I have wanted to tandem nurse since I started having kids, but the opportunity didn't work out when I had my 2 close together in 05/06 because my 05 baby quit nursing before I was ready. My 20 month old quit when I was about 15 weeks and the milk ran out, but after a few days picked back up nursing or at least suckling once a day. Then when the colostrum came in he was all over that at about 27 weeks. People kept saying that I should wean him, but I didn't and I have been so glad about that over the last month. Baby was born on the first and by the time she was 8 hours old I had done my first tandem feed (since she was born at midnight. ;).
My toddler has been so helpful in keeping my boobs from being overfull as I am an over producer. He nurses 1-3 times a day and fusses when I pump instead of nurse him. While I still choke and gag the baby with over-active let down, I must say she is handling it very well as compared to the other kids. I would let the others nurse to help empty my boob and as they had the desire to suck still and then they would spit up a ton. Having a toddler to empty my milk once or twice a day has made this a very easy transition.
So I just wanted to say how much I am loving tandem nursing the two little ones and I love that it seems so normal and comfortable. And because I still overproduce milk I hope to donate the frozen breast milk to a baby needing some. I have about 50 oz frozen even after nursing 2. ;)
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Gone
Well we left Tony on post this afternoon for him to head off to Afghanistan. He had to work this morning so I got the kids ready and we waited for him to come home. Then we hung out for about 45 minutes before loading everyone up to go get the "last meal". Tony wanted Wendy's so we had to go all the way to Lakewood since we had to take him to post at noon. When we got there they formed up and accounted for all those leaving today. I must say how sexy I find it when he's one of the soldiers walking around on the outside of the formation instead of in the formation like in the past. ;)
After that they had weapons draw and then were released until 1500. Being that it was only noon and we hadn't planned to be there long I opted for the kids and I to go ahead a leave him there and go home. I had wanted to see him get on the bus, but since he couldn't leave the area to go far there would have been nothing to do but either sit in the car or wander around outside in the cold. Tony let each of the boys hold his weapon and then we did the sad goodbye ritual. He hugged and kissed each of the kids before we loaded them into the car. Then we let Zachary take pics of us as we said our "goodbyes". He then teased me as my eyes teared up because I told him I wouldn't cry when I left him. However I have turned much more girly during my last pregnancy than in the past. However I just gave him a smile and I left him. He had already given up his phone's sim card so I can't call or text him. He can contact me through skype with wi-fi eventually.
I then drove the 30 minutes that seemed like forever home. I felt trapped in the car. We went over what Daddy's next steps were in getting to where he's going, but other than that the kids were quiet in the car on the way home. Once we got home I got back to my role of doing laundry and feeding Abbie.
After that they had weapons draw and then were released until 1500. Being that it was only noon and we hadn't planned to be there long I opted for the kids and I to go ahead a leave him there and go home. I had wanted to see him get on the bus, but since he couldn't leave the area to go far there would have been nothing to do but either sit in the car or wander around outside in the cold. Tony let each of the boys hold his weapon and then we did the sad goodbye ritual. He hugged and kissed each of the kids before we loaded them into the car. Then we let Zachary take pics of us as we said our "goodbyes". He then teased me as my eyes teared up because I told him I wouldn't cry when I left him. However I have turned much more girly during my last pregnancy than in the past. However I just gave him a smile and I left him. He had already given up his phone's sim card so I can't call or text him. He can contact me through skype with wi-fi eventually.
I then drove the 30 minutes that seemed like forever home. I felt trapped in the car. We went over what Daddy's next steps were in getting to where he's going, but other than that the kids were quiet in the car on the way home. Once we got home I got back to my role of doing laundry and feeding Abbie.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Week 3
Attempted to post last week but got side tracked. Go figure. ;) Tony and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on the 16th. While it was the boys first day back to school after spring break didn't leave us much time but we were able to go out to lunch with the two little kids while the bigs were at school. We went to Five Guys which is a sandwich place. It was good and we had a nice time out with just the littles. Then we ran some errands in prep of deployment before heading back to grab the boys from school. Then it was also time for Tony to sign back in after his paternity leave.
