little feet, big sky

I haven’t made it to a La Leche League meeting yet, but I hope to hit one in the Hollywood area within the next month. In the meantime, I’ve been getting my fill of breastfeeding stories from The Breastfeeding Cafe by Barbara L. Behrmann.

They say the best things for a new mother starting out breastfeeding is the help of a good lactation consultant and the support of other breastfeeding mothers. While there’s no replacing the lactation consultant, I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to nurse, whether you’re lacking in breastfeeding companions or not.

The stories are both humorous and heartwarming, poignant and rousing. There’s the story of Savannah (pg. 86), born with a traumatic skin condition, being sustained on donated breast milk for the first year of her life to receive the proper antibodies. There’s the frustrating story from Susan in St. Louis (pg. 114) who had to argue with her pediatrician over proper treatment for her & her son over a case of thrush. And, my favorite, the incredible, heartmelting story from Anjelina in Washington (pg. 283) about weaning and what to do with the last stash of breastmilk in the freezer.

I know that for some things in life, you can never be fully prepared until it happens, but that never stops me from trying to find out as much as I can well in advance. I have a few “informational” breastfeedings books, about technique, recognizing problems, etc., but wanted more exposure to other womens’ personal experiences. I know very few breastfeeding mothers offline, and The Breastfeeding Cafe has been a great read in being honest about frustrations, challenges, joys and rewards of breastfeeding your child.

• Buy The Breastfeeding Cafe on Amazon. $15.
• Check out the companion site, breastfeedingcafe.com.
• Read the book review from La Leche League.
• Find out more about breastfeeding or find a local meeting through La Leche League.

I had another appointment with our midwife yesterday morning. (We’re setup for appointments every two weeks now.) Everything looked good, so yay! She said that she started to get tired and heavy around this time, too. She guess-timates that the baby is about five pounds about now, give or take a bit, which is pretty good for 34 weeks. I’ve been cleared for visiting my mother up in NorCal next week, and I’ll probably drive up, taking breaks along the way. (I hate to fly these days, the way TSA is.)

I finally got around to ordering the birth tub yesterday. Today, it’s Errand Day, picking up groceries (as I’m finally tired of eating out) and picking up birth supplies from a list the midwife gave. And I absolutely have to call pediatricians today to set up some interview appointments.

And that’s it. I’m sure by the time I’ve done that, gotten home, put away groceries, made dog food and done a load of laundry, I’ll be wiped out. I’ll have just enough energy to make some rice & curry, or pasta-something for dinner and will crash shortly after. *sigh* Nothing to be done about it, I guess – this is what the end of pregnancy looks like: a messy house, lists of things to do and one tired lady who look like she swallowed a watermelon whole, passed out on the couch.

I happened to be at one of these new-fangled L.A. tech social events recently, Lunch 2.0, hosted at Yahoo! in Burbank and was totally tickled pink to see this in their vast parking structure, directly across from the elevators.

I have been soooo tired this week. I haven’t gotten much done in the grand scheme of things, but I’m still so tired and sleeping a lot. Well, alright, not quite sleeping, but lying down. I feel like I weigh a ton and dragging that weight around is what’s wearing on me. Bleah-bleah.

And, of course, there’s still so much to do. I have a laundry list a mile long for things to do in the next month before the baby comes. I haven’t even started looking for a pediatrician yet, and that alone has me in a panic, as I’m sure some of the ones I’m considering have rules about only taking new clients they’ve met while still pregnant. I wanted to take an infant CPR course, too. I still haven’t ordered the birth tub, and I should call to set up the diaper service soon.

I guess I should focus on the things I have gotten done already. :-) I have the car seat & stroller, and have tested setting it up in the car so I know how it all works. Have the bassinet set up and ready, have 0-3 & 3-6 months clothing appropriate for the middle of summer ready (not yet washed, though). Have the home birth kit as requested by our midwife, have made arrangements with our doula, and have diapers on hand. Umm.. god, it feels like I have should have more to list in the “Done” section, but I’m drawing a blank right now.

*sigh* Okay. There went the last of my energy for the hour, usefully spent on typing up a blog post. Time to nap. :-)

The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears is, by far, my favorite book to refer to during pregnancy. It’s broken out by month, and covers what to expect roughly each month. Of course, pregnancy is not textbook, so there’s a lot of wiggle room between what’s covered this month and what I’m experiencing, but it’s close enough. (And the index at the back is quite thorough for looking up something specific when you need it.)

I love that the Sears mentality and “voice” in this book (and their entire library) is so non-judgemental, for a book catering to natural pregnancy. The material is relevant to home, hospital and birth center births, and you get the feeling that they are genuinely after what is best for a healthy mother and baby. Everything is covered in here, from diet and nutrition, to exercise and emotional support. I had really painful leg cramps at night for a while and was able to look it up in the index, read through suggested diet changes and some stretching exercises and haven’t suffered from it since. (The trick is to slowly and gently flex your foot so your toes are pointing at you; something I can even do half asleep now if I feel a cramp coming on!)

