Wow, I feel so flattered! It has been a really crazy spring/summer. I had a lot of emails asking for more posts, thank you for your interest, I'll try to be better at posting, so here goes.
My last weaning post was about taking care of yourself in the process of weaning, this is more about the baby.
My baby was weaned this week. We are leaving him for a week in July, so it had to be done. Not to mention the fact that I had a clogged duct every week, and I was getting really sick of it. The weaning process took 11 hours. Granted, he is the world's best baby, but he had never accepted a bottle in his life, so I really wondered if it was possible! This was so much easier than I thought it would be. It took hearing the experiences of others before I could finally accept that I wouldn't be nursing this boy until he went to scout camp. I realized that eventually he would get thirsty and have to drink milk from some source other than me.
My sister is here helping me out for awhile. She encouraged me, and told me she would help. That was key. Alone, I wasn't strong enough to hold out when he gave me that look and tugged at my shirt. My sister would take him outside or into another room every time he got that look.
Here is what I did:
11:00 am- last feeding
3:00 pm- rocked him to sleep after spraying milk into his mouth with a bottle. I wore my husbands puffy winter coat so he didn't snuggle up to me, and it didn't smell like me. Fed him lots of solid food throughout the evening.
10:00 pm- After 20 minutes of trying to get him to take the bottle he finally surrendered, latched on, and sucked the bottle inside out.
7:30 am- He woke up and after 10 minutes of trying, he took the bottle. Still wearing my husbands coat :)
11:00 am- My sister gave him the bottle and he took it after around 2 minutes
12:00 am- He took the bottle right away. This was his first bottle of formula, he didn't complain one bit!!!!
So hopefully this post will come in handy for someone else someday. I really needed it, but luckily I had some encouraging stories from friends to give me hope.
Some last pieces of random info that helped me:
-Use hot, fresh breastmilk to simulate nursing as much as possible.
-You need help. Baby knows that you want to nurse him or her, and can smell your milk. You need someone to distract baby so you can get that baby good and thirsty and desperate! And you need the support of others or else it is way too easy to give in.
-My sister-in-law recommended using the Playtex Nurser bottles because they are the most "breast like." I totally think they are. But she also recommended changing bottles until you find one that works.
-I gave my baby a shirt of mine to hold against his face while he took the bottle. But I didn't let him snuggle up to my chest. The winter coat really helped.
Anyone else have any advice? Please share.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
6 Free boxes of cereal
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Open Forum- Getting your baby to sleep!
I have had a lot of questions about how to get baby to sleep, nap, etc. I don't have all the answers as each child is so different. Share what worked/didn't work for you with your babies. You can do it anonymously if you would like, but please share! Let's brainstorm lots of ideas for struggling moms to read. ****Leave a comment!*****
Email me!
I have received quite a few emails from people with questions. Certainly I am not a doctor, but I am easy to contact and free! If you have any questions, or if you want help with interpreting your chart, please email me! I'm happy to help if I can. My email is 2boysrus@gmail.com (Outdated I know, but I'm sticking with it. I'm sure next year it would be 4boysrus, so I'll just wait until I'm done with my child-bearing before I get a new email.)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pregnancy Post- Charting your fertility
Sorry I joined in on the writer's strike. Is that still going on? Okay just kidding, life has just been crazy. I'm back now.
Okay, so now that you know how your hormones work in your cycle, I want to teach you how to chart your fertility. This isn't any novel thing that I created, but a lot of people don't know where to start. Charting really isn't that difficult, and it can tell you so much about your body. I think it is amazing to chart even when you aren't trying to get pregnant, but then again I treat my body like a science experiment, I also weigh myself 3 times a day. But enough about my neurotic habits, on to charting......
*If you are having any frustration in trying to get pregnant, charting will help SO much. I have two friends who have had some troubles lately: one who couldn't get pregnant, and one who had two miscarriages. Both of these girls starting charting and the first month of charting got them pregnant, AND their chart revealed their problems. The one with the miscarriages proved through her chart that she had low progesterone, and with the prescribed progesterone supplement, she hasn't miscarried! So give charting a try.*
The first two things to do in charting are: purchase a basal body thermometer, and open a fertility friend account. The thermometer is not the same as a fever thermometer, you must have a basal body thermometer with 2 decimals. These are cheap and can be purchased on ebay or at Walmart or anywhere! To open a fertility friend account is free, and they have such a great system set up, it makes charting easy.