Tony went back to work on Tuesday so I got a slow ease into getting everyone to school on time. Tony is only on half days though so I haven't had to pick up the boys with both little ones in tow.
Friday we let the boys skip school and we spent the day at the Puyallup fair since it was military get in free day. The boys had fun walking around and looking at the animals. We had lunch and then went into the kids exhibit before more food and heading home. It was a nice day after a day full of forecasted rain.
Today was another amazing day we spent together. Abbie and I ran out this morning for a haircut for me and a quick Walmart run. While walking through Walmart I spotted a good deal on a trampoline. Tony and I had been talking about getting something for the backyard for a while but were mostly thinking swingset. However when I saw the trampoline today I knew that was what would be perfect. I texted Tony the picture and asked what he thought. He agreed that would be perfect so back he went to Walmart after cooking some lunch on the grill. We then spent the afternoon putting together the trampoline which was quite simple. Then it was time to let the boys on. I know Zander isn't too fond of others jumping while he stands there but will let you hold him and jump. However the big boys know what they are doing so they then jumped until dinner and even for a while after dinner. I made lasagna as it was something Tony had requested before he leaves and it was delicious. We came in and bathed all 5 kids before they all passed out from exhaustion. I think the trampoline will help everyone fall asleep faster.
Abbie is doing great. Nursing and growing like a champion. Everywhere we go people tell me how pretty she is. She sleeps great the first stretch of night and then she has a bit of trouble going back to sleep. Zander has been up several nights this week so mommy has been extra tired. Daddy did give me a little extra sleep this morning between feedings, only problem is Abbie likes to cluster feed in the mornings. As of now Tony will leave before the week ends so trying to make the most of his time here. Prayers please for safe travels for him when he does leave.
Today was another amazing day we spent together. Abbie and I ran out this morning for a haircut for me and a quick Walmart run. While walking through Walmart I spotted a good deal on a trampoline. Tony and I had been talking about getting something for the backyard for a while but were mostly thinking swingset. However when I saw the trampoline today I knew that was what would be perfect. I texted Tony the picture and asked what he thought. He agreed that would be perfect so back he went to Walmart after cooking some lunch on the grill. We then spent the afternoon putting together the trampoline which was quite simple. Then it was time to let the boys on. I know Zander isn't too fond of others jumping while he stands there but will let you hold him and jump. However the big boys know what they are doing so they then jumped until dinner and even for a while after dinner. I made lasagna as it was something Tony had requested before he leaves and it was delicious. We came in and bathed all 5 kids before they all passed out from exhaustion. I think the trampoline will help everyone fall asleep faster.
Abbie is doing great. Nursing and growing like a champion. Everywhere we go people tell me how pretty she is. She sleeps great the first stretch of night and then she has a bit of trouble going back to sleep. Zander has been up several nights this week so mommy has been extra tired. Daddy did give me a little extra sleep this morning between feedings, only problem is Abbie likes to cluster feed in the mornings. As of now Tony will leave before the week ends so trying to make the most of his time here. Prayers please for safe travels for him when he does leave.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Week 1
and done. What a wonderful time I've had having this little precious girl. She is absolutely amazing. I didn't know what I was missing out on with only having boys. I wouldn't trade them for anything, but putting Abbie in her dress this morning was so much fun for Tony and I and to pick out her matching bow. She is my best baby so far and I thank God for that because I know I couldn't handle much more than I have going on right now with the 5 kids, my pain issues I am having and the impending deployment.
The big boys just can't ever get enough of Abbie and ask all the time if they can hold her. They don't get to hold her nearly as much as they would like since she's usually sleeping. I try not to disturb her when she is sleeping since I encourage baby sleeping. ;)
Zander however still thinks he should be allowed to nurse every time he sees Abbie nursing and he has been a great help to keeping my engorgement down. I'm still able to pump 8-10 oz every day in addition to nursing 2. I do want to donate milk in the future. Every baby should have access to some boobie milk. :)
Zander for the most part just ignores Abbie and continues doing his naughty things. However he is seeking much more attention from mommy and since I have had a little trouble with excessive pain I'm not able to have him climb around on me all the time.
