49. Thus with the coupon they were .99 each.
All in all, between my coupons and the store sale prices, I saved 23.11. That means I got a whopping $30.26 worth of groceries for $7.15, which is a savings of just over 75%.
And my favorite thing of all...it's on yummy, high quality foods my family will love to eat. Often, I think coupons get a bad wrap because people think that you can only get junk food with coupons. And it's true -- you can get a lot of junk with coupons. But you don't have to choose to buy that junk! We sure don't! In fact, we consistently eat higher quality, even organic foods that I wouldn't have probably ever tried or even noticed in the grocery store because of coupons! Did I mention I LOVE COUPONS! :)
I'd love to give any tips, or answer any questions about couponing if anyone has any. It's really not as hard as it looks, I promise! And it has done a lot for our family's wallet and health. Cheers!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Say My Name, Say My Name...
When Lorien was a baby and started to talk, I was so excited! I had been thrilled with coos, and smiles, and other more subtle forms of communication, but I was itching to hear her be able to verbalize what was in her sweet head. And of course, I was just dying to hear her sweet little lips utter the all important "mama"! Unfortunately for me, this took quite a while. Her first word was 'boop" for book, followed shortly there after by 'bef' and 'bewwa' for our dogs, Macbeth and Bella, and then 'da-da' for daddy. Once da-da showed up, I started getting particularly hopeful. But she continued on to many, many more words before arriving at my name.
I'm not sure why this is, but during that time span, I noticed how much the older generation of mothers like to pick at the younger generation of mothers. I'm not sure what that is motivated by...perhaps its generational? Perhaps women really are that against each other in our fallen nature? I don't know, and that's not the point of this post, but repeatedly being the recipient of the odd social norm that permits being picked on in public by other women you don't know, led me to learn something profound about myself and my relationship with Lorien.
You see, one day in the grocery store (these interactions almost always happened at the grocery store) a random middle aged woman started commenting on how verbal Lorien was for being such a young age. I agreed with her, and then the woman said that she could bet I was already getting tired of hearing "mama, mama, mama" all the time. I told her, as I had told many, many other inquiring women, that she didn't say mama yet. Yes, she could say ball, man, book, doggie etc, but no mama. The woman turned from Lorien and looked sharply at me, "Well, she must not care for you very much then, huh?" That was by far the most directly any woman had antagonized me before, and I found myself answering out loud the questions I had been wondering about Lorien's 'mama silence' for a couple of months. "No, I don't think that's it at all. I think, well, I think that I am so in synch with her needs, and anticipating them, that she just doesn't have any reason to say my name." The woman had no idea what to say to that, and she walked away with a stunned and superior looking expression on her face.
I spent most of the rest of the afternoon contemplating and fleshing out what I had said to her. I'm sure it sounded arrogant or presumptuous, but I said it to her in a very calm manner and I discovered it was true as I was saying it. That child really didn't need to say my name. I think using the parent directed feeding method really succeeded in making me in tune with her, and for many many months I pretty much anticipated her needs before she even had the chance to request anything. I realized that she didn't say any verbs whatsoever, only nouns. I had been wondering why she would never use her sign language to say "more", and I finally realized it was because I always gave her more before she ever needed to ask. She didn't start saying more until I told her that I wouldn't give her anymore unless she asked for things.
And the beautiful thing about this, to me, was that this anticipation of her needs came naturally and in a very healthy way for me. I was not and am not an attachment parenting mom. Both my children have done their fair share of crying it out when I know that it is for their best interest and long term good. I love being their mama, and I love loving them and meeting their needs. And I stand amazed at the mama instincts that I had no idea I have that have allowed me to predetermine and meet needs so well that my firstborn didn't even need to say my name.
This, however, is proving difficult with two children. I read once, on a blog of a woman who is a mother of eight, about how hard it is to learn that you cannot always meet all of your children's needs all of the time. Sometimes, you just can't. There isn't enough mama to go around (especially with 8 kids!). I am already finding this to be true, and it is so hard not to be weighed down with guilt when you are actively very busy meeting the basic physical needs of your 2 month old (i.e. feeding her) while the two year old is crying hysterically in her bedroom for some unknown reason, or you're busy making and supervising lunch and starting the nap time routine for the older one and the baby starts sobbing in her crib. Sometimes, you just can't be two places at once, no matter how badly you long to be!
I have spent a number of hours frustrated and condemned by this in the past couple of weeks, and finally, in all my praying that the Lord would help each child to be content long enough for me to meet the needs of all of them, I finally had the revelation that what I should be praying for is the wisdom, grace, and new strategy to parent two children as best as I can to the glory of God, and not trying to parent as if I am just parenting one child anymore. It is me who needs to grow, not necessarily either one of them who needs to change. Brighton -- she is going to wake up 45 minutes into her nap and cry sometimes. It's just life. And Lorien -- she is going be occasionally jealous and rebellious as she adjusts to no longer being the center of attention and will sometimes get a boo boo that I can't give all my attention to because I am nursing her little sister. And that is ok.
