More firsts!!

Today McClellan and I went and met Betsy and her daughter Clare-our plan was to take a class called Stroller Motion at the Rec Center, but the class was cancelled-BOO!

So we met at a mutual friend's house who was having a garage sale-it was kind of an unofficial Nestie get-together! : )

Our girls are about 2 weeks apart-Clare being the older. As you can see-they had so much fun they were both crashed out! Actually this is how they were the entire time-about 3 hours!

We took a walk and hung out with some of the other girls...it was great to meet Betsy and for McClellan to have her first "play date", even if they are Mizzou fans! HA!

And, I'll be having a first tonight too!

Tonight will be the first time that I'll be leaving McClellan for more than a few minutes! Matt will be hanging out having some Daddy/Daughter time while I go to dinner with the girls. One of the girls is celebrating her 40th birthday and we're all headed to Texas de Brazil for a meat orgy-yes, you read that right! If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at this: http://www.texasdebrazil.com/

YUM ... but seriously...it's insane!!

McClellan has been perfect all day...no fussing and has pretty much napped all day. Let's hope that Matt gets this lucky tonight!!

Not even a half an ounce???

I just pumped, both sides, and didn't even get a half an ounce...

What in the he** is wrong here?!?!?

!@#$%^&*

Ugh ... off to make another appointment with the lactation consultant....

Oh, and truth be told, I've only been taking the Rx twice a day and only at dinner and then before I go to bed, based on the side effects. Guess I'll be starting the 3x day now and hoping for the best...

BOO!

Lactation Cookies .... Holy Yumminess!

Ok ... so today the supply was back down again-UGH! Time to pull out the big guns-prescription meds and Lactation Cookies.

This recipe is all over the internet with some people singing it's praises for increasing their supply and others saying it made no difference. At this point I'm trying anything. I'm not freaking out though, if this doesn't work for me then it doesn't work. I can only do what I can do and some breast milk is better than none...and at least I'm trying.

So I made a batch of the famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies-easy to make after finding brewers yeast (one of the magic ingredients that supposed to bump up your breast milk supply). WOW ... they are soooo good! If they don't do anything to increase my supply they will certainly increase my waist line!!

Here's the recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chip-Lactation-Cookies-by-Noel-Trujillo-192346

As for the prescription-I'm now on Reglan, prescribed by my OB-GYN: http://www.breastfeeding.org/articles/reglan.html

Not so excited about the possible drowsiness that it may/can/probably will cause-what new mother needs to be more drowsy than they already are? BUT...again, with only 8-ish weeks left on maternity leave and only 4 oz of breast milk in the freezer-gotta try it all.

I wonder how many of these things it takes to boost your supply? As many as I've already eaten...I could be "overflowing" before long! : )

McClellan & Breastfeeding Update:

A bit delayed but you gotta cut me some slack...

Last Friday we went in and checked in with the Pediatrician again-we're happy to report that our little Punky gained 6 oz in 3 days so supplementing has helped for sure.

As for breastfeeding, that seems to be picking up a bit too. Still not where I need it to be but we're working on it. I now have 2-2oz bottles of breatmilk in the freezer-WOO HOO!

Gotta go...it's time to pump, again.

1st Farmers Market Trip of the Season!

And so we sported some tie dye for the occasion!

There wasn't much selection of Colorado produce yet and what was there was greenhouse grown but we picked a few things up. I think we enjoyed walking around more than anything-the weather was perfect and it felt so good to be outside!!

We signed up for a CSA (http://www.grantfarms.com/home.php)

this year, thanks to my friend Mary, and we have our own garden planted as well. Our first delivery for our CSA will be June 16th-I can't wait!! I'm really craving veggies right now...fresh, clean food!

Mary gave us her share a couple of times last year when she and her husband Paul were going to be out of town-that was the best advertisement ever! We loved it and it forced us to try some things that we wouldn't normally eat-collard greens and kale for example. The recipes we found for these things were amazing!!

This year we'll be using some of the share for baby food too-how great is that??

So, get ready for some produce photos and recipe sharing...can't wait!!

Oatmeal Raisin Bars - mmm mmm good!!

Another suggestion for upping my breastmilk supply is eating more oatmeal-I'm not a fan of eating a big ol' bowl of oatmeal though. I'm a huge texture girl and I can handle one bowl of oatmeal a year...maybe.

So I found this recipe and tried it out...YUM! So easy and yummy! Matt loves them too-we'll be making these again for sure.

The only thing that I changed was I used half raisins and have craisins-either way they'd be tasty but I like the tartness of craisins.

Enjoy!!

http://carrotsncake.com/2008/08/oatmeal-raisin-bars.html

I should have trusted my gut...

For over a week now I've been questioning whether or not McClellan was gaining weight. Since I'm breastfeeding her the only way to measure is really by her weight. I've been pumping to try and build up a small supply for Matt to feed at night or for "emergency" situations - but I'm lucky if I get an ounce of pumped milk per pumping session. I've been reading on the message board I belong to about these moms getting 6-7 oz per pumping session and that got me really questioning my supply and if McClellan was really getting enough to eat.

EVERYONE who met her in the beginning kept telling us "she's getting SO big" or "she's growing so fast"...even MY doctor who saw her at 11 days and then again at 25 days commented on it, saying "well she's clearly a good eater-look at her." I started challenging people saying "you think so? I don't see it." Probably 5 times a day or more I'd question myself and whether or not she was gaining weight...finally over the holiday weekend I decided to put my mind at ease and take her into the Pediatrician's office to be weighed as soon as I could.

So today, in we went and headed straight for the scales...and...I should have trusted my gut.

My little girl weighed 9lbs 7oz at birth on 5/3/10.
She left the hospital weighing 8lbs 11oz on 5/7/10.
At her first Dr's apt she weighed 9lbs 0oz on 5/10/10.
At her second Dr's apt she weighed 9lbs 3oz on 5/14/10.

When I took her in she weighed 9lbs 5 3/4oz, today, 6/1/10.

Not good.

I was lucky and able to get her in later on this afternoon and meet with the PA who gave her a full check up and discussed our feeding schedule, her reactions to eating, etc.

Good news is that she's totally healthy and we're lucky because she was bigger at birth we had a little more wiggle room.

So now what? Well, we'll be supplementing with formula while I see if I can beef up my supply.

I had already called my lactation consultant this morning before we even went in to weigh her-that's how confident I was that I wasn't producing enough milk and that her she wasn't gaining weight. She called me back this afternoon and suggested me trying a few things:
~Fenugreek-already taking it and maxing out my dose daily
~Blessed Thistle-will start it again but when I took it a few weeks ago, my already low supply got even lower
~Alfalfa-will look for this and start adding it in tomorrow
~Oatmeal-I'll either have a bowl of oatmeal or make some lactation cookies (sure-w/all my extra time)...or both for variety
~More Pumping-I'll add a 3rd session each day
~Bigger Flanges-yep, the girls may need more room

If anyone reads this and has other suggestions please feel free to send them my way...I'm committed to making this work!

::sigh::