Happy Birthday!

Yesterday family and friends came over to celebrate with us our little girl turning one! It was a fun day for her, hanging out with Oma & Opa - then having people over for a little party.  Check out how our day looked:)

 

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Diary of a Lactation Failure (Or a tale of two titties): Motherlove More Milk Special Blend Giveaway! (Take...

Diary of a Lactation Failure (Or a tale of two titties): Motherlove More Milk Special Blend Giveaway! (Take...: We're in the homestretch of 1 whole year of nursing, and Motherlove wants to help us celebrate! They're giving away 12 bottles of More Mi...

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Shop Free Dinner Week!

In honor of my return to work this past week, and our need to watch where are money goes each week - I will be making meals all these week only from what is already in our house.  No running out that day to pick up whatever I feel like having, splurging on a fun meal.  There is always more in our house than we think there is - so much goes forgotten!

This may be a challenge as my parents are driving down to visit on Thursday but we'll see how it goes - for as many days as possible, outside of fresh produce needed, I will only cook with what is already in the house:) Doable? I hope so!

Day 1? Well, its family day here and we got invited to the in-laws for supper....well this is easy so far! ;)  Tomorrow though, I have some leftover tortilla wraps to use up - veggie quesadilla anyone?? Perhaps with fish as well:) Yum!

After this, I've been inspired by http://www.livinglaughingandloving.com to start planning meals and shopping for 2 weeks of meals at a time. Makes me nervous just thinking about it:S

Anyone want to join me? What would you find in your pantry??

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Breastfeeding Story

I've spoke on here before about my PCOS issues.  I still feel there is an underlying issue causing PCOS that I haven't addressed but as my doctor is not interested in investigating this - its hard to prove that and treat it properly....but that's not the point here.  Very possibly thyroid as taking kelp seems to be helping a lot.   I have learned a lot about BFing and PCOS since having Carlee, and am saddened that with the right help we could have been more successful - but also feel encouraged that I am now more educated to work towards a better BFing relationship with out future children.   Well, anyways - this is a bit of my story. 

I worked my very hard to ensure I was able to get pregnant (lost weight, better diet, stabilizing hormones) and then have a very healthy weight and diet throughout my pregnancy.  I had very little PG symptoms which I thought was great, including no breast tenderness and little growth.   After asking my midwife if the PCOS was reason for any further concern, and being told no - I went into my pregnancy assuming I would have the normal problems of learning to latch, etc...but fully  prepared to BF my daughter for as long as we both felt beneficial. 

My daughter was born, a pretty easy labour and delivery - no drugs and afterwards I didn't even really feel tired....maybe that was the adrenalin:)  Carlee latched on like a pro - the midwife and nurses were all impressed and left us feeling certain everything would go great.  After 2 days she was down to 7lb 2oz, 4 days 7 lb 4 oz, 6 days 7 lb 4 oz - and we were absolutely shocked.  Thank goodness my mom was with me because I was inconsolable.   I went home and we thought maybe we weren't giving her enough time to finish eating...we spent two days just feeding her like mad, with no success.   

My midwife advised I go on Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek and start pumping every two hours, following each feed and supplementing her in between,  I did not know about HM4HB at the time so she got formula.  That killed me a little.  I couldn't even comprehend what was happening.  After 2 weeks of this and no noticeable difference we moved on to domperidone, again with no results.  I finally started my own research, knowing there had to be more to this - the only known issue is my PCOS and a quick google search brought up a multitude of information that this was most likely the culprit.   At that point I knew that a galactologue would not give me the tissue that did not grow so I quit the pumping and DOM, which I found out later was what was behind me gaining 20 lbs in 3 weeks.   I didn't know where to turn - my midwife did not offer any other alternatives or provide me with a reference for someone who would...I felt like I was stuck with having to supplement her and had no support to tell me otherwise.  With my mom having gone home, and no local family, - I felt very alone.  We moved on to enjoying each other finally. 