I get to learn to parent two children to the best of my ability, and learn to entrust my children to God's care when I cannot help. Sometimes Lorien will cry alone in her room, afraid of who knows what, or perhaps just mad that she knows I'm leaving her to her nap to go get Brighton up. And I won't be able to soothe those fears as immediately as I'd like, but I can and do pray for the Holy Spirit to be her Comforter, and for His voice to speak more loudly than any emotion she feels or lie she may be believing. Moreover, sometimes Brighton will cry longer in her bed than I would have ever have allowed Lorien to cry in bed because I am in the middle of putting Lorien down for her nap, or cleaning up a boo boo, or consoling her. And all of this is ok because I am doing all that I can for both of my girls to the best of my ability (and beyond that by God's grace and strength!).
I have spent too many moments feeling frantic inside, that I'm not doing enough, and not doing it well enough. And finally, I quiet myself long enough to stop praying and just listen to Him. And the voice of truth speaks into my life and bring timely truth and peace. I'm guessing I'll hear "mama" a lot earlier on from this little one than I did from Lorien. But that is more than OK, because I get to be mama to both of these wonderful and precious girls. And I would never trade one for the other.
Note to self: I've got to learn to anticipate and pray about the internal changes in me that come with new seasons of life. Being prepared to the hilt for the externals of change (marriage, moving, job changes, babies) doesn't do a whole lot of good for me if I've not considered how these external things will effect me on the inside. Please stop learning this the hard way! :)
I'm not sure why this is, but during that time span, I noticed how much the older generation of mothers like to pick at the younger generation of mothers. I'm not sure what that is motivated by...perhaps its generational? Perhaps women really are that against each other in our fallen nature? I don't know, and that's not the point of this post, but repeatedly being the recipient of the odd social norm that permits being picked on in public by other women you don't know, led me to learn something profound about myself and my relationship with Lorien.
You see, one day in the grocery store (these interactions almost always happened at the grocery store) a random middle aged woman started commenting on how verbal Lorien was for being such a young age. I agreed with her, and then the woman said that she could bet I was already getting tired of hearing "mama, mama, mama" all the time. I told her, as I had told many, many other inquiring women, that she didn't say mama yet. Yes, she could say ball, man, book, doggie etc, but no mama. The woman turned from Lorien and looked sharply at me, "Well, she must not care for you very much then, huh?" That was by far the most directly any woman had antagonized me before, and I found myself answering out loud the questions I had been wondering about Lorien's 'mama silence' for a couple of months. "No, I don't think that's it at all. I think, well, I think that I am so in synch with her needs, and anticipating them, that she just doesn't have any reason to say my name." The woman had no idea what to say to that, and she walked away with a stunned and superior looking expression on her face.
I spent most of the rest of the afternoon contemplating and fleshing out what I had said to her. I'm sure it sounded arrogant or presumptuous, but I said it to her in a very calm manner and I discovered it was true as I was saying it. That child really didn't need to say my name. I think using the parent directed feeding method really succeeded in making me in tune with her, and for many many months I pretty much anticipated her needs before she even had the chance to request anything. I realized that she didn't say any verbs whatsoever, only nouns. I had been wondering why she would never use her sign language to say "more", and I finally realized it was because I always gave her more before she ever needed to ask. She didn't start saying more until I told her that I wouldn't give her anymore unless she asked for things.
And the beautiful thing about this, to me, was that this anticipation of her needs came naturally and in a very healthy way for me. I was not and am not an attachment parenting mom. Both my children have done their fair share of crying it out when I know that it is for their best interest and long term good. I love being their mama, and I love loving them and meeting their needs. And I stand amazed at the mama instincts that I had no idea I have that have allowed me to predetermine and meet needs so well that my firstborn didn't even need to say my name.
This, however, is proving difficult with two children. I read once, on a blog of a woman who is a mother of eight, about how hard it is to learn that you cannot always meet all of your children's needs all of the time. Sometimes, you just can't. There isn't enough mama to go around (especially with 8 kids!). I am already finding this to be true, and it is so hard not to be weighed down with guilt when you are actively very busy meeting the basic physical needs of your 2 month old (i.e. feeding her) while the two year old is crying hysterically in her bedroom for some unknown reason, or you're busy making and supervising lunch and starting the nap time routine for the older one and the baby starts sobbing in her crib. Sometimes, you just can't be two places at once, no matter how badly you long to be!
I have spent a number of hours frustrated and condemned by this in the past couple of weeks, and finally, in all my praying that the Lord would help each child to be content long enough for me to meet the needs of all of them, I finally had the revelation that what I should be praying for is the wisdom, grace, and new strategy to parent two children as best as I can to the glory of God, and not trying to parent as if I am just parenting one child anymore. It is me who needs to grow, not necessarily either one of them who needs to change. Brighton -- she is going to wake up 45 minutes into her nap and cry sometimes. It's just life. And Lorien -- she is going be occasionally jealous and rebellious as she adjusts to no longer being the center of attention and will sometimes get a boo boo that I can't give all my attention to because I am nursing her little sister. And that is ok.
