Holidays and nursing

Any set of holidays can make nursing difficult. If you're busy going from place to place and are in crowded settings, you may overwhelmed.

With Easter and Passover happening, there are lots of family gatherings between church, Easter egg hunts, seders (I know I'm a little behind on that), and other group meals. Your nursling may become distracted or disinterested in nursing. I experienced this a great deal and found the best way to deal with it was to take the baby to a quiet room and feed him there. Lots of people have no problems feeding their baby in public and that's fine, too. I'm totally jealous of that ability. It is especially useful if you have a child who reacts by being constantly "latched-on."

Remember Jesus was a breastfed baby boy. Moses probably had a wet nurse.

This was Squirty's first Easter in 2009.

I'm back...

We went on a trip to visit my family and have Milk Dud christened in Florida. It was nice to get away, eat too much food, and visit with my family. The christening was in the church where my husband and I were married, but they have a new pastor. He's a Gator! He asked if we knew about the "Holy Trinity" and then proceeded to show us a picture of the three Heisman trophy winners from my alma mater, The University of Florida! He proclaimed Milk Dud as the best behaved baby boy he'd ever baptized.

We also went to The Magic Kingdom. What convinced me to wear Milk Dud in the Ergo all day? My back was killing me by the end of it. He did have a nice nap, though. Squirty had a blast. He got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan.

I'm glad to be home. Now, I'm trying to get the boys back on a schedule.

What it's like to have a preemie

Most people look at my 2.5-year old and don't think anything of the fact that he is running around, jumping and screaming colors at people. I have a cousin who totally laughed at me for calling Squirty a "special needs" child. Those people didn't have a child who was a preemie.

At 33-weeks, my OB called to tell me I had developed HELLP syndrome. The magnesium sulfate I was given prior to my c-section and for 24 hours after, made the birth experience a total blur. Unlike most new moms, I didn't really get to see my child. It was "here he is" and he was whisked off to the NICU in spite of an APGAR of 9. He was in the NICU for 13 days. In the time, he was transferred hospitals twice. We were blessed with a short stay, though.

Then, he came home... If I thought the NICU was scary, I had no idea that all the extra doctors' appointments for having a baby that weighed 4 pounds would be terrifying. Squirty had a heart murmur and brain hemorrhage. Those required several appointment with cardiologist and neurologists. Our insurance company denied him the RSV vaccination because he was born at 33-weeks, not 32-weeks. I was scared to go anywhere. I barely left the house that winter.

Of course, there is the reflux... Yes, I know full-term babies get it, too. When your 6-lb 2 month old is throwing up on you after every feeding, you panic... This required constant doctors' appointments to get the dosage of medicine right and my baby to sleep in a car seat. Unfortunately, I think it cause some of his gross motor delays.

At 9-months, he wasn't crawling or sitting up on his own, so we we had a physical therapist come to our house. He did walk basically on-time at 14-months. He was classified as normal at 15-months as he was doing everything he should and was on all 3 growth charts.

He is 2.5, now. We are dealing with the terrible twos just like any other mom of a 2-year old. I will always see him as that tiny baby in the NICU attached to monitors with tubes everywhere. He may not currently have any special needs, but the ones we had in the beginning were very draining on me.

Milk Dud eats a noodle

Okay, so this post is mostly so my mom can see him in all his cuteness, eating noodles. He is the cutest chubby little man, ever. I love him :)

Trying to run in a 5K

When I was in middle school, I was on the track team. I loved to run. Unfortunately, I stopped doing it in high school. When I've lost weight previously, I did aerobics and walked a lot. This time, I want to do The Shred, Couch 2 5K and some push-up, sit-up and squat challenges.

Last year when a family friend lost her long battle to breast cancer, I decided I wanted to do the Komen Race for the Cure. I was unable to participate this past year. I was only a few weeks post-partum. A few weeks ago, I started doing the Couch 2 5K program that I downloaded in the fall. I started week 3 yesterday. I feel great. I made it further than I did the last time I tried. I'm hoping to get through it all this time. A fellow Baltimore Mommy is running in the Baltimore Women's Classic 5K at the end of June. I'd like to attempt to run in this one. It raises money for gynecological cancers and is only women. Apparently, you can do it with a jogging stroller, so maybe I will run with one of the boys. If I keep it up, I should be through with C 2 5K by the end of May, so I could work on improving my time by then. If not, I have all summer and part of the fall to train for the Race for the Cure.

Wish me luck!

Milk Dud goes to the park

It was about 80 here today, so I loaded up the boys and took them to the park. It was Milk Dud's first trip. We watched his big brother go down the slides and then we went to the swings. I was a bit leery of putting my 7.5-month old in a swing. He had a blast. Here are a few pictures.

Breastfeeding tip of the week 4/4

My breastfeeding tip of the week is to seek help if you need it. If you are having trouble nursing, contact a lactation consultant or your local La Leche League leaders.