The idea behind charting your fertility is to see patterns in your body that either help you get pregnant, or show you why you aren't getting pregnant. Of course it doesn't help everyone, but if you are having trouble getting pregnant it is the first step. Personally, if I don't get pregnant in the first ten minutes of trying, I call and make a fertility appointment. Some people will try for years before consulting a physician. Whatever the case, if you have at least one chart on hand, preferably more, you have a lot more leverage at a fertility consultation. These doctors love to send you home with a plan to chart for 3 months and hope they never have to see you again. But if you come in with a chart, they have to start thinking about treatment options.
(If you look at the progesterone, green line, that is similar to what your temperature should look like on your chart)
With the knowledge of your body's hormones, you know that the first half of your cycle is estrogen driven, the second half is progesterone driven. So I tell you now that progesterone RAISES your body's temperature. Just slightly, but enough to see it on a chart. So as you look at a chart, you should notice what they call a "thermal shift" which just means that the temperature rose after ovulation. Here is a nice chart with a text book thermal shift. Notice the red vertical line. That is the day of ovulation. Notice also that the day after ovulation the temperature rose by .3 degrees. Why did that happen? The progesterone released from the corpus luteum (the follicle that the egg came from) is beginning to raise the body temperature, thus signaling ovulation.
How do you get these temperatures? Like I said, you first need a basal body thermometer, but it's a little trickier than just taking your temperature. There needs to be consistency. Throughout the day, and on different days you may be more or less active, wearing warmer or colder clothes, etc. So temperatures throughout the day would be very variable. So you must take your temp first thing in the morning, at the same time every day. That sounds like a big pain to some, but it's not such a big deal. Most thermometers have a memory on them, so you can recall your temp later in the day. So here's how I do it. I have a standing alarm on my cell phone that goes off at 6:00 am (only when I'm charting, not always :) 6:00 am is a time when I know I am in a deep sleep, and I have been for at least 3 hours (another important factor). So I turn off the alarm, put the thermometer in my mouth, and try not to fall back to sleep before it beeps. Then I turn the thermometer off, and go back to sleep. Later in the day I check the temp, and enter it into my fertility friend chart. I have to admit that I, and everyone else I know that charts, am really excited to see what my temperature is every day. It's kind of like a soap opera, it leaves you hanging every day, and you gotta know what happens next!
So basically, you need that temperature every day, at the same time, with a basal body thermometer, when you have been sleeping for at least 3 hours. If you are missing any of those factors, your chart may not be as clear, but things are always perfect right? You are looking for a "thermal shift" of at least .2 degrees from one day to the next, and it must be sustained for at least 3 days.
Fertility friend doesn't just collect the data from your temp, but all signs of fertility. You can put any symptoms in such as cramps, headache, fatigue, anything really. There is also a spot for the days you had intercourse, and ovulation tests- which are really helpful. I recommend using temps, ovulation tests (OPKs as they are called), cervical mucous (cm), and cramps. I better explain those last two.
Most people are oblivious when they are ovulating, but most people who are charting are not. I never even knew I ovulated until the first month I tried to get pregnant. Suddenly I was in so much pain during ovulation, I couldn't understand how I ever missed it before. Many people have cramps relating to ovulation, so watch for those.
Cervical mucous. In the days of your fertile window, you will notice an increase in your cervical mucous. You can rate your cervical mucous in fertility friend by dry, creamy, sticky, and egg white. When you see that egg white cervical mucous, that really can't be missed- ewww. Shortly after ovulation (Within hours) you should start to dry up. Then you can know that ovulation has passed.
