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My parents are in town

They arrived on my Birthday (Saturday) late in the day and will be leaving on Friday. We have gone out to eat, gone shopping, loved on kids, and will be going to the beach. It has been amazing. It reminded me yet again how much I miss living near them. Can I go back to Memphis yet?

Meghan's How to for successful breastfeeding.

Breast is best y'all, but it is not always easy. To help future breast feeders I have decided to make a post of my favorite products and tips for breastfeeding.

So you gave birth and now the child is laying on your chest and you are in bliss, every thing can relax now right? Sorry but you have some more work to do. In order to be the most successful with breast feeding it is best to get that kid on the boob within 30 minutes of giving birth. It will trigger your body to start making milk and it will also give the baby their first drops of "liquid gold" (Colostrum) which will start your baby's immune system protection.

Now that you have fed the first time, it is time to start protecting those nipples because if you don't you will have bloody cracked and painful nipples in the very near future which can lead to infections and mastitis. Bad Juju. So here is my routine.

First I wipe my nipple before feeding with these awesome wipes by first years.
http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Soothing-Breast-Wipes/dp/B001G4TMUI

Next I rub the nipple down with this awesome nipple cream by first years. It is creamier than other creams out there and it has milk proteins in it to help heal.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Lanolin-Nipple-Butter/dp/B001G4VBQ6

Then I latch on the baby offering one side first until the baby releases on their own then I offer the other side to see if they are still hungry. Always let the child feed until they either release or they stop swallowing. I wipe down my nipples with the same wipes then I place these on my nipples for the first 6 weeks instead of the normal breast pads. They are from Lansinoh and they are gel pads that stick to your nipples. These particular ones last 3 days and you get one set per package. They may seem a bit expensive but I would rather spend a bit more money instead of having bleeding nipples lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Soothies-65005-Gel-Pads/dp/B004YF4HPQ

When the 6 weeks is up I switch to Lansinoh's disposable breast pads instead because the reusable ones really dry out my nipples.

http://www.amazon.com/Lansinoh-20265-Disposable-Nursing-60-pack/dp/B0000BYAG0

The key to all of these items is to use them every single time you nurse or you could have cracked and bleeding nipples in your future. It takes about 3-6 weeks to get your nipples toughened up and not feel pain. Anyone who is having a tough time nursing I always advise to give it 6 weeks before 100% giving up. If you still hate it at your 6 week appointment then feel free but usually by that time, it gets 1000x easier.

Now that you have mastered nursing and the dreaded nipple pain the next things to deal with are pumping, nursing in public, and keeping that milk supply up.

Now total tmi, I have large nipples. It makes it hard to use a lot of pumps out there without spending an arm and a leg. However I have found an inexpensive pump that actually works for me. First Years MiPump is great. It can be on the go with batteries or plug in at home. It is easy to use and easy to put together and it is the only pump on the market that comes with a handle to put both pumps on so that you can use it one handed. It also comes with my bottles of choice First Years breastflow bottles which mimic the same sucking that an infant would use on the breast.

http://www.amazon.com/Breastflow-miPump-Double-Electric-Breast/dp/B001MS82HM

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Breastflow-Bottle-Ounce/dp/B001R1SOSG

When it comes to nursing at home I like using the Brest Friend nursing pillow. It is big, it clips around your stomach so you can feasibly get up and walk around while still nursing, it has a pocket for things like your nipple cream and the remote, and it has bumps in the pillow to help support the baby's neck.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Brest-Friend-Pillow-Sunburst/dp/B000HZEQSU

But,when I am out and about I prefer to cover. The best deal is to find one of the free nursing cover codes online and get yourself a free nursing cover from Udder Covers. All you have to pay is shipping and the cover is great with awesome patterns.

http://www.uddercovers.com/?dnm

To keep my supply up I take fenugreek and eat oatmeal for breakfast. Both are natural ways to boost your supply.

http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Fenugreek-Capsules-180ea/dp/B0009ETA6W

http://www.amazon.com/Quaker-Instant-Oatmeal-Variety-Packets/dp/B000O9WEY2

I hope you enjoyed my selections. Of course these are not the only things out there but this list makes me actually enjoy nursing and if I could help someone else enjoy nursing with this list then it was all worth it. What are your favorite nursing products.