Today we had a great day spending Easter together as a family. We got up this morning. I made us our usual weekly bacon/egg/cheese breakfast sandwiches/bagels. Then we all got dressed and went to church. We got put in the overflow room, but it worked out wonderfully since we sat with my friend and her boys and then our crew of 5 now. :) The kids did well, but Abbie insisted that she was "bored" and wanted to nurse while we were there. Then we came home and I started our next meal. Ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and green beans with sausage. I napped with Abbie while Zander napped and then we ate together. We still haven't gotten to dye our Easter eggs, but they are boiled just cooling a bit before we start on those this evening.
I am so grateful that Abbie came before Easter so that we all got to spend her first Holiday together as a family.
The big boys just can't ever get enough of Abbie and ask all the time if they can hold her. They don't get to hold her nearly as much as they would like since she's usually sleeping. I try not to disturb her when she is sleeping since I encourage baby sleeping. ;)
Zander however still thinks he should be allowed to nurse every time he sees Abbie nursing and he has been a great help to keeping my engorgement down. I'm still able to pump 8-10 oz every day in addition to nursing 2. I do want to donate milk in the future. Every baby should have access to some boobie milk. :)
Zander for the most part just ignores Abbie and continues doing his naughty things. However he is seeking much more attention from mommy and since I have had a little trouble with excessive pain I'm not able to have him climb around on me all the time.
Today we had a great day spending Easter together as a family. We got up this morning. I made us our usual weekly bacon/egg/cheese breakfast sandwiches/bagels. Then we all got dressed and went to church. We got put in the overflow room, but it worked out wonderfully since we sat with my friend and her boys and then our crew of 5 now. :) The kids did well, but Abbie insisted that she was "bored" and wanted to nurse while we were there. Then we came home and I started our next meal. Ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and green beans with sausage. I napped with Abbie while Zander napped and then we ate together. We still haven't gotten to dye our Easter eggs, but they are boiled just cooling a bit before we start on those this evening.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The kids could feel it in the air before I knew what was coming. ;)
Abigail Katherine made her grand appearance just after midnight on April 1st. Quite the little jokester she is. I said she could be born as early as midnight on April 1st and well she barely held out. I wanted a little April baby and I got one by a few short minutes.
I say the kids knew it first because they all seemed to have a behavior change last week. Zander started being clingy and the others started being unruly. I didn't know why until Saturday morning when I woke up. I laid there and nursed Zander like every other morning. Contractions started while he nursed which had been common all week. Most days contractions died out before I even got the kids to school. However this day they didn't seem to stop. We got up, I made breakfast and then we all got ready to leave the house. While we had been planning a homebirth for a while now I didn't think she would be born during week 38 since everyone else was born during week 39, so I had put off the final parts for our homebirth like the hose, sink connector, and mattress cover. We leave and go to Lacey (about 30 minutes away) start out at home depot to get our hose and sink connector. Walking through the Home Depot store I continue to have contractions. I hadn't really timed them, but they are never more than 5 minutes apart. Then we run over to the dollar store and the bread store since we're all the way in Lacey. I run in both places.
I decide that I don't want to come sit at home and labor. I had already done most of the last minute cleaning that I needed to do. I had cleaned the bathrooms, done a few loads of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen before we left. We ended up at target. We walked around looking for a little bit, but walking wasn't comfortable. I knew the contractions were pretty real by this point and weren't going to stop. I also started losing my mucous plug during one of my many bathroom trips in the Target. Wandering around became less fun so I said it was time to go. We went across the street and got Tony and the kids some food before heading home. Contractions hung at around 4 minutes apart all the way home. We got home and I continued on the remaining of my chores that I wanted done before the baby was born. Changed the sheets, made the bed, put together the fan that we got (since we didn't have one and I hadn't met up with anyone that I was going to borrow from) and continued on with my laundry. The more I did the closer contractions were, but I was still able to move through them. Finally mid afternoon I went to hang out in the bath tub to kill some time until April 1st. I stayed in there for about 2 hours while turning prunish. I then got out and being exhausted decided I would try to lay down. I laid there for a bit, but contraction weren't going to stop and continued to be 4 minutes apart while resting and on top of each other when I wasn't resting.