OPK's- I LOVE THESE! They OPKs or ovulation tests are created to detect that LH surge that makes you ovulate. When you have that surge, the OPK line should be VERY dark. As dark or darker than the control line. It should be very clear. Of course there are always exceptions. I buy my OPK's in bulk at www.saveontests.com. I do not recommend their pregnancy tests, only ovulation tests.
Charting is so great! I hope I explained it enough for you all. If you have any questions, feel free to email me 2boysrus@gmail.com.
Stay blogged and get preggot! Next post will be the plan for actually getting pregnant.
Okay, so now that you know how your hormones work in your cycle, I want to teach you how to chart your fertility. This isn't any novel thing that I created, but a lot of people don't know where to start. Charting really isn't that difficult, and it can tell you so much about your body. I think it is amazing to chart even when you aren't trying to get pregnant, but then again I treat my body like a science experiment, I also weigh myself 3 times a day. But enough about my neurotic habits, on to charting......
*If you are having any frustration in trying to get pregnant, charting will help SO much. I have two friends who have had some troubles lately: one who couldn't get pregnant, and one who had two miscarriages. Both of these girls starting charting and the first month of charting got them pregnant, AND their chart revealed their problems. The one with the miscarriages proved through her chart that she had low progesterone, and with the prescribed progesterone supplement, she hasn't miscarried! So give charting a try.*
The first two things to do in charting are: purchase a basal body thermometer, and open a fertility friend account. The thermometer is not the same as a fever thermometer, you must have a basal body thermometer with 2 decimals. These are cheap and can be purchased on ebay or at Walmart or anywhere! To open a fertility friend account is free, and they have such a great system set up, it makes charting easy.
The idea behind charting your fertility is to see patterns in your body that either help you get pregnant, or show you why you aren't getting pregnant. Of course it doesn't help everyone, but if you are having trouble getting pregnant it is the first step. Personally, if I don't get pregnant in the first ten minutes of trying, I call and make a fertility appointment. Some people will try for years before consulting a physician. Whatever the case, if you have at least one chart on hand, preferably more, you have a lot more leverage at a fertility consultation. These doctors love to send you home with a plan to chart for 3 months and hope they never have to see you again. But if you come in with a chart, they have to start thinking about treatment options.
(If you look at the progesterone, green line, that is similar to what your temperature should look like on your chart)With the knowledge of your body's hormones, you know that the first half of your cycle is estrogen driven, the second half is progesterone driven. So I tell you now that progesterone RAISES your body's temperature. Just slightly, but enough to see it on a chart. So as you look at a chart, you should notice what they call a "thermal shift" which just means that the temperature rose after ovulation. Here is a nice chart with a text book thermal shift. Notice the red vertical line. That is the day of ovulation. Notice also that the day after ovulation the temperature rose by .3 degrees. Why did that happen? The progesterone released from the corpus luteum (the follicle that the egg came from) is beginning to raise the body temperature, thus signaling ovulation.
How do you get these temperatures? Like I said, you first need a basal body thermometer, but it's a little trickier than just taking your temperature. There needs to be consistency. Throughout the day, and on different days you may be more or less active, wearing warmer or colder clothes, etc. So temperatures throughout the day would be very variable. So you must take your temp first thing in the morning, at the same time every day. That sounds like a big pain to some, but it's not such a big deal. Most thermometers have a memory on them, so you can recall your temp later in the day. So here's how I do it. I have a standing alarm on my cell phone that goes off at 6:00 am (only when I'm charting, not always :) 6:00 am is a time when I know I am in a deep sleep, and I have been for at least 3 hours (another important factor). So I turn off the alarm, put the thermometer in my mouth, and try not to fall back to sleep before it beeps. Then I turn the thermometer off, and go back to sleep. Later in the day I check the temp, and enter it into my fertility friend chart. I have to admit that I, and everyone else I know that charts, am really excited to see what my temperature is every day. It's kind of like a soap opera, it leaves you hanging every day, and you gotta know what happens next!
So basically, you need that temperature every day, at the same time, with a basal body thermometer, when you have been sleeping for at least 3 hours. If you are missing any of those factors, your chart may not be as clear, but things are always perfect right? You are looking for a "thermal shift" of at least .2 degrees from one day to the next, and it must be sustained for at least 3 days.