She is here!

So I was supposed to start my induction in the morning on Friday. I called like I was supposed to and they had no rooms open. I was strung along until 10:30pm Saturday. We arrived at 11ish and it took till midnight to get into the bed and get my IV put in. They did a vaginal exam and I was already dilated to 3cm and soft. So, I didn't have to get cervodex or a foley bulb which was awesome because the foley bulb was so painful it almost made me puke last time. So they started me on pitocin at around 1am. I labored naturally till about 4am when the pain got so intense that I requested my epidural. They turned off the pitocin to give me some relief except that my contractions continued on their own lol. They never turned back on the pit. They put in the epi and it was pretty successful except I could still feel pain in my butt and vagina lol. So he put in a boost and the broke my water once the pain went away. I was 6cm at that point. About 20 minutes later the bottom of my lungs got numb, the epidural got high lol. So they had me puff on my inhaler, gave me oxygen and turned off the epi. It never got turned back on because I was fully locked and loaded so they had me push. I could not feel a damn thing and yet I managed to push her out in 11 minutes. She came out face down and her cord wrapped around her neck twice. Because of this I wasn't able to do delayed cord clamping or skin to skin because they needed to clear her lungs. She started crying right away but because of the cord her lungs had amniotic fluid all in them still she still needed them cleared out. Once she was breathing right she was brought to me to do skin on skin and to breast feed. She latched on right away and fed great. Her body temp was low all the way up until this morning when they did the final exam before they sent us home.

She was born at 5:45am 7lbs 6oz 21.5inches February 3rd 2013

out for now

I will be gone for the next week, not blogging. Why? Because I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to have labor induced. See you on the flip side with an additional family member. :)

Xander's Speech issues

So around a year old I noticed that Xander pretty much had zero words. He had said bath for a week and then nothing. He would say dadadadadadadad and bababababa over and over but no real words. So I mentioned something to his peds dr. She referred him to a speech therapist who in turn tested him and determined he had a speech delay. We got him signed up for occupational speech therapy the next month.

He is seen about 2x a month and the therapist works with him on naming objects and sorting and basically a structured play time. Xander has been making progress. He says daddy, car, bath, and when he sees himself in the mirror he calls himself Xandy. He also approximates a lot of phrases like "I did it". He is very independent and doesn't like help from us which is a hindrance in his speech because he will just do something on his own instead of asking for help. He has yet to call me mama or mommy. We have also been working on a little sign language and any time he needs help with something being opened he taps twice on it. Which is nice for the communication, but he doesn't pair it with any words yet. He is making progress and he babbles a ton more but he is just not a speaker yet. He turns 2 in 2 months and I am not sure if we will be able to start on potty training any time soon because his communication is just not up where it needs to be in order to be successful.

Every time I see other people post about words their babies say or videos of their babies talking I get sad. I really wish that Xander could tell us anything. I wish I could show off videos of him talking to me. Really I just wish he would call me mama.

Damn now I am crying.

A Nerdy Saturday

So since Saturday tends to be everyone's down day I thought I would start a habit of blogging my favorite Nerdy items I have seen on the interwebz during the week.

Item number one I saw on a favorite blog I follow, Geekologie. How beautiful are these custom Star Wars wedding bands? I want them for our eventual vow renewal so badly.

My second item comes from my favorite nerdy shopping store, ThinkGeek. I want Popsicles now. Plus they light up, how awesome.

I saw this wedding cake on Pinterest and Brian and I just fell in love with it. Best dragon cake ever. I mean look at those wings!

This last one comes from the Blog OffbeatFamilies. What is better than a craft you can do with your kids? A Nerdy craft you can do with your kids! Behold C-3PO made out of toilet paper and paper towel rolls!

Yay for nerdtastic Saturdays!