I get to learn to parent two children to the best of my ability, and learn to entrust my children to God's care when I cannot help. Sometimes Lorien will cry alone in her room, afraid of who knows what, or perhaps just mad that she knows I'm leaving her to her nap to go get Brighton up. And I won't be able to soothe those fears as immediately as I'd like, but I can and do pray for the Holy Spirit to be her Comforter, and for His voice to speak more loudly than any emotion she feels or lie she may be believing. Moreover, sometimes Brighton will cry longer in her bed than I would have ever have allowed Lorien to cry in bed because I am in the middle of putting Lorien down for her nap, or cleaning up a boo boo, or consoling her. And all of this is ok because I am doing all that I can for both of my girls to the best of my ability (and beyond that by God's grace and strength!).
I have spent too many moments feeling frantic inside, that I'm not doing enough, and not doing it well enough. And finally, I quiet myself long enough to stop praying and just listen to Him. And the voice of truth speaks into my life and bring timely truth and peace. I'm guessing I'll hear "mama" a lot earlier on from this little one than I did from Lorien. But that is more than OK, because I get to be mama to both of these wonderful and precious girls. And I would never trade one for the other.
Note to self: I've got to learn to anticipate and pray about the internal changes in me that come with new seasons of life. Being prepared to the hilt for the externals of change (marriage, moving, job changes, babies) doesn't do a whole lot of good for me if I've not considered how these external things will effect me on the inside. Please stop learning this the hard way! :)
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Tongue Tied Much?!
Until a couple of days ago, I had never even heard of a medical condition known in the vernacular as being tongue tied or lip tied. But I had a very fun and enlightening conversation with my cousin's wife who has a baby boy, Blake, who is about 2 weeks older than Brighton. She was telling me about having a lot of difficulty with nursing due to extreme pain, and that she ended up finding out that her son with both tongue and lip tied, as is his daddy. In case you were in the dark on this one as I was, it is when that little thingy at the top of your mouth between your gums and your upper lip is connected too far down near your two front teeth. Or in the case of being tongue tied, when the similar thingy beneath your tongue is incorrectly attached. Kind of hard to explain...so perhaps a couple of pictures will help illuminate what exactly these "thingys" are. :)
Needless to say, these incorrectly attached "thingys", aka in the medical world as frenum, are incorrectly attached, it can cause all kinds of problems with breastfeeding, and then later on down the line with speech and placement of teeth, particularly the two front teeth. And, yet, no one seems to ever talk about this! Not lactation consultants, not pediatricians, not dentists. Even though the fix to this problem is so quick and simple that a small baby doesn't even need any general anestesia when having them clipped. WHAT?!
So of course, this is wildly ridiculous. But why, you may wonder, why does Christie care so personally about this topic that she feels the need to blog about it?! Well, if you recall, I learned this from my cousin's wife, about her son and her husband. And these traits are apparently genetic. Doesn't take much to make the connection, though it did take my genius self 3 days to make it! I too am tongue and lip tied, and so are both of my girls! The things I don't know about myself and my children could apparently fill a book.
The thought to check into this for my family occurred to me because my husband Brian has a gap between his two front teeth, which is a classic sign of being lip tied. My oldest daughter, Lorien, also has this huge gap and very crooked two front teeth. So I checked my husband a couple of days ago, but he doesn't have this problem and so I forgot about it. Then, this afternoon as I was putting Lorien down for her nap, I suddenly remembered and much to my shock, found that her lip connector thingy is almost all the way down to where her teeth start to grow from her gums!
My sweet girl had such a hard time learning to nurse, took no less than 45 min. to nurse every time she took to the breast, could never drain off all my milk even for all that time, and had a fair amount of difficulty gaining weight. Lactation consultants confirmed that her latch was good, and both the pediatrician and my ob/gyn said that my milk supply was great, so I was reassured that I shouldn't worry or be concerned. And frankly, no one, including myself, seemed all that taken aback by how painful it was, or I would get lumps in my breasts from time to time. I mean, I knew that breastfeeding isn't supposed to be easy, so I just thought it came with the territory I guess.
This knowledge makes my heart so sad. Could Lorien has nursed easily and received much more milk, much more quickly for the 14 months she nursed? Why yes. I do believe she could have. Could she be above the 25 percentile for her weight? Likely so! Could her teeth have grown in straight? Quite likely.
As soon as she went down for her nap, I went to get up Brighton to nurse. She has had so many less problems with nursing, that it just started to seem to make sense that most of Lorien's nursing/weight gain problems had probably come from being lip and tongue tied even more than from being a preemie. I was so surprised I started texting my cousin, Cindy, about this while I was nursing Brighton. Then, all of a sudden, a lightbulb went off, and I checked Brighton's mouth. And lo, and behold! Her's is the same way too!
