Speak Mom

Lesser of Two Ear-vils.

I didn’t want to put her through surgery. Couldn’t bare the thought. However, the alternative was to not have the surgery done and risk hearing issues, chronic infections and a whole slew of horrors. So, we chose the lesser of two evils.

E had her surgery last Wednesday and let me tell you… I have never been more amazed by a person in my life. We woke her up earlier than usual, denied her of her “breakfast” and dragged her to a doctor’s office filled with screaming children and shockingly bright lighting. She was then taken back into a pre-op room where she was passed around amongst three funny-looking strangers who then took the liberty to poke and prod her while Mommy winced. She remained calm the entire time. In fact, she was smiling and giggling.

When it came time to go back to the OR, she was whisked up and out of my arms by our fabulous nurse (side note: You should take some time to appreciate the hard work and dedication of nurses. Do this because I told you so… oh and because they do the real dirty work and also manage to be the support of patients/families.) and off she went - still, with a smile on her face.

In less than ten minutes (and I am not exaggerating) we were called back to recovery. It was extremely painful to see E crying at the top of her lungs, eyes closed and blood in her ears and on her little hospital gown - BUT - I was able to nurse her right away and within ten minutes, her crying subsided and she was a perfect little snoozer.

When we got home, I was nervous of her reaction once the pain medication wore off and she realized something was different. I was sure she would wake up with the strength of five horses and scream directly at me with a tone that could only say, “How could you do this to me?!?!” This reaction never happened. She was 100% back to her smiley, happy-self as soon as she woke up. We had no issues with her eating, wetting diapers, etc. She was a super star!

Her recovery has been smooth sailing (knock on wood) and so far, she seems to be hearing a bit better as well as sleeping a bit better. I was/am so extremely proud of our little girl. Seven months old and a real tough cookie. Wonder where she gets that from… ;)

*Thank you to my readers who gave me some support regarding this issue. It was so very much appreciated & I will never forget it! My readers rock hard!

You Can Call Me “The Dairy Queen”.

 We’re just approaching our daughter’s 6 months (1/2 Birthday as I like to call it) and I can’t believe I’ve held off from any kind of food this entire time. I have sustained my daughter on breast milk alone for almost an entire 6 months. Something about that is so amazing. Other things about that are just plain nuts.

I remember getting extremely excited when my milk finally came in. I pumped and pumped and pumped until finally, FINALLY there it was! -MILK. No more colostrum, just MILK. I had quite a difficult time getting E to latch while in the hospital, but I figured with the colostrum gone and the milk in, we would get home and have smooth sailing from there. Boy, was I wrong.

We got home for the hospital and nothing had changed for about three or four weeks. She still wasn’t latching and I was insanely sick of pumping. I had milk leaking out in all directions all day long and my middle-of-the-night pumping sessions were driving me up a wall. No matter what I did, she would scream when I tried to get her to latch and I was almost ready to give up. Almost.

Around four weeks of age, little Miss Diva decided she was ready to latch. SUCCESS! And then… the mastitis. I felt like God was playing some kind of cruel joke on me. I just get my daughter to latch and I develop mastitis!?!? Not only was I was leaking milk everywhere, I had a fever, the shakes and severe pain to boot!

We worked our way through that problem and finally established some kind of rhythm. I was finally breastfeeding successful - not without leaking milk through every bra, shirt, tank top - onto every bed sheet, chair, pillow, rug - in the house. My husband and I joked that if forensics were to come in and examine our room with a black light, they’d find milk stains in all sorts of places.

As I mentioned, we are now going on 6 months of no food - just milk - and I have to say, all of the aggravation, disappointments, stained clothing items, etc. was all worth it. I fully intend on nursing my daughter until she is at least a year, but I am amazed that for 6 whole months, my daughter was able to survive from me and me alone. It is such an incredible accomplishment.

I realize that her feedings won’t slow down for a little while yet and I will still be on demand to nurse her or provide her with pumped milk. So until things slow down you can just call me my most favorite nursing nickname, “The Dairy Queen”.

Much Ado About… Well, Nothing, Really.

It only took 5 and 1/2 months, but I finally put my daughter down for bedtime in her crib. 

I assure you, she was not the hold up. I must admit, my own selfish wants/needs were. 

It all started like this…

The last few weeks have been posture torture. You see, my daughter decided to stop enjoying sleep in her bassinet. I figured the only other option since I was nursing and “needed to be close to her” was to let her sleep on my chest. I probably should not have done that, but it helped her sleep and it kept her by my side… or on my side or, well you get the point. 

I was growing more and more uncomfortable and also increasingly more nervous about the prospect of hurting her by accident in our sleep. I needed a solution… and fast. Some people told me to try rice cereal at night, but I had made a vow from the start of my pregnancy that I would exclusively breastfeed until at least 6 months of age (which I found out is the recommended age by the AAP [http://www.aap.org/]). Rice cereal was out of the picture. *SIDE NOTE: I, in no way, shape or form, disagree with giving rice cereal at an earlier age. I believe every parent should parent the way they know best as long as it involves keeping their child safe, loved and as healthy as possible.* I was also told to try a warm, soothing bath and baby massage. We tried that for a week and realized that she was taking well to it, but only sleeping soundly for about an hour afterwards. No help there. Many friends and family members had their own personal advice to give, but I wasn’t really fond of anything until I realized what my husband had suggested to me a few weeks ago… TRY THE CRIB. It was then that I knew that I had to get over my own selfish fears and discomforts and let the girl try out her baby bachelorette pad. 

I had such a difficult time believing she would prefer her crib over her bassinet next to Mommy, but the more research I did online, the more I realized my husband was probably right. She was ready even though I was not. 

After a long talk with myself in the mirror, which involved a lot of “you can do it”s, I sucked it up and declared that last night would be the night. We would put our daughter in her crib for bedtime for the very first time. 

And………………………….. 

(I know… the suspense is killing you)

After checking on her or sending my husband to check on her about a million times… 

(Still there?!?!)

SHE SLEPT!!! She slept the most I believe she has slept in one night. She was a happier baby because of it, too. And although I hate to admit this for sense of guilt; I was a happier Mommy. 

On top of everything else, I felt SO proud of her! I didn’t think I could feel so proud of an infant. You would think she came home from school and said she scored a 1600 - er - whatever the heck a perfect score is now - on the SAT’s. 

As nerve wracking and as sad as it had made me to think of “letting her go”, I realize it was only the first of many, many more times to come that my daughter was trying to tell me that she was ready and that I was worrying about, well… nothing.     :)