I ended up spending the next few hours watching TV. I contacted the midwife around dinner time to tell her that we were going to have a baby at midnight and if she would like she could show up for the gig. ;) I had texted her earlier in the day to let her know that I was contracting and had been for a few hours and that we could be having a baby that night.
Midwife arrived shortly after we put the kids to bed and started getting things set up. Zander had a hard time going to bed so Tony sat and rocked him a bit while the midwife, the assistant and the doula hung out up stairs preparing the room for birth. Zander finally went down quite reluctantly as if he knew what was going to happen to him. I continued to change positions to deal with the contractions that were pretty close together. The midwife got the tub set up and filled so that when I was ready I could get in. I watched the clock waiting for as close to midnight before I got in. They finally suggested that I get in, and that they would step out of the room for a little bit. Tony laid on the bed and I got in the tub. We hung out watching friends for a while before the others joined us back in the room. Unlike all my other labors having people apply pressure to my hips in different way during contractions helped take my focus off the contractions so every few minutes someone would have to apply different pressure to me.
Tony was my usual preference because I wanted to include him more than I had before during my other labors, but I was determined to tolerate this one better. I think it surprised him that I was dealing as well as I was which I think the best part was that I was able to do whatever I wanted that made me feel more comfortable.
Finally I was beginning transition. I was fearful to give into the desire to push because I knew that there was no going back and that baby would be coming out and that hurts. ;) I finally let my body do it on it's own because the midwife said I didn't have to push and I could rock the baby out as I needed and that whether I pushed or not she would come down and out on her own. I have never felt baby descend before during transition because I don't think I've ever focused so much on getting through them than just the ouch factor. Not saying that it wasn't horribly painful and I kept repeating that I was never doing this again (which I have said with delivery of Zavier and Zander ;).
Baby was finally down to the point where the only thing to get it over with was deliver her. I asked that Tony trade places with someone so that he didn't have to watch me push as it was not something he wanted to see. He wasn't leaving the room just not standing over me any more applying pressure during contractions. I pushed a few times and tried to not push at the same time and out came her head. Then it seemed like forever before the next contraction to deliver her shoulders and the rest of her. I delivered her on my knees facing the side of the tub so the midwife caught her and I lifted my leg over her to pull her out of the water. She had her cord around the back of her neck and around her arms, but not the front of her neck. This made it seem like the cord was quite short and so I had to lift myself up to get the cord unwrapped from her. I did then ask if anyone had seen that she was really a girl. And we turned her over so that we could check and she was still a girl.
The other thing that was nice during this delivery is that my cervix was never checked until I asked. I was totally allowed to go with what my body was doing on its own. I did have the midwife check me as I was preparing to push just to be sure I wasn't going to cause any damage to myself by allowing my body to push on its own. But it didn't really matter at that point as baby was out in about 5 minutes.
I did also ask after the head was out for someone to pull out the rest of the baby. It really did seem like forever before the next contraction came so that I could get her out. However no one did and I had to just wait. ;)
We sat in the tub for several minutes while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. However I was ready to move on so the midwife cut the cord from the placenta and said when I contracted I could push and I did and it popped right out. They put it in a bowl and removed it from the tub. I then said I was ready to get out so I passed the baby off to Tony and got some Tylenol before I would leave the tub as after pains are almost just as painful as contractions. I got up and rinsed off in the shower while Tony hung out with baby. Then I got into our bed and laid there until Abbie was ready to nurse which wasn't long. Tony brought her over and we started nursing. She nursed for a bit while the midwife filled out some paperwork and the assistant and doula started on draining the pool and clean up.
The midwife came back upstairs to check baby and take measurements. Abbie peed on the scale when the midwife went to weigh her. She weighed 7lbs 11oz. The midwife had asked me what I thought she weighed and I guessed 8lbs so not far off. The midwife thought she would weigh a bit more, but she weighed her twice. She measured her head and a few other body parts and then her length. She was 19 3/4 inches. Daddy diapered her and then mommy dressed her and then I just laid in the bed holding her. I finally got up again to go to the bathroom so that the midwife could prepare to leave. Baby was good and mommy was good and daddy was good.