My cousin must think I'm a real genius, because she was getting the real time texts...Oh my gosh! Brighton has it too! Wait! Are you kidding me? I have it!
While Brighton is much bigger and healthier, and doesn't have nearly as much difficulty with nursing as Lorien did, I still have noticed a few peculiarities with the way she nurses. Sometimes she seems to struggle to establish a good latch. And other times, rather than trying to latch on, she will just suck in as hard as she can to get my nipple in her mouth. This concerns me for when she gets teeth, so I asked her pediatrician about it, and he didn't know what to make of it and suggested that she might outgrow it as she gets older. So far, that hasn't happened. And she struggles to get a good latch, especially when she is tired...which would be mostly in the evenings. The biggest side effect she has shown so far is not sleeping well at night. I have tried everything I know to figure out why in the world this girl wants to eat all night long, and have managed to cut her back quite a bit, but she still consistently wakes up hungry. And I think I now know why.
I don't know any of the details about what it will take to get her to someone who can help correct this problem for her, but I sure don't want this to go on and on. And I don't know yet if it is even worthwhile to try and correct it for Lorien now that she is no longer nursing. I will have to find out, and post info as I learn it if anyone is interested.
Mostly, I'm just shocked that this problem exists, is so prevalent, and is so easy to fix. And yet, I repeat, NO ONE KNOWS about it!
Class II (closest to normal but still problematic)
what mine looks like
Class III
what Lorien's looks like
Class IV (most severe)
what Brighton's looks like
Needless to say, these incorrectly attached "thingys", aka in the medical world as frenum, are incorrectly attached, it can cause all kinds of problems with breastfeeding, and then later on down the line with speech and placement of teeth, particularly the two front teeth. And, yet, no one seems to ever talk about this! Not lactation consultants, not pediatricians, not dentists. Even though the fix to this problem is so quick and simple that a small baby doesn't even need any general anestesia when having them clipped. WHAT?!
So of course, this is wildly ridiculous. But why, you may wonder, why does Christie care so personally about this topic that she feels the need to blog about it?! Well, if you recall, I learned this from my cousin's wife, about her son and her husband. And these traits are apparently genetic. Doesn't take much to make the connection, though it did take my genius self 3 days to make it! I too am tongue and lip tied, and so are both of my girls! The things I don't know about myself and my children could apparently fill a book.
The thought to check into this for my family occurred to me because my husband Brian has a gap between his two front teeth, which is a classic sign of being lip tied. My oldest daughter, Lorien, also has this huge gap and very crooked two front teeth. So I checked my husband a couple of days ago, but he doesn't have this problem and so I forgot about it. Then, this afternoon as I was putting Lorien down for her nap, I suddenly remembered and much to my shock, found that her lip connector thingy is almost all the way down to where her teeth start to grow from her gums!
My sweet girl had such a hard time learning to nurse, took no less than 45 min. to nurse every time she took to the breast, could never drain off all my milk even for all that time, and had a fair amount of difficulty gaining weight. Lactation consultants confirmed that her latch was good, and both the pediatrician and my ob/gyn said that my milk supply was great, so I was reassured that I shouldn't worry or be concerned. And frankly, no one, including myself, seemed all that taken aback by how painful it was, or I would get lumps in my breasts from time to time. I mean, I knew that breastfeeding isn't supposed to be easy, so I just thought it came with the territory I guess.
This knowledge makes my heart so sad. Could Lorien has nursed easily and received much more milk, much more quickly for the 14 months she nursed? Why yes. I do believe she could have. Could she be above the 25 percentile for her weight? Likely so! Could her teeth have grown in straight? Quite likely.
As soon as she went down for her nap, I went to get up Brighton to nurse. She has had so many less problems with nursing, that it just started to seem to make sense that most of Lorien's nursing/weight gain problems had probably come from being lip and tongue tied even more than from being a preemie. I was so surprised I started texting my cousin, Cindy, about this while I was nursing Brighton. Then, all of a sudden, a lightbulb went off, and I checked Brighton's mouth. And lo, and behold! Her's is the same way too!
My cousin must think I'm a real genius, because she was getting the real time texts...Oh my gosh! Brighton has it too! Wait! Are you kidding me? I have it!
While Brighton is much bigger and healthier, and doesn't have nearly as much difficulty with nursing as Lorien did, I still have noticed a few peculiarities with the way she nurses. Sometimes she seems to struggle to establish a good latch. And other times, rather than trying to latch on, she will just suck in as hard as she can to get my nipple in her mouth. This concerns me for when she gets teeth, so I asked her pediatrician about it, and he didn't know what to make of it and suggested that she might outgrow it as she gets older. So far, that hasn't happened. And she struggles to get a good latch, especially when she is tired...which would be mostly in the evenings. The biggest side effect she has shown so far is not sleeping well at night. I have tried everything I know to figure out why in the world this girl wants to eat all night long, and have managed to cut her back quite a bit, but she still consistently wakes up hungry. And I think I now know why.
