The Trials and Tribulations of Breastfeeding

Okay... I finally get it... I understand why so many women give up on breastfeeding. To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind on several occasions. Fortunately for Connor, his complete distaste for formula has prevented this from becoming a possibility.


The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...

Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.

Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.

Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...

Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs

Sing Along with Connor - 8 weeks old

Connor - 5 weeks, 1 day

Wow it's hard to find time to blog... I've got about 4 entries half completed in draft form that no longer feel applicable.

Today I'm just gonna cheat and upload another video taken on October 19, 2009. Connor sure knows how to keep his daddy entertained.

The Many Faces of Connor - Awake Baby Version - 26 days old

Coming Up for Air

Wow... I think I am finally coming up for air. Connor turned 3 weeks on Sunday and he celebrated this by not needing to cluster feed from midnight to 6 am. Last night he woke every 4 hours for a 30 minute feed... a couple more days of this and I might feel human again.

He is spending more time awake now without immediate needs like feeding or changing. This is Cory's favorite time with him. Right now they are watching the G.I. Joe movie together while Cory explains the psychology of world domination to him. I think Connor may grow up to be a movie critic as he just responded by filling his diaper... the boy is a natural!!

All and all, Connor is a very pleasant baby. He isn't very fussy provided his needs are met. He doesn't like having his diaper changed so he makes a pile of noise when that is happening, but the noise ends as soon as the change is done.

I'm still recovering from the C-section. I have a whole bunch of unrelated ouchies that add up to a whole body hurt... My tummy is still sore to the touch above the incision... my wrist and elbow is sore from holding Connor too much... I twisted my ankle on the stairs resulting in a bruise on the top of my foot and a sore knee... my breasts are tender tender tender from being stretched... I generally have an exhaustion headache but I'm hoping that will end soon.

Emotionally, I am an easy cry... it's not all the time, it comes in waves. I think I have a little Post Traumatic Stress from the labour prior to the C-section. I'm sure it will fade in time but for now any memory of the labour sends my anxiety level through the roof. If the Alpha Doctor at Labour and Delivery hadn't told me that I had a very difficult labour, I would feel like a total wuss having this reaction. Instead I just feel like a wuss...

The Many Faces of Connor - 2 weeks, 5 days old

Adventures in Pregnancy - The Final Chapter

Well, I didn't fall off the face of the planet instead I was admitted to the hospital AKA land of no public Internet access...

What a... a.... an... adventure!

We were admitted on the morning of September 10th for our first attempt to induce via Cervadil. This induction is done by the insertion of a "tampon" behind the cervix... it can also be applied by a gel directly to the cervix but if things start to go bad, the gel is almost impossible to get out...

The first day, we had some contractions, watched some TV and dilated 1 whole centimetre. At 11 PM, they gave me a sleeping pill and put me to bed.

The next morning, we replaced the Cervadil with a second attempt. At the end of the completely uneventful day, I was rewarded with a total dilation of 2 cms, a sleeping pill and what I didn't realise would be my last good night sleep for.... I guess the rest of my life.

The third morning, we Cervadil'd again. By the end of the day, I was officially 4 cm's dilated which labeled me as being in "active labor". No sleeping pill was offered as I was tending to my contractions... no sleep for either Cory or myself.

At 8 am on the fourth morning, it was decided to further the induction by giving me Pitocin. Hindsight being 20-20, this is probably the moment that my day took a horrible turn. Pitocin takes a woman from zero to 60 in her labor in a blink of an eye. The gentle increase of contraction that makes it manageable doesn't happen. At 8 am, I was 4 cms dilated and by noon I had achieved the full 10 cms. Not bad for 4 hours. During this 4 hour period, I inhaled 7 canisters of Nitrous Oxide (once I discovered that I could not OD on it via trial and error, it was open season on the nitrous).

I have very little recollection of this day. I had to ask Cory if we used any of the Lamaze breathing. His answer was once or twice when we were changing NO2 canisters but basically Lamaze breathing sounded more like Darth Vader as I sucked the life out of the Nitrous.

