oooo the dreams

Well so far everything around here has been good. For some reason, I've gotten the urge to cook, so Jason and Brooke have been enjoying warm meals every night, which makes them happy LOL.

My doctor's appt is on Feb. 3rd, much too far away in my opinion. So far I have had a queasy stomache, but morning sickness has shown me mercy at this point. I have felt more tired and for some reason more prone to headaches. I also have to pee more often, and I am already getting up in the night to use the bathroom.

I still keep having a recurring dream that I give birth to twin girls. And today, my neighbor's goat gave birth to twins. Is this a sign, I wonder? I  posted pics, and pics of Brooke being silly. Lately she has been a blessing, always in a good mood and doing silly things to make me smile through my fatigue and headaches.  She's also more playful with her father, and much more interested in books. I swear, she brings me 15 books a day to read, and literally laughs when I put her in my lap to read them to her. She's also sleeping better.

After my doctor's appt, Jason and I are going to start calling and interviewing midwives. I want a midwife that I really click with, this is most likely going to be my last pregnancy and birth, so I want everything to go right.

Well, after much deliberation and some conversation with my cousin, I have decided to write a letter to my father. My father has never played a good role in my life, and the last straw occured when he stormed out of my wedding without saying goodbye because he didn't like where he was seated. I've decided to inform him of the pregnancy in this letter, and to tell him exactly what I think of him. Most likely, I won't ever mail it, but it will help to make me feel better. If I do mail it, whatever his reaction will be, I will still feel better because his reaction won't matter, its out of my hands. I'm putting the ball in his court, so to speak.

well, that's pretty much it. I'm off to bed. Ciao!!

very excited

Well everyone around here is really excited about the pregnancy. I go either today or tomorrow to the doctor to confirm it. I've been doing research on midwives, and they are way out of our budget. I have to find out if our insurance covers it, and if they don't, I don't know what we are going to do.

For names, if it is a girl her name will be Summer Judith, with Judith being after my mom. If it's a boy, we're considering the more traditional names, but David and Jacob are our favorites so far, with Jason as a middle name after his father. I keep having dreams that we have twin girls, o my I would go crazy LOL.

So far no morning sickness, but I don't think that will hit me until I am ten weeks along, like last time. No cravings or anything either, except for popsicles. I can't wait to get an official due date. I decided that the blanket I was making will be for the new baby, and I will make Brooke somehting else. I have some other things I want to make for the baby too, and some stuff I want to buy, I can't wait. Ciao!

articles

Does having babies make you smarter? This article says it does. It's hard for me to believe, because often I feel less smart since having Brooke, but like the article says, it must be sleep deprivation.

Brain power boosted by having babies, say Virginia researchers - Blogging Baby

 

 

 

Here's a really cool article on baby wearing.  Although I do have an Ellaroo Wrap for Brooke, we didn't practice baby wearing with her. We are planning to practice it with the new baby though, and I am currently looking for a great sling that would be easy to nurse in.

NewsAdvance.com | Oh, baby!

Here's an article on legislation that is being enacted in Mississippi that would support the rights of breastfeeding mothers.

Bills back moms' right to breastfeed - The Clarion-Ledger

ANNOUNCEMENT

Well, I just took a pregnancy test.....and it came out positive. It still has to be confirmed by a doctor, but I'M PREGNANT AND I AM SO EXCITED!! Scared, worried, but very excited. I can't wait to start planning the birth.

articles

Help to reopen breastfeeding clinics in Canada.

Canadian Jewish News

Article on bills going before the Mississippi Senate.  It would allow women to nurse in public and also allow them some rights in the workplace.

WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Bills Proposed to Support Breast-Feeding Moms

There's a lot in the news today on how breastmilk is contaminated because of things that nursing mother's eat.  It's nice to read an article that looks at the positive studies on this subject.

Health News Article | Reuters.com

Here's an article on how breastfeeding can help combat obesity in later life.

Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk

I've posted this before, but I believe in the importance of safety when co sleeping. Studies have shown co sleeping to be safer and better for the infant's development as long as it is done following certain guidelines:

Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, USA | News

 

Good rest of week

Well now that Brooke and I are fully recovered the week has been good.  Tuesday we went to visit people and went shopping, and I bought Brooke a giant bouncy ball, which she loves.  Thursday we went out to eat with my sister, and yesterday my mom watched Brooke while Jason and I went out for a much needed night of fun.  We went out with my friend Beth and her boyfriend, we went to eat at Applebee's and then went bowling until 1am.  When I got home, Brooke was still awake and my mom said she wouldn't go to sleep, just kept crying and looking for me, poor baby.  But I am still glad I was able to go out, because I was suffering from cabin fever and it felt nice to have my batteries recharged.

Today we are going to the library, food shopping, and to the mall. Jason was going to go over his parent's house for the football game tonight, but got sick. IL's were not happy, I guess they thought Brooke and I were going to be going too, which was not our plan. Oh well.

Well, off to do some cleaning while the monster is napping. Ciao!

update

Well I am finally able to sit up without getting sick, so I thought I would do a little update.

After I posted my last entry, I started taking care of Brooke and trying to get her to keep anything down, as long as it was something.  When I had called the emergency doctor, I had asked her if it would be good to nurse her if she asked. I had already offered, but she didn't want to at the time that I offered. The doctor just said, "you're still nursing? How old is she?" I said, "16 months." Doc: "oh........" and didn't really answer my question. I figured that if she asked I would let her nurse. Well, aft4er an hour of keeping Pedialite down she asked to nurse and I nursed her, which helped her to sleep. Poor baby, she was so miserable and sick.

After a while, I started feeling really queasy myself. I said to DH, "I think I have it too" and then promptly ran to the bathroom and got sick. I was down for the rest of the day. Thank God for DH, he was wonderful!! He took care of everything, Brooke and myself, made us food, gave us our meds, and even cleaned the house. Brooke was still getting sick quite frequently, and he ended up having to change his shirt five times by the end of the day.  The only time he got frustrated was when Brooke and I were getting sick at the same time, I think he got overwhelmed. Other than that, he was a god send.

By 9pm, Brooke stopped finally getting sick and feeling better. BY 10pm, she was cautiously moving around and playing with her toys. I was still sick as a dog though, so I slept alone on the living room floor while Brooke slept with DH. During the night she got sick two more times.

This morning, Jason went to work and my Mom came up to help out. She was also a Godsend. She let me sleep the last of the illness off while she took care of Brooke, because she was still miserable and teething. I woke up an hour ago feeling fine, but I haven't attempted to eat anything yet. Brooke is still really cranky, and doesn't want to eat anything substantial, but is still walking around and nursing and not vomiting, so I think it is finally going to pass us.

Well that was our sick adventure.  The first time my poor Brookie was vomity sick, poor baby.  She was a trooper though, and took her meds every time we offered them.

Well I'm off to lay down and nurse brookie again, and wait for DH to come home. Ciao!!

Co-sleeping saved my daughter's life

At 3:30 am, I was woken up by a feeling of warmth spreading across the back of my shirt. It was from Brooke- she had vomited up everything she had eaten yesterday, including pasta. Somehow, a piece of pasta got lodged in her throat while she was vomiting, and I was able to dislodge it so she could breathe.

Last night was not a good night. Brooke conintued to get sick every half hour for the rest of the night, though each episode was not nearly as bad as the first one. By 9 am, she was pale and lethargic. I called the emergency doctor and because she does not have a fever, they told me not to bring her to the hospital, but instead gave me specific directions involving Pedialyte.  She's doing much better now, and is dutifully taking her medicine. (Except now she just threw up and we have to start over.)

What really gets me is how lucky we were that we co sleep. The sound of her getting sick is not what woke me up - it was the feeling of vomit all over me. If she was alone in the dark in her crib, totally dependent on the monitor to let us know she was in trouble, would I have gotten there in time to dislodge the pasta?

Whenever people find out that we co-sleep, they react in either two ways: they give me looks of sympathy, or they tell me how it is a hard habit to break and that we will regret it when we want her to go to her own bed.  What they don't understand is that for our family, a family bed is not a bad habit that needs to be broken - its a way of life, a choice that we made. Now, when people make comments, I can tell them that "co-sleeping works best for us, and even saved my daughter's life."