I don't know any of the details about what it will take to get her to someone who can help correct this problem for her, but I sure don't want this to go on and on. And I don't know yet if it is even worthwhile to try and correct it for Lorien now that she is no longer nursing. I will have to find out, and post info as I learn it if anyone is interested.
Mostly, I'm just shocked that this problem exists, is so prevalent, and is so easy to fix. And yet, I repeat, NO ONE KNOWS about it!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Swinging Through the Trees
This whole postpartum recovery thing has not been a walk in the park. I still really want to write my birth stories so that all this can make more sense in context and so that I'll have them written down, but it just takes so much time, I haven't gotten to it yet. I mean seriously, when does a mama with a 6 week old and a two year old have time to sit down and write a story out from start to finish? And thats how I work. I really want to do it all at once. We'll get there. Eventually.
For the meantime, I'm thinking about how crazy this past 6 weeks has been. I've had a bladder infection that lasted over 3 weeks and took 3 different rounds of antibiotics to clear it up, including a majorly itchy allergic reaction to one of those meds. This was followed up by a yeast infection that has been going strong for a few weeks after 2 rounds of meds. I still haven't stopped bleeding. Last time they had to put me on antibiotics and some other fun drug that simulates your entire menstrual cycle in 24 hours to get the bleeding to stop. But since I've been on so many antibiotics they don't want to do that just yet. So we're waiting another 4 weeks. Whats another 4 weeks of bleeding when you've already been bleeding for 6?! Of course, none of this includes any of the drama of the first week after Brighton was born.
First there was the engorgement. Doctor said it was the worst of any patient he's ever seen in all the time he has practiced, and he called in literally everyone on the medical staff to come and take a look. Then there was the very deep episiotomy I had, and how unhappy feeling that first week was with that. And let's not forget the site of the botched epidural that got all inflamed and put so much pressure on surrounding nerves that I literally almost passed out if/when I or anyone else touched it. The day of Brighton's first doctors appointment I was in so much pain from all 3 of these things that I couldn't stand, couldn't sit, and couldn't lay down. I didn't know that was humanly possible, but now that I do, I'll never forget what that was like. And of course the doctor was taking forever. By the time he finally came in to see us, I was propped up on a counter just trying to stay on my feet. Fortunately, these things were the short lived part. All resolved within the first week of my sweet little girl's new life. Praise Jesus for that!
But its the lingering things that have been the most difficult. And then I got a call from the doctor that my lab work came back with my thyroid off again. With my medication, I've swung to being quite hyperthyroid at this point. They switched up the dose of my meds, but it takes about 2 weeks to fully take effect. In retrospect, I have been a bit high strung the past month or so (I'm guessing Brian would say VERY high strung), and I bet we have found the culprit here. A hyper thyroid does exactly what it sounds like...speeds everything up. I haven't been depressed. I've been on emotional speed! If I am happy, I couldn't be happier! But if I'm mad, you had better watch out. Lorien keeps waking Brighton up yelling in the hall outside her room, and I finally realized last night that it's just not appropriate (not to mention sinful) to want to bash your child in the head for disturbing your other child. Nor is it appropriate to wish that your crawl space were a dungeon you could banish them to. And even after realizing this, I couldn't get a level head. I was just plain livid. So. Not. Like. Me.
Oh thyroid. Please stop. Go back to my normal. Or a new normal. Just chill out long enough for us to figure out the correct dosage of my meds. And bleeding. Please stop. I mean seriously, you've done your job. Chill out. And yeast infection. I'm not even speaking to you anymore. So take a hint. I'm done with all of you. And so very ready to get back to normal life. Because I love it. And I am so blessed beyond what I could have ever dreamed up. And I really just want to enjoy my life to the fullest, thankyouverymuch!
For the meantime, I'm thinking about how crazy this past 6 weeks has been. I've had a bladder infection that lasted over 3 weeks and took 3 different rounds of antibiotics to clear it up, including a majorly itchy allergic reaction to one of those meds. This was followed up by a yeast infection that has been going strong for a few weeks after 2 rounds of meds. I still haven't stopped bleeding. Last time they had to put me on antibiotics and some other fun drug that simulates your entire menstrual cycle in 24 hours to get the bleeding to stop. But since I've been on so many antibiotics they don't want to do that just yet. So we're waiting another 4 weeks. Whats another 4 weeks of bleeding when you've already been bleeding for 6?! Of course, none of this includes any of the drama of the first week after Brighton was born.
