September 9th, 2008
Oatmeal: My New Best Friend
After a couple weeks of taking the fenugreek, I finally got tired of having a stomach full of it all day long, so I cut down to taking it only when I remembered; about once a day. It wasn't performing any miracles anyway.
In a last ditch effort, last week I bought some maple-myrup flavored oatmeal. The first day I ate it I pumped another ounce or so. I figured it was just a coincidence. But every single day I eat the oatmeal I pump consistently more and more. Today, I got almost 8 ounces in one session! I used to get FOUR from that session. That really floored me.
All in all, I'd say my supply has increased by at least 50% since I started with the oatmeal. I went from bringing home about 10 ounces, to now bringing home around 15 ounces, and today I may actually do more than that.
I am told the "maple syrup" flavoring actually does come from fenugreek – but I highly doubt that is what helped my supply if taking bottle fulls of the fenugreek caplets wasn't really helping.
Those with supply issues – Try oatmeal!!!! Our pediatrician even told me that real oatmeal cookies will work just as well, so that's a great excuse to eat cookies!
September 7th, 2008
Reverse Cycling: an Evil Monkey Wrench
So, when I wrote my oh-so-controversial booklet on the sleep techniques we used to get Jonas sleeping through the night, I guess there was one major thing I hadn't accounted for.
No, I still don't believe that a good schedule and some tried and true techniques won't get a normal baby sleeping in a normal situation. That part I still believe. We had Jules sleeping through at about 8 weeks old too. Awesome. So, I don't really get why it's so hard for some other babies. Call me naive, or just lucky, but my kids like schedules – and according to the other books, my kids are pretty normal in that respect. Some of my Meetup mommy-friends had luck with the same exact books/techniques I used and swear by them, just like I do.
So kid #2 was sleeping just like kid #1, enforcing what I had believed (and experienced) to be true….. but then……..but then…. I went back to work. Not only that, I was still breastfeeding so there began the working and pumping. And because of those two new factors, I was introduced to this horrible little thing called "reverse cycling." **shudder**
Oh, what wretched, wretched person invented that phenomena? Reverce cycling – for those of you who have never had to leave your poor little baby at just 3 months old to return to work and pump milk out of your boobs all day to feed him – occurs when a breastfed baby reverses their feeding schedule so they can breastfeed at night because they're not able to breastfeed during the day. Even though they may be eating during the day, some babies prefer the boob and will stay awake all night long to get it.
I went from having a baby who slept 9 pm to 6 am straight, to having a baby who goes down at 9, only to wake up every 2 hours to eat all night long. These days we're lucky to get 2 hours… usually it's less than that.
I'm quite sure I'm being punished for something. Perhaps it was my bravado about my kids' awesome sleep habits? Or maybe the god's are punishing me for working outside the home AND going to school at night when I should really be a stay-at-home taking care of my wee babies? ("like I have a choice you jerky gods.. cut me a break!")
Reverce Cycling. This will have to go into the apology portion of the revised edition to my sleep booklet. Tell me other Working and Pumping moms – how do you stay sane?
August 28th, 2008
Try to explain “pumping” to a guy…..
A real life conversation had between me and one of my guy-friends over IM today.
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Guy_Friend (3:01:06 PM): I’m sleepy…
Guy_Friend (3:01:24 PM): sleepy
ME (3:04:51 PM): don't talk to me about sleepy….. I haven't slept in weeks.
Guy_Friend (3:05:37 PM): oh? so restless baby this time?
ME (3:16:27 PM): no. it's not the baby's fault… it's too complicated to explain to a person without breasts, but suffice to say that because I'm breastfeeding, I need to be up all night long pumping, otherwise I will dry up, and that would be very bad.
Guy_Friend (3:17:45 PM): you had to rub my breastlessness in my face, didn't you? you really know how to hurt a guy…
ME (3:22:58 PM): I'll gladly give you mine if you don't mind staying up All NIGHT LONG to attend to them and their milk-making-ness.