At noon, they took my nitrous away and I started to push. At 1 PM, the doctor checked the progress and thought at that point that he was capped... which is a nice layman's term for cephalopelvic disproportion... meaning his head was too big for my pelvis. At 2 PM, as I stood on the delivery table shaking in pain... the doctor felt that a C-section was in order. I quickly agreed as I had already mentally begged for a high forceps delivery or a c-section... anything to make this experience end.

Before I could go for my c-section, they had to remove the internal monitor from Connor's head, catheterize me, prep me for the incision. I asked Cory what time it was expecting to hear 11 PM and was floored when he told me it was 2:30 PM. I have no recollection of how I got into the surgical suite. I remember having 3 contractions while being prepped for my epidural. I remember feeling bad that I was blowing my skanky nitrous sucking dry mouth breath at my labor nurse. And then my legs went numb and the pain went away... *sigh*

Cory was invited into the O.R. at this point. At 4:18 PM, Connor was disentangled from my pelvis and entered the world. Cory and Connor left shortly after that while I was stitched up. At 5 PM, I moved to recovery and met my baby for the first time.

Here he is somewhere between 1 hour and 2 hours old...

So this concludes my Adventures in Pregnancy... now we are on to the more exciting... Adventures in Motherhood.

Adventures in Pregnancy - 41 weeks, 4 days

Well it has been a busy 24 hours since my last post...

After my ultrasound appointment yesterday, I popped in the prenatal clinic to schedule my next appointment. The nurses thought I was there for an induction... when I told them that the induction had been vetoed they hesitantly accepted the information, gave me my appointment time for Thursday and I went on my merry way...

At 4 PM, I received a phone call from my main care giver. She had asked the doctor on duty to review my file. He decided based on all the information available that I was probably heading for an induction and the Cervidil should be administered to ripen my cervix sooner as versus later. So he requested that I come in at 8 AM (did you know they still make an 8 am??) for a review and a possible application of the Cervidil gel.

The Cervidil gel needs to be placed behind the cervix where it remains for 12 hours. So we now faced a day (minimum 13 hours) at the hospital without a promise of anything occurring...

Cory lost his mind and began to scrub every surface scrubbable... I found him on his hands and knees scrubbing stains out of the bedroom carpet at 11 o'clock at night. I went to bed... my back was hurting and I just generally felt rough.

We made it to the hospital by 8:15 am. I went to give my urine sample (these people are obsessed with pee) and discovered that I had my "bloody show". I was then placed on the non stress test and, low and behold, I was contracting every 5-7 minutes. A quick cervix check... 75% effaced and 1 cm dilated. So I was sent home to progress.

I was told to come back when the contractions are 3 minutes apart, or my water breaks or I pass a quantity of blood.

Within 2 hours of being home, my contractions measured 2 minutes apart for 30 minutes. Back we went... The magnetic field around the hospital reverted the contractions to 6 minutes, no change in my cervix... and now I am home again... waiting....

My mother had gone home yesterday (5.5 hour drive away) as she had to replenish her medication stocks and had some work to take care of... she is currently breaking land speed records attempting to return... She's approximately 2.5 hours out... I'm confident that she isn't gonna miss a thing...

I guess this adventure is almost over... but lots to relay before it concludes... hoping to give birth before midnight so Connor's birthday will be 09/09/09...

The waiting continues....

Things That Make Me Laugh

Recently, I have found myself spending a copious amount of time at the hospital. Personal entertainment can become challenging when forced into a hurry up and wait situation. So when I discovered this in the washroom, it provided several rounds of discussion. It is the warning label on the package of maternity pads (Maxi Pads with attitude)....

This leads me to wonder... how wide spread is this issue that it required the warning in 4 LANGUAGES?!?! Who are these poor women that would even consider sticking an adhesive to their bruised and battered bits? What was the catalyst to actually have the warning placed on the label?

Too horrible to consider!!

Adventures in Pregnancy - 41 weeks, 3 days

Just got back from my ultrasound to check the fluid levels. Everything is looking great. The technician re-confirmed gender for me. Definitely a boy...

She also took a few new pictures for me... they are actually harder to make out at this point because he is so large... but here they are...