First there was the engorgement. Doctor said it was the worst of any patient he's ever seen in all the time he has practiced, and he called in literally everyone on the medical staff to come and take a look. Then there was the very deep episiotomy I had, and how unhappy feeling that first week was with that. And let's not forget the site of the botched epidural that got all inflamed and put so much pressure on surrounding nerves that I literally almost passed out if/when I or anyone else touched it. The day of Brighton's first doctors appointment I was in so much pain from all 3 of these things that I couldn't stand, couldn't sit, and couldn't lay down. I didn't know that was humanly possible, but now that I do, I'll never forget what that was like. And of course the doctor was taking forever. By the time he finally came in to see us, I was propped up on a counter just trying to stay on my feet. Fortunately, these things were the short lived part. All resolved within the first week of my sweet little girl's new life. Praise Jesus for that!
But its the lingering things that have been the most difficult. And then I got a call from the doctor that my lab work came back with my thyroid off again. With my medication, I've swung to being quite hyperthyroid at this point. They switched up the dose of my meds, but it takes about 2 weeks to fully take effect. In retrospect, I have been a bit high strung the past month or so (I'm guessing Brian would say VERY high strung), and I bet we have found the culprit here. A hyper thyroid does exactly what it sounds like...speeds everything up. I haven't been depressed. I've been on emotional speed! If I am happy, I couldn't be happier! But if I'm mad, you had better watch out. Lorien keeps waking Brighton up yelling in the hall outside her room, and I finally realized last night that it's just not appropriate (not to mention sinful) to want to bash your child in the head for disturbing your other child. Nor is it appropriate to wish that your crawl space were a dungeon you could banish them to. And even after realizing this, I couldn't get a level head. I was just plain livid. So. Not. Like. Me.
Oh thyroid. Please stop. Go back to my normal. Or a new normal. Just chill out long enough for us to figure out the correct dosage of my meds. And bleeding. Please stop. I mean seriously, you've done your job. Chill out. And yeast infection. I'm not even speaking to you anymore. So take a hint. I'm done with all of you. And so very ready to get back to normal life. Because I love it. And I am so blessed beyond what I could have ever dreamed up. And I really just want to enjoy my life to the fullest, thankyouverymuch!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sleep Deprivation -- A whole new level
I have thought a number of times in my life that I was genuinely sleep deprived. Perhaps I was. But nothing like this. I was talking it over with my mom, and she brought up the 6 to 8 months or so after my thyroid went out but before I finally went to the doctor to get it figured out. Hum...yes, why that was worse. But I was sleeping tons. So I'm not counting it as the same thing.
On Friday Brighton will be 5 weeks old. She is adorable, growing like a weed, can put herself to sleep on her own, and eats like a champ. I cannot begin to put into words how in looooove I am with her.
That being said. Let's just put it out there. Girlfriend still has her days and nightshopelessly utterly confused. To her credit, she was like this in the womb too. But seriously. Most days she sleeps like its her job all day long. I have to wake her up at least 80% of the time to get her to nurse, and then it is a family battle to keep her awake for 10 min. afterward, let alone 45 min or so before her next nap. Yesterday, she had an awake cycle in which I never even saw her eyes. Not from the time I woke her up, nursed her, changed her, burped her, played with her until I gave up.
Night time, though. Night time is another story. On average, homegirl wakes up between every hour and 45 min. to 3 hours all night long. This is length of time since she last started nursing, mind you. Not how long she actually slept. Occasionally, and by occasionally I mean maybe 5 times in her life she has made it to or past the 4 hour mark. So once I have fed her, put her back to bed, waited for her to decide to fall asleep (which can take a while since she clearly wants to be awake for a while in the bed since she hasn't been awake all day long), and then finally quieted my brain enough to get to sleep...I've got between 45 min. to an hour and half to sleep myself. I think in the 5 weeks she's been here I've slept for almost 4 hours 3 or 4 times. Max. ( I think I lost a couple of the other longer stretches of sleep to anxiety that she wouldn't sleep that kept me awake...sigh.)
This level of exhaustion, which I see as completely normal for a newborn, or even the first few weeks, has worn me quite thin by this point. Earlier in the week, while Brighton had a poop explosion, sans diaper, on the changing table this sleep deprived mama managed to get poop all over my mouth. How?!?! Gross! What?!?! Yes. How. What!
I was so worn out and busy feeling sorry for myself once that happened that I started to cry. I had wiped what I thought was all the poop off my hand/arm, but was mostly focused on trying to get a new diaper onto thispoop machine precious child. Hence, when my nose started running from the crying, I reached up and wiped my hand across my face. Smearing poop on my lips and my nose in the process. Then the hysteria set in.
I did manage to change her diaper and run screaming crying with her through the house to pass her off to my hubby before tearing back through the house to the bathroom to wash my face, hands, arm, brush teeth etc. Eventually I calmed down. But seriously?! That sort of oversight...the smear poop on your own face kind. That wouldn't happen unless sleep was pretty much non existent. And we haven't even cracked open the door on I have a two year old in addition to this sweet new little bundle!