Guy_Friend (3:23:16 PM): yeah, I wouldn't want them for the milk.
Guy_Friend (3:23:47 PM): but I would "attend to them"
ME (3:24:11 PM): mine are completely utilitarian now. Nothing "fun" about them anymore
Guy_Friend (3:24:41 PM): I'm so disillusioned
Guy_Friend (3:24:59 PM): I like cows milk, by the way. goes great with cereal.
ME (3:25:10 PM): so does human milk!
Guy_Friend (3:25:26 PM): I thought you said it had a cantelope taste
Guy_Friend (3:25:36 PM): that does not sound good with cheereos
ME (3:25:44 PM): mmmmm… more like milk after the cereal is leftover… sugary milk.
Guy_Friend (3:26:10 PM): oooh. that would be awsome in coffee
ME (3:26:31 PM): well, I have none to spare, otherwise I'd give you some for your coffee…. perhaps when my supply returns to normal.
Guy_Friend (3:27:46 PM): how much does your baby consume? you make it sound like you produce gallons and gallons…
ME (3:29:12 PM): I WISH! He eats about 16 ounces while I'm at work. Now I'm only pumping about 10-12 ounces during the day, which leaves a deficit. Being away from him is causing my "factory" to slow down. So, I have to stay up pumping all night long while he's either asleep, or pump one breast while he's eating on the other side. My whole goddamn life is about pumping now.
ME (3:30:14 PM): SO – even if he sleeps all night long… I CAN'T, because if I don't get up to pump, I won't have enough food for him during the day, and also, because it's a supply/demand situation, I'll dry up even more if I'm not telling my body to MAKE more by removing what is there.. if that makes any sense.
Guy_Friend (3:30:46 PM): yup
Guy_Friend (3:31:05 PM): you need another breast or two to get ahead of this
ME (3:31:37 PM): Indeed, I do. so…. next time you're complaining about being sleepy, just remember that you didn't have to get up 3 times during the night to pump milk out of your mammary glands.
August 28th, 2008
Countdown to an Illness…
I am wrecked today, and you're going to hear about it. Not having any sleep in 3 weeks (or 3 years essentially) has seriously caught up to me.
I go to sleep at midnight-ish. Not getting home from class until 11:15 makes it impossible to go to bed any sooner than that. I say Hi to John, pump, and pass out. I'm up at 2 feeding and pumping. I'm back asleep at 2:30. Then I'm up at 4, back asleep at 4:30. Then up at 6, and up for the day. No chance for naps between work and school.
So let's total that up:
12-2, 2:30-4, 4:30-6 = 5 hours total a night.
That's actually more than I thought I was getting, considering I feel like I'm going to fall out of my chair today. However human beings need more than 5 INTERRUPTED hours of sleep a day.
Right now I have a fever-like ickiness about me, and I can't seem to function. My milk supply is in the toilet, and not getting any sleep is not helping the situation.
But, there's nothing that can be done. I have to be up all night feeding/pumping. Even when Jules slept through the night over the weekend, I still had to get up to pump to a.) keep my supply up and b.) relieve the painful engorgement. I don't pump enough milk at work to get Jules through a day, so I have to pump every time I feed him too. Otherwise, no lunch for Julesy.
Today is one of those bad days where I wanna cry but I'm just too tired. I'm quite sure I'll be coming down with some sort of sickness pretty soon, and I'm using tiny bit of energy I do have to tell myself not to stress about the measely 7 ounces I've pumped so far today. If anyone has any magical solutions for how to sleep while pumping… or how to boost supply even though I'm already taking buckets of fenugreek… lay 'em on me. I'll try anything.
Achhoo! Well….. here we go.
August 26th, 2008
He may have seen me pump one too many times….
I came home tonight and this picture was sitting in our digital camera. I almost peed myself laughing.
Jeeez, I love you Jonas.