The midwife offered to hang if we wanted because Abbie's breathing was on the high end of normal, but I felt comfortable enough with Abbie that I said she could go. The midwife was staying in Yelm that night so I knew she wouldn't be far away if we changed our minds. We didn't and Abbie had a great first night getting plenty of sleep. Mommy only slept for about 2 hours because it is just hard to sleep after having a baby. Tony grabbed about 4 hours before the boys got up for the day.
We did wake Zachary up after everything was cleaned up so that he could meet Abbie since before he went to bed he said he wanted to. We didn't offer it to anyone else since Zayden shares a room with Zander and I wasn't waking up Zander. ;)
Zavier was the first one up the next morning and I asked him if he wanted to come see Abbie. He wouldn't come close and instead left to "go back to sleep". He didn't he just came in later. Tony went to get Zander once he woke up. He was quite shocked to come in and find his baby sister nursing, he didn't like it and instantly reached down to take the boob out of her mouth. Then he just stared at her. Then when I put her back on the boob he got the other one and then he wouldn't look at her at all. Tony then took Zander and changed and dressed him for the day. Zander came back a few times to check out Abbie. Tony then took all the kids down stairs to feed them while Abbie and I took a nap.
I say the kids knew it first because they all seemed to have a behavior change last week. Zander started being clingy and the others started being unruly. I didn't know why until Saturday morning when I woke up. I laid there and nursed Zander like every other morning. Contractions started while he nursed which had been common all week. Most days contractions died out before I even got the kids to school. However this day they didn't seem to stop. We got up, I made breakfast and then we all got ready to leave the house. While we had been planning a homebirth for a while now I didn't think she would be born during week 38 since everyone else was born during week 39, so I had put off the final parts for our homebirth like the hose, sink connector, and mattress cover. We leave and go to Lacey (about 30 minutes away) start out at home depot to get our hose and sink connector. Walking through the Home Depot store I continue to have contractions. I hadn't really timed them, but they are never more than 5 minutes apart. Then we run over to the dollar store and the bread store since we're all the way in Lacey. I run in both places.
I decide that I don't want to come sit at home and labor. I had already done most of the last minute cleaning that I needed to do. I had cleaned the bathrooms, done a few loads of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen before we left. We ended up at target. We walked around looking for a little bit, but walking wasn't comfortable. I knew the contractions were pretty real by this point and weren't going to stop. I also started losing my mucous plug during one of my many bathroom trips in the Target. Wandering around became less fun so I said it was time to go. We went across the street and got Tony and the kids some food before heading home. Contractions hung at around 4 minutes apart all the way home. We got home and I continued on the remaining of my chores that I wanted done before the baby was born. Changed the sheets, made the bed, put together the fan that we got (since we didn't have one and I hadn't met up with anyone that I was going to borrow from) and continued on with my laundry. The more I did the closer contractions were, but I was still able to move through them. Finally mid afternoon I went to hang out in the bath tub to kill some time until April 1st. I stayed in there for about 2 hours while turning prunish. I then got out and being exhausted decided I would try to lay down. I laid there for a bit, but contraction weren't going to stop and continued to be 4 minutes apart while resting and on top of each other when I wasn't resting.
I ended up spending the next few hours watching TV. I contacted the midwife around dinner time to tell her that we were going to have a baby at midnight and if she would like she could show up for the gig. ;) I had texted her earlier in the day to let her know that I was contracting and had been for a few hours and that we could be having a baby that night.
Midwife arrived shortly after we put the kids to bed and started getting things set up. Zander had a hard time going to bed so Tony sat and rocked him a bit while the midwife, the assistant and the doula hung out up stairs preparing the room for birth. Zander finally went down quite reluctantly as if he knew what was going to happen to him. I continued to change positions to deal with the contractions that were pretty close together. The midwife got the tub set up and filled so that when I was ready I could get in. I watched the clock waiting for as close to midnight before I got in. They finally suggested that I get in, and that they would step out of the room for a little bit. Tony laid on the bed and I got in the tub. We hung out watching friends for a while before the others joined us back in the room. Unlike all my other labors having people apply pressure to my hips in different way during contractions helped take my focus off the contractions so every few minutes someone would have to apply different pressure to me.