Honestly, this book puts “What to Expect…” to shame. If you know someone newly pregnant, give them this book instead. :-)

Finally made it back to prenatal yoga this morning. :-) Have been putting it off like a slob, and as I’ve noticed more aches and pains over the past couple of weeks, I realized I had to start doing something about it now before it turns into a colossal problem later.

Overall, it was so worth it, because I met another expecting mom who was planning a homebirth, too! It’s amazing, because out of the entire prenatal class, the instructor had commented privately to me that I was the only homebirth in the class. The others were all planning hospital births, planned medication and even planned inductions. Wow. I always thought yoga would attract the more hippie types, but I guess not! So it was nice to catch up with this random, normal non-hippie woman who was also working on a home birth with midwives & a doula. We chatted for a bit and swapped email addresses to keep in touch. :-)

My local yoga place is adding another prenatal class midweek in the evenings, and I vow to go to that one, too. Two days at week. I’m also planning on getting an elliptical here at home to work out on daily. Hopefully, more exercise will take care of my increasing back tension and will give me more energy. Hopefully!

A few reasons to love maternity jeans:

• No need to loosen your belt after a meal.
• No need to even wear a belt!
• Never having to worry that your fly is down.
• If you’re wearing a full panel, not having to worry that your crack is showing!
• Being stylish even when “fat” and bloated in slimfit preggo jeans and a glam top.

Sure, there are expensive maternity jeans out there, but honestly – a good pair of jeans can last you years, right? So why spend crazy money on a single pair of maternity jeans when you’re going to wear them for maybe 9 months in total? I LIVE in jeans, so I figured I’d go for a fairly cheap pair or two, and have money left over for mix and match tops. The other trick is to find sale stuff at the more expensive maternity stores; I was lucky enough to find a Liz Lange store that was closing down.

My maternity wardrobe:

• 1 pair of Secret Fit jeans [Mimi Maternity, $80]
• 4 stretchy tank tops [Old Navy Maternity, $10/ea]
• 2 short sleeved tees [Old Navy Maternity, $13/ea]
• 2 long sleeved tees [Old Navy Maternity, $13/ea]
• 3 silk-cashmere halter sweater tops [Liz Lange Maternity, $140 ea, on sale $20/ea]

My new car came on Saturday! I had bought it though carsdirect.com and it was so easy and hassle-free. I know, I know – I must sound like an ad! :-) I’d started with emailing dealers to find out if they had the one I wanted in stock, with a certain color and a few options, and they kept replying with slightly vague answers, usually implying they had it in stock when they didn’t, in a effort to get me to walk in to their dealership. Ugh, so annoying.

So I filled out the form on carsdirect to have someone call me back and dealt with one incredibly helpful, mindful person from the first ring to the day it was delivered. The car I wanted was just coming into port, so he put me in touch with one person at the dealership it was being sent to and that guy was the one who personally drove the car to our house, let us drive it around the neighborhood, walked through signing the paperwork with us (a 5-minute process), and then spent another 15 minutes in the car with me, walking me through all the features & settings. He was in and out in an hour and I had a shiny new car. :-) I just can’t imagine buying a car the “old” way now.

I was about halfway through Tina Cassidy’s Birth when I stopped, slipped in a bookmark and put the book away.

I’ve been reading for over the past year like the information whore I am, and I’ve reached my saturation point. Where before I’ve been happy to gobble up new information, research, tips and theories, I guess I’m at a stage in my pregnancy where I’m starting to believe that from here on out, it’s how I feel about things rather than what the numbers say. I’m trusting more in how I feel when it comes to eating, sleeping and moving around. I’ve stopped calorie-counting to make sure I’m eating enough because I was previously worried about not gaining enough, and I’m so much happier for it. I don’t keep junk food in the house other than tortilla chips and some trashy chocolate and I have this rule that if I want cookies, I have to make ‘em myself. :-) I’ve stopped counting how many hours I sleep at night and don’t begrudge myself the occasional afternoon lie-down.

I’m nervous about saying this, because I’m sure there are others out there that will read this and say, “Hey, that sounds good, I’m going to stop reading up more on childbirth.” Please, please – keep reading until you’re genuinely sick of it. :-) When other parents remark on how confident and comfortable I seem for a first-time future mom, I can’t help think it’s thanks to all the books I’ve read and stuff I’ve learned. I loved what I read in Birth so far, but the more I fixate on how much as gone wrong in the history of pregnant women, the more depressing my own outcome seemed. Maybe I’ll pick it up again in the coming months, but if not, I know I’ll finish it later.

I hadn’t even thought of this, but it’s another reason I’m skipping the classic doctor-hospital route and happy for a midwife-assisted homebirth:

Pregnant women are more likely to catch the flu and become very sick, which can cause pregnancy problems. Pregnant women go to the doctor’s office a lot for regular check ups (can’t they get some new magazines in the waiting room, already?) which means they won’t be able to stay home and avoid people who may have the flu.

- From APHA’s Get Ready for Flu Blog