I was blessed though - my daughter kept up our breastfeeding relationship til 8 months so I knew she was at least getting some BM every day, and when she quit I found local donors so she had milk at least on a semi regular basis.  At that point I still felt like a failure and had immense guilt for the formula that I had to give to Carlee.   But God knows what He is doing - He gave me the desire to start a business with pre and postnatal women, leading me to network with local women who also specialize in this area.  What a surprising twist.   I met so many women who taught me to forgive myself and to be proud of the effort I did make in the situation I was put in.  And these women led to me to a huge online network of women dealing with the same issues, and a wealth of information.  

I still don't know the root of my issues but work with my naturopath to heal my body as much as possible, and now understand that I was one of a very small percentage that has not a low milk issue but a low tissue issue - most likely my progesterone levels did not increase as they should in pregnancy to stimulate an increase in mammary tissue.  I now have a list of things I can do in pregnancy and after birth to encourage growth and alternatives to domperidone with less side effects (the last thing a post natal woman wants is to take a drug that will cause crazy weight gain!!)   Maybe it won't work with our future children, maybe I'll still have to deal with uneducated women who believe 'anyone can BF'(mostly true, but not completely!) and judge me and the bottle feeding my baby, but I choose to think of the women I can now help and the support I can now be to other women based on my experiences, and finally to enjoy my children knowing I'm doing the best I can possibly do in the situation.  And I'll be happy with that:) 

And my plan for the next baby is as follows:
Tea of goat's rue/alfalfa/nettle/red raspberry daily during and after pregnancy
Regularly take: fish oil, B Complex, Kelp
Placenta Encapsulation after birth
Progesterone cream up until delivery starting as soon as pregnancy is known
Leptaden pills after birth

Thanks for listening to my Bfing rant!  Its healing to put pen to paper of our struggle and success of breastfeeding:) 

All you Canadians, have a great Family day!   I'll spend it thinking of way to make Carlee's birthday very fun as she turns the big 1 on Thursday! We can't wait:) 

PS - check out http://diaryofalactationfailure.blogspot.com for some great breastfeeding stories of igt and a whole lot more!

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Back at Work

Hello all!
Well, Can you believe in a week it will be a year since Carlee joined our family? Tis true! Which means as of Tuesday I returned to my job, but just 2 days a week. I am so blessed to be able to be part time at my job, run a fairly successful business teaching fitness classes locally and stay home with my baby the majority of the week! Its pretty special.  I would love to be home full time at this point, but remind myself it will all come in time and I am very blessed to have the situation as it is - especially a close friend who lives very close to us to care for Carlee while we are working.   Next weekend we will have a little get together for Carlee's birthday which will be very fun too...Its very weird to go from having a __ month old to have a one year old!! Amazing!

The bathroom is SO close to being finished the construction phase and within the week I will be able to go in a paint and decorate!  The before and after is astounding and I can't wait to share with you very soon how its coming along!

The PCOS continues to be a daily battle for me - my lymph drainage is very 'stuck' according to my naturopath and to date nothing has helped it move.  Our newest attempt is to increase my iodine intake, with the thought that as closely related the thyroid function is to pcos...perhaps this is part of what is holding me back yet - maybe even what triggered pcos in the first place. So that has started for the last few weeks, we will see if that helps matters at all:)

And my newest addition to my healthy eating? To ensure I am eating enough green vegetables eat day I added a smoothie into my day - harder on days I work but regularly:)  I am eating what are called 'Green Monsters'.  There are many different versions of this but mine consists of spinach, avacado, cucumber, alternative milk of some type, hemp protein powder with maca and flax, berries, banana and sometimes kiwi or peaches.  I've found i HAVE to have berries - nothing else covers of the taste to make it enjoyable. But I enjoy it, and feel good that I've added a good amount of healthy food in the morning - a time that was usually filled with some sort of mediocre carbs:)

What are you doing today to help rather than hinder your health? 

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A Simple Moment

A precious moment from earlier today...Carlee wanted to just sit and lay her head on my chest.  It happens so rarely and was so nice to sit and enjoy a few cuddles:)  Of course this usually means she is not feeling great, maybe some teeth on the way again, but I'll take it!

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