Tony was my usual preference because I wanted to include him more than I had before during my other labors, but I was determined to tolerate this one better. I think it surprised him that I was dealing as well as I was which I think the best part was that I was able to do whatever I wanted that made me feel more comfortable.
Finally I was beginning transition. I was fearful to give into the desire to push because I knew that there was no going back and that baby would be coming out and that hurts. ;) I finally let my body do it on it's own because the midwife said I didn't have to push and I could rock the baby out as I needed and that whether I pushed or not she would come down and out on her own. I have never felt baby descend before during transition because I don't think I've ever focused so much on getting through them than just the ouch factor. Not saying that it wasn't horribly painful and I kept repeating that I was never doing this again (which I have said with delivery of Zavier and Zander ;).
Baby was finally down to the point where the only thing to get it over with was deliver her. I asked that Tony trade places with someone so that he didn't have to watch me push as it was not something he wanted to see. He wasn't leaving the room just not standing over me any more applying pressure during contractions. I pushed a few times and tried to not push at the same time and out came her head. Then it seemed like forever before the next contraction to deliver her shoulders and the rest of her. I delivered her on my knees facing the side of the tub so the midwife caught her and I lifted my leg over her to pull her out of the water. She had her cord around the back of her neck and around her arms, but not the front of her neck. This made it seem like the cord was quite short and so I had to lift myself up to get the cord unwrapped from her. I did then ask if anyone had seen that she was really a girl. And we turned her over so that we could check and she was still a girl.
The other thing that was nice during this delivery is that my cervix was never checked until I asked. I was totally allowed to go with what my body was doing on its own. I did have the midwife check me as I was preparing to push just to be sure I wasn't going to cause any damage to myself by allowing my body to push on its own. But it didn't really matter at that point as baby was out in about 5 minutes.
I did also ask after the head was out for someone to pull out the rest of the baby. It really did seem like forever before the next contraction came so that I could get her out. However no one did and I had to just wait. ;)
We sat in the tub for several minutes while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. However I was ready to move on so the midwife cut the cord from the placenta and said when I contracted I could push and I did and it popped right out. They put it in a bowl and removed it from the tub. I then said I was ready to get out so I passed the baby off to Tony and got some Tylenol before I would leave the tub as after pains are almost just as painful as contractions. I got up and rinsed off in the shower while Tony hung out with baby. Then I got into our bed and laid there until Abbie was ready to nurse which wasn't long. Tony brought her over and we started nursing. She nursed for a bit while the midwife filled out some paperwork and the assistant and doula started on draining the pool and clean up.
The midwife came back upstairs to check baby and take measurements. Abbie peed on the scale when the midwife went to weigh her. She weighed 7lbs 11oz. The midwife had asked me what I thought she weighed and I guessed 8lbs so not far off. The midwife thought she would weigh a bit more, but she weighed her twice. She measured her head and a few other body parts and then her length. She was 19 3/4 inches. Daddy diapered her and then mommy dressed her and then I just laid in the bed holding her. I finally got up again to go to the bathroom so that the midwife could prepare to leave. Baby was good and mommy was good and daddy was good.
The midwife offered to hang if we wanted because Abbie's breathing was on the high end of normal, but I felt comfortable enough with Abbie that I said she could go. The midwife was staying in Yelm that night so I knew she wouldn't be far away if we changed our minds. We didn't and Abbie had a great first night getting plenty of sleep. Mommy only slept for about 2 hours because it is just hard to sleep after having a baby. Tony grabbed about 4 hours before the boys got up for the day.
We did wake Zachary up after everything was cleaned up so that he could meet Abbie since before he went to bed he said he wanted to. We didn't offer it to anyone else since Zayden shares a room with Zander and I wasn't waking up Zander. ;)
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