Today was better. She was awake for all but one of her awake times. And so my hopes are high for tonight. And I can't just complain. I mean, my hubby is right there with me. And he blesses me by giving her a bottle every few days so I can just sleep for 2 hours. Praise Jesus this little girl doesn't seem to have the disdain for bottles that her sister had! And even though I feel completely lame for asking for or accepting help over a month after she's been born, we are still receiving regular meals from my wonderful church family. Seriously don't know how I'd do it without all the love and support we've had from our family and friends.
All the same, I am so ready for this child to sleep at night. She's improving. For a week or so there she was screaming bloody murder whenever she got put directly back down at night without time to be up like she wanted. I mean, this girl has a level of mad I've not seen Lorien display. She's gotten over that, thank God. It was torture. For us, and her I'm sure. But now she puts herself to sleep like a charm. Great first step to sleeping through the night...or so one would think.
We've had a couple of other setbacks. Like copious nighttime spitting up. That's an understatement. Emptying her poor tummy all over herself. Which required a full scrub down and change of linens, clothes, etc. We elevated the head of her crib mattress and bit and that has seemed to solve that problem. Now...we're just waiting for her to catch on and sleep. Like a champ. Come on, girl. Sleeping for a 5 hour stretch shouldn't be no thang for you! You're big, healthy, growing.
Let's sleep. So we can get back to real life. I know you can do it, lovebug!
ok. disclaimer time. if this isn't cohesive, I apologize. I sort of forgot the point mid way through, and couldn't manage to remember for the life of me exactly where it was I was going...but I guess that is in keeping with the exhaustion theme...so there ya go. Feel free to join us in prayers for Brighton to right this sleep wrong and God to give us wisdom on how to lead her there! Now, off to go nurse for the last time before hoping for a big sleep! Cheers! :)
On Friday Brighton will be 5 weeks old. She is adorable, growing like a weed, can put herself to sleep on her own, and eats like a champ. I cannot begin to put into words how in looooove I am with her.
That being said. Let's just put it out there. Girlfriend still has her days and nights
Night time, though. Night time is another story. On average, homegirl wakes up between every hour and 45 min. to 3 hours all night long. This is length of time since she last started nursing, mind you. Not how long she actually slept. Occasionally, and by occasionally I mean maybe 5 times in her life she has made it to or past the 4 hour mark. So once I have fed her, put her back to bed, waited for her to decide to fall asleep (which can take a while since she clearly wants to be awake for a while in the bed since she hasn't been awake all day long), and then finally quieted my brain enough to get to sleep...I've got between 45 min. to an hour and half to sleep myself. I think in the 5 weeks she's been here I've slept for almost 4 hours 3 or 4 times. Max. ( I think I lost a couple of the other longer stretches of sleep to anxiety that she wouldn't sleep that kept me awake...sigh.)
This level of exhaustion, which I see as completely normal for a newborn, or even the first few weeks, has worn me quite thin by this point. Earlier in the week, while Brighton had a poop explosion, sans diaper, on the changing table this sleep deprived mama managed to get poop all over my mouth. How?!?! Gross! What?!?! Yes. How. What!
I was so worn out and busy feeling sorry for myself once that happened that I started to cry. I had wiped what I thought was all the poop off my hand/arm, but was mostly focused on trying to get a new diaper onto this
I did manage to change her diaper and run screaming crying with her through the house to pass her off to my hubby before tearing back through the house to the bathroom to wash my face, hands, arm, brush teeth etc. Eventually I calmed down. But seriously?! That sort of oversight...the smear poop on your own face kind. That wouldn't happen unless sleep was pretty much non existent. And we haven't even cracked open the door on I have a two year old in addition to this sweet new little bundle!
Today was better. She was awake for all but one of her awake times. And so my hopes are high for tonight. And I can't just complain. I mean, my hubby is right there with me. And he blesses me by giving her a bottle every few days so I can just sleep for 2 hours. Praise Jesus this little girl doesn't seem to have the disdain for bottles that her sister had! And even though I feel completely lame for asking for or accepting help over a month after she's been born, we are still receiving regular meals from my wonderful church family. Seriously don't know how I'd do it without all the love and support we've had from our family and friends.
All the same, I am so ready for this child to sleep at night. She's improving. For a week or so there she was screaming bloody murder whenever she got put directly back down at night without time to be up like she wanted. I mean, this girl has a level of mad I've not seen Lorien display. She's gotten over that, thank God. It was torture. For us, and her I'm sure. But now she puts herself to sleep like a charm. Great first step to sleeping through the night...or so one would think.
We've had a couple of other setbacks. Like copious nighttime spitting up. That's an understatement. Emptying her poor tummy all over herself. Which required a full scrub down and change of linens, clothes, etc. We elevated the head of her crib mattress and bit and that has seemed to solve that problem. Now...we're just waiting for her to catch on and sleep. Like a champ. Come on, girl. Sleeping for a 5 hour stretch shouldn't be no thang for you! You're big, healthy, growing.
