So far weaning seems to be going well. The last two weeks I've cut nursing down to when she wakes up in the morning and before she goes to bed at night. She takes a sippy cup of milk pretty well, but sometimes she absolutely refuses.
Tonight was the first time I didn't nurse her before she went to bed and I've gotta tell ya, it's a little bitter sweet. When I gave her a sippy cup of milk she wanted nothing to do with me. She sat in her little rocking chair with a book and a blanket and drank her milk. She sat in my lap a few times, but only for a few seconds before she went back to her rocking chair. It made me super sad that I didn't get to put her to sleep. I didn't get to cuddle with her, stroke her hair, or hum while I rocked her. And she didn't play with my hair which she does most nights, stroke my face, or look up at me with sleepy eyes.
Tonight made me feel like maybe I'm not ready to wean her. Just typing this post makes me a little teary-eyed. I've had to accept her turning one, walking, and ultimately becoming a toddler, but nursing her still gave her that infant/baby side that I so badly miss. I'm not sure I'm fully ready to accept that she's no longer a baby and is in fact going to grow up.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
In which my sister is AMAZING!
My sister Lacey was due to have her 2nd baby on June 5th, but one of my summer school classes started June 4th so she was determined to have her baby at least a week early so I could come visit!
...And her determination paid off!
My parents decided to head Lacey's direction (they live in Arizona) before she was even in labor because we all figured it wouldn't be long before that baby came. They came through Utah and picked up Shasta and me on the way to Oregon. We got there Monday, May 28th and Lacey had her baby Tuesday evening on May 29th.
She invited my mom and me to be in the delivery room. Seriously?!? I was excited and nervous and grateful my mom was going to be there too even though I was worried about my dad being home with Shasta and Tucker (Lacey's son) by himself. But worried or not, this was an opportunity I wasn't going to miss so I kissed my baby good-bye, said good luck to my dad, and off we went to the hospital!
Originally our plan was to stop in and see how Lacey was doing. We couldn't stay through the whole laboring process since Shasta nurses and it wasn't fair of us to leave my dad home with the kids all day. But Lacey had other plans for us! As we got off the elevator on the labor and delivery floor Lacey's husband called my mom to tell us to come to the hospital (they didn't know we were already there). She was dilated to a 7 when we got there but everything was picking up speed and they knew it wouldn't be long before she was pushing.
Seeing that baby born was the most incredible experience of my life! It made me SO grateful it wasn't ME going through that, sad that Nick and I didn't get that experience with Shasta, and surprisingly, hungry for another one (which I didn't think would ever happen after my experience with having Shasta. More on that later). Sigh.
Lacey is an amazon! That's all I have to say about seeing her push a baby out of her body! She decided not to have an epidural which is just crazy talk, but that's what she wanted so more power to her! She made her contractions seem like cake. I mean, yeah, it looked miserable watching her breathe through them and I knew she was in pain, but other than a moan here or there she really didn't make a peep. Then when she transitioned into needing to push all it took was 2 contractions and that baby was out. Um, what? She made child birth look like it was as easy as popping bubbles! She gives me hope that I will have a successful VBAC.
Thanks, Lacey, for letting me be in the delivery room and giving me an experience I didn't get to have with the birth of my own child. I can finally say I've been part of a live birth! Maybe someday I'll return the favor... maybe. :)
...And her determination paid off!
My parents decided to head Lacey's direction (they live in Arizona) before she was even in labor because we all figured it wouldn't be long before that baby came. They came through Utah and picked up Shasta and me on the way to Oregon. We got there Monday, May 28th and Lacey had her baby Tuesday evening on May 29th.
She invited my mom and me to be in the delivery room. Seriously?!? I was excited and nervous and grateful my mom was going to be there too even though I was worried about my dad being home with Shasta and Tucker (Lacey's son) by himself. But worried or not, this was an opportunity I wasn't going to miss so I kissed my baby good-bye, said good luck to my dad, and off we went to the hospital!
Originally our plan was to stop in and see how Lacey was doing. We couldn't stay through the whole laboring process since Shasta nurses and it wasn't fair of us to leave my dad home with the kids all day. But Lacey had other plans for us! As we got off the elevator on the labor and delivery floor Lacey's husband called my mom to tell us to come to the hospital (they didn't know we were already there). She was dilated to a 7 when we got there but everything was picking up speed and they knew it wouldn't be long before she was pushing.
Seeing that baby born was the most incredible experience of my life! It made me SO grateful it wasn't ME going through that, sad that Nick and I didn't get that experience with Shasta, and surprisingly, hungry for another one (which I didn't think would ever happen after my experience with having Shasta. More on that later). Sigh.
Lacey is an amazon! That's all I have to say about seeing her push a baby out of her body! She decided not to have an epidural which is just crazy talk, but that's what she wanted so more power to her! She made her contractions seem like cake. I mean, yeah, it looked miserable watching her breathe through them and I knew she was in pain, but other than a moan here or there she really didn't make a peep. Then when she transitioned into needing to push all it took was 2 contractions and that baby was out. Um, what? She made child birth look like it was as easy as popping bubbles! She gives me hope that I will have a successful VBAC.