I'll update more on Brookie later. Ciao!

fun saturday

Well today was a good day. Jason did overtime, so while he was at worked I cleaned the house and worked on my knitting. I posted a picture of the blanket that I am knitting, and the scarf that I am going to again attempt to knit for my mom.

My cousin and I went to the movies, we saw Memoirs of a Geisha. Very, very good movie, it followed the book well. The only problem was that we got there late and had to sit in the front row. My neck still hurts.

Tomorrow we havw nothing planned. I'll probably just clean and knit. Ciao!

quiet day

Well yesterday was pretty much a quiet day. I did a lot of laundry and cleaning.

Right now I am knitting a baby blanket for Brooke and a scarf for my mom. The scarf is not doing so well, LOL. In fact, last night I started over, for some reason my scarf is looking NOTHING like the picture in the book. I might just make her a regular plain scarf.

The blanket was doing horrendous, but now it's doing great, after I went online for some help. However, I do think that I am also going to start over with the blanket, just because I know I made sooo many mistakes at the beginning, and also because my stitch count is off.

I'm also going to make Jason some matching pillow cases for the blanket Stacie made him, and Brooke a teddy-bear. Man, is it nice to have all this free time now that I am out of school!! Well, there is more laundry to be done and dirty dishes to be washed, so ciao!!!

update

I can't believe how big Brooke is getting.  Each day she continues to amaze me.  She's full of wonder and curiousity.  I took some pics of her at christmas, afterwards, and some pics of her building a tower out of cat food cans LOL.

Our christmas was awesome and so was our new years. For my resolution, I am losing weight and becoming more organized. Jason and I want to start TTC #2, so I want to lose some weight before that happens.

Well not much else has been going on.  I've been looking for nanny jobs, but so far no luck. I think I might get a waitressing job for now just to make some extra cash.  I'll be posting regularly again, so I will post updates.

Ciao!!!

oh my the links....

Well even though I had to stop posting for a while, I did continue to save interesting links to share.  Now I noticed that I have a LOT. So, I'm just going to put them all together in one post. Enjoy!

Here's an article on a bf'ing and attachment parenting friendly business

Offering Holiday Gift Ideas with an Attachment Parenting Flair, Breast Is Best

Excellent article on co-sleeping:

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal ¦ Experts divided on sleeping with infants

Very informative article on reasons why some moms quit breastfeeding

CBS News | Why Some Moms Quit Breastfeeding | December 5, 2005 16:18:29

Interesting article on CIO and Dr. Ferber's recant:

Winston-Salem Journal | Should infants be left alone to cry themselves to slee

Cool article on how more mom's are choosing to stay home with their children:

San Bernardino County Sun - Entertainment

Woman told to stop breastfeeding on plane:

The Eureka Reporter - Article

Ferber recants!!!

Chicago Tribune | `Cry' doctor adjusts advice

Breastfeeding helps mothers with diabetes:

Breastfeeding may be good for mothers, too - Concord Monitor Online - Concord,

Article on Lactivism:

ABC News: Breast-Feeding Moms Take Action

Breast-feeding mothers such as these have held nurse-ins everywhere from Capitol Hill to local merchants to protest restrictions on breast-feeding in public. (Ken Lambert/Washington Times via Newsmakers)

Paltrow blames bf'ing for state of breasts.  Although I admire her commitment to breast feeding, she certainly doesn't put it in the best of light with her statements.

Plastic Paltrow | Movies | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (26-12-2005)

Article on the dangers of increased cesarean rates for low-risk women:

Increased Cesarean Rate for Low-risk Women Contradicts National Goals and Guid

VERY cool article on co-sleeping from a father's perspective.  Very long, but worth the read:

John Seabrook | Stories | Sleeping with the Baby

Here's an article on the new policy in MA where hospitals cannot automatically give moms formula bags.  People seem really angry over this, but what some don't realize is that if the moms request the bags they can still receive them. The hospitals just aren't allowed to automaticallygive them out, so the critics can please CHILL!!

State Politics & Policy | Massachusetts Ends Hospital Gift Bag Programs To Pro

Finally, here's where you can get a beautiful calendar on bf'ing:

The Beauty of Breastfeeding

two more days

Well on wednesday morning I pass in my final paper, and then I am FREE!!! Talk to you then!!!