Let's sleep. So we can get back to real life. I know you can do it, lovebug!
ok. disclaimer time. if this isn't cohesive, I apologize. I sort of forgot the point mid way through, and couldn't manage to remember for the life of me exactly where it was I was going...but I guess that is in keeping with the exhaustion theme...so there ya go. Feel free to join us in prayers for Brighton to right this sleep wrong and God to give us wisdom on how to lead her there! Now, off to go nurse for the last time before hoping for a big sleep! Cheers! :)
Monday, June 25, 2012
It's Time
My husband, Brian, has been telling me for at least a year and a half that he really thinks I should blog. He is so sure that I'll love it and that it would be good for me. He has actually been encouraging me to spend time just for myself, and yet I've been resisting. WHY?! Perhaps its the same reason I refused to read the Hobbit or Little Women as a child...just because someone REALLY wanted me to. I guess I am that churlish stubborn. Sigh.
So last night I got to thinking about it in the middle of the night while I was wide awake after the 2nd (or was it 3rd?) feeding of the night for my one month old daughter, Brighton. And it hit me, I think I should blog. Brian is right. I'd enjoy it, and it would help me remember my life, and perhaps someone would get a kick out of all the bizarre things that just happen to me, or maybe even learn something or be uplifted by something I'd have to say. And then, in the middle of the night I became sold on the idea.
I had a blog in high school, circa 1999 (eep!), or at least that's what it was before the term blog even existed. It was an Open Diary account -- you know, before Live Journal, before Xanga. Back in the stone ages of online personal writing. I named my Open Diary account "The Interesting". Not because I was completely self absorbed. I actually wasn't. But, rather, because so many other people labelled me that way.
I never liked that label -- it seemed like the "bless your heart"way of someone saying I was weird. But since I knew deep down there was alot hint of truth to it, I decided to try to own it. I'm not sure how successful I was, but when I was racking my brain for a new blog title, I finally realized it fit. 13 years have passed since I created the last one, and I have come to discover and even enjoy how "interesting" I am/my life is. Things just happen to me. Things people have said couldn't possibly be true, must be made up. I don't go searching for or trying to create these things. They. Just. Happen.
While these things have lately not been of the oh so very pleasant variety, I have found that the Word holds true, and God does work all of things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His name. Since that includes me, I figure its about time I start chronicling the life He has given me. Sometimes very interesting, sometimes mundane. But always, always full.
So. This blog is for me. To remember these crazy busy days of being a wife and mama to a toddler and an itty bitty. To recall how faithful God has been to me through every high and low. To carve out time to reflect. To serve as my journal and my children's baby books. To glorify my God with the life He has given me. And to watch myself grow and change over time.
You're welcome to read along if you'd like.
Posts I'm itching to write? My birth stories. Both of them. I've wanted to get them down on paper so I'll never forget and just haven't yet. I'm confident those stories will give anyone who might be wondering about it an idea of what I mean by "interesting things just happen to me." And on my mind for today, a post about Lorien's first day of preschool. It really tugged at my heart to see her so grown up and yet so vulnerable. I mean, she is only 2! And off she went this morning.
Ok. Real life calls. Sweet baby awake and crying. It's time to go nurse!
So last night I got to thinking about it in the middle of the night while I was wide awake after the 2nd (or was it 3rd?) feeding of the night for my one month old daughter, Brighton. And it hit me, I think I should blog. Brian is right. I'd enjoy it, and it would help me remember my life, and perhaps someone would get a kick out of all the bizarre things that just happen to me, or maybe even learn something or be uplifted by something I'd have to say. And then, in the middle of the night I became sold on the idea.
I had a blog in high school, circa 1999 (eep!), or at least that's what it was before the term blog even existed. It was an Open Diary account -- you know, before Live Journal, before Xanga. Back in the stone ages of online personal writing. I named my Open Diary account "The Interesting". Not because I was completely self absorbed. I actually wasn't. But, rather, because so many other people labelled me that way.
I never liked that label -- it seemed like the "bless your heart"way of someone saying I was weird. But since I knew deep down there was a
While these things have lately not been of the oh so very pleasant variety, I have found that the Word holds true, and God does work all of things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His name. Since that includes me, I figure its about time I start chronicling the life He has given me. Sometimes very interesting, sometimes mundane. But always, always full.
So. This blog is for me. To remember these crazy busy days of being a wife and mama to a toddler and an itty bitty. To recall how faithful God has been to me through every high and low. To carve out time to reflect. To serve as my journal and my children's baby books. To glorify my God with the life He has given me. And to watch myself grow and change over time.
You're welcome to read along if you'd like.
Posts I'm itching to write? My birth stories. Both of them. I've wanted to get them down on paper so I'll never forget and just haven't yet. I'm confident those stories will give anyone who might be wondering about it an idea of what I mean by "interesting things just happen to me." And on my mind for today, a post about Lorien's first day of preschool. It really tugged at my heart to see her so grown up and yet so vulnerable. I mean, she is only 2! And off she went this morning.
Ok. Real life calls. Sweet baby awake and crying. It's time to go nurse!
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