Fertility friend doesn't just collect the data from your temp, but all signs of fertility. You can put any symptoms in such as cramps, headache, fatigue, anything really. There is also a spot for the days you had intercourse, and ovulation tests- which are really helpful. I recommend using temps, ovulation tests (OPKs as they are called), cervical mucous (cm), and cramps. I better explain those last two.
Most people are oblivious when they are ovulating, but most people who are charting are not. I never even knew I ovulated until the first month I tried to get pregnant. Suddenly I was in so much pain during ovulation, I couldn't understand how I ever missed it before. Many people have cramps relating to ovulation, so watch for those.
Cervical mucous. In the days of your fertile window, you will notice an increase in your cervical mucous. You can rate your cervical mucous in fertility friend by dry, creamy, sticky, and egg white. When you see that egg white cervical mucous, that really can't be missed- ewww. Shortly after ovulation (Within hours) you should start to dry up. Then you can know that ovulation has passed.
OPK's- I LOVE THESE! They OPKs or ovulation tests are created to detect that LH surge that makes you ovulate. When you have that surge, the OPK line should be VERY dark. As dark or darker than the control line. It should be very clear. Of course there are always exceptions. I buy my OPK's in bulk at www.saveontests.com. I do not recommend their pregnancy tests, only ovulation tests.
Charting is so great! I hope I explained it enough for you all. If you have any questions, feel free to email me 2boysrus@gmail.com.
Stay blogged and get preggot! Next post will be the plan for actually getting pregnant.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Random Post- Revitalash
Okay, you're going to think I'm selling stuff on my site, but I promise I'm not making a penny. But I really want to advertise for Revitalash because they have changed my life! Okay, maybe that's a little bit dramatic, but I really like this stuff. SO, even though they aren't paying me for this advertising, they should because I am a believer!
Anyone who knows me would probably know that I have the shortest, lamest eyelashes ever. I have always had to curl my eyelashes and put on mascara just to prove that I have any! I was investigating eyelash extensions this year, and was hearing some bad opinions on them. I heard that many of the former eyelash extension users were using something called Revitalash.
Revitalash is applied at night just like a clear eyeliner. It's easy to use, and one tube should last for a LONG time. It usually costs about $150, but I found a seller on ebay who sold it for $89. I know that is way expensive, but the results have been amazing. My eyelashes are double the length that they used to be, they curl up on their own now, and I've only been using it off and on for a month. I love my long lashes! So if there are any mom's out there who need a pick me up (I always want a full-image makeover after I have a baby: wardrobe, hair, nails, everything!), and if you would like longer lashes, it's all about Revitalash!!!!!
Anyone who knows me would probably know that I have the shortest, lamest eyelashes ever. I have always had to curl my eyelashes and put on mascara just to prove that I have any! I was investigating eyelash extensions this year, and was hearing some bad opinions on them. I heard that many of the former eyelash extension users were using something called Revitalash.
Revitalash is applied at night just like a clear eyeliner. It's easy to use, and one tube should last for a LONG time. It usually costs about $150, but I found a seller on ebay who sold it for $89. I know that is way expensive, but the results have been amazing. My eyelashes are double the length that they used to be, they curl up on their own now, and I've only been using it off and on for a month. I love my long lashes! So if there are any mom's out there who need a pick me up (I always want a full-image makeover after I have a baby: wardrobe, hair, nails, everything!), and if you would like longer lashes, it's all about Revitalash!!!!!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Preggot Giveaway
Time for another Preggot Giveaway. I want all you lurkers to link Preggot to your blog. Tell your friends about this blog. If you do that you'll be entered into a drawing for a cool prize. (TBA). All old links will be entered as well.
Stayed tuned for the next fertility post.... allllllmost done.
Happy Valentine's Day, and by the way: Stay blogged and get preggot! What a great day to do it!
Stayed tuned for the next fertility post.... allllllmost done.
Happy Valentine's Day, and by the way: Stay blogged and get preggot! What a great day to do it!
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