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| Addilyn Janae. She's such a tiny little thing! |
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| Shasta looks like a giant next to Addilyn. |
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| And yet she looks like a shorty-pants next to Tucker. He's only 6 months older, but he towers over her. I'm pretty sure his height is off the charts. He's going to be tall like his 6'4" dad! |
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
6 Years and Counting...
Nick and I celebrated our 6th anniversary in May. (I know, I'm way behind on blogging and it's killing me). Back in January, Nick was planning out how to use his vacation time for the year and since our Anniversary fell on a Sunday he decided to take Monday off. Then as our Anniversary got closer and he knew he had a day off from work, he didn't want it to go to waste so he booked a reservation at the Anniversary Inn here in Logan for a night.
We had never stayed there (or even taken a tour) so I was pretty excited, but I was super nervous at the same time. At this point you may be wondering why staying at a hotel would make me nervous. Well, you see, I have a nursing baby and the hotel we were staying at doesn't accommodate kids so not only did I have to figure out a nursing schedule, but she had to stay over night in someone's home without me for the first time. Aside from her stay in the NICU, I've never been away from her for more than a few hours at a time, so it was scary to me!
We dropped Wedge and Shasta off at Nick's sister's house (here in town) around 3pm and went and checked into our hotel room. As we were pulling away from their house I thought for sure I was going to cry, but it was comforting that she was only 15 minutes away from us. Then we came back around 8pm to nurse her and put her to bed. We returned the next day around noon to pick them up and of course everything went fine. A HUGE thank you to Nick's sister and her husband for their willingness to watch Shasta and Wedge. She said everything ran smoothly... but she was probably just being nice! :)
Here's a look at our hotel room. Everything you're about to see was actually in our room!
So there you have it. We also have a tradition to do Temple Sealings every year which is by far the more important part of our weekend celebration, but it doesn't come with any pictures. We haven't missed a single year yet so including our wedding day we've done sealings on or around May 20th for the last 7 years.
We had never stayed there (or even taken a tour) so I was pretty excited, but I was super nervous at the same time. At this point you may be wondering why staying at a hotel would make me nervous. Well, you see, I have a nursing baby and the hotel we were staying at doesn't accommodate kids so not only did I have to figure out a nursing schedule, but she had to stay over night in someone's home without me for the first time. Aside from her stay in the NICU, I've never been away from her for more than a few hours at a time, so it was scary to me!
We dropped Wedge and Shasta off at Nick's sister's house (here in town) around 3pm and went and checked into our hotel room. As we were pulling away from their house I thought for sure I was going to cry, but it was comforting that she was only 15 minutes away from us. Then we came back around 8pm to nurse her and put her to bed. We returned the next day around noon to pick them up and of course everything went fine. A HUGE thank you to Nick's sister and her husband for their willingness to watch Shasta and Wedge. She said everything ran smoothly... but she was probably just being nice! :)
Here's a look at our hotel room. Everything you're about to see was actually in our room!
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| A motorcycle... |
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| A pinball machine with free, unlimited play time... |
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| A full size pool table also with unlimited play time... |
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| A kitchenette, stocked with 4 bottled sodas, 2 bottles of water, a tub of popcorn, 2 slices of cheesecake, sparkling cyder, and 2 mint chocolate truffles... |
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| A king size bed, a sitting area, and a jetted tub for two... |
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| And last but not least, the shower. It's a little hard to see what's going on, but there are 4 shower heads in there. FOUR! Um, love! |
And So It Begins...
Operation Wean Shasta has commenced. Gulp. Today we introduced whole milk before her second nap. She didn't want much to do with it, but she drank some and that's all that really matters to me. This is probably going to be a really slow process since I have no idea what I'm doing, and that's okay because we have all the time in the world. Tomorrow we will try again.
I know I did a nursing/weaning post before and most of the advice was to take it slow, but I'm looking for some other tips. How often should I give her whole milk if I'm only cutting out one feeding (afternoon nap) at a time? Should she associate milk with sleeping and waking up since that's when she gets it now or should she have it more often? Right now she nurses 4-6 times a day depending on what time she gets up and if I try to put her down for a nap and she decides after she's done nursing that she isn't tired. Should we stick to that schedule and as we wean out a feeding we replace it with whole milk? I'm suddenly feeling completely lost! Help!!!
I know I did a nursing/weaning post before and most of the advice was to take it slow, but I'm looking for some other tips. How often should I give her whole milk if I'm only cutting out one feeding (afternoon nap) at a time? Should she associate milk with sleeping and waking up since that's when she gets it now or should she have it more often? Right now she nurses 4-6 times a day depending on what time she gets up and if I try to put her down for a nap and she decides after she's done nursing that she isn't tired. Should we stick to that schedule and as we wean out a feeding we replace it with whole milk? I'm suddenly feeling completely lost! Help!!!
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