Liz, my hero!

The other day a very good friend of mine was asked to nurse her baby in the locker room or restroom at a local indoor park at a nearby community rec center.   I've been to a "play group" at this rec center.  I was going to try to go the center on the day that this occurred, I even switched from my normal day off.   But I decided to sleep in and was dealing with cranky kids so we skipped it.  I'm upset with myself because I didn't go and would have been there to support Liz when they did this to her.

Apparently the Rec Centers take on the issue was that they asked her to be more discreet.  I've been around her when she has nursed.  No one could be more discreet, short of nursing under a tent, than her.  Not that that should matter anyway because Iowa Law on her side.  Funny thing is they did this to the wrong person, she's a breast feeding peer counselor so she knows her rights.

I can't help but wonder if they would have done this to one of the many girls that Liz supports.  Those who may be on the fence about breast feeding.  Would it be the stimulus to cause them to give up and stop.  Breastfeeding can be really hard work initially.  I had a really hard time nursing Trevor in the early days.  Nursing moms need support, pats on the back, hell even high fives, or at least a thumbs up as I've done on occasion.  Not sneers or being treated like you are running around in the nude.  I would have given my right arm to still be nursing Jayden and to be at the nurse in that was staged today.  Alas, I'm no longer nursing and I was unable to attend because one of my employees was giving birth today.

Our country is far behind the world views of breast feeding.  Most of the rest of the world have no social taboos when it comes to public breastfeeding.  I feel that our country has come a long way but apparently we still have a long way to go.

Please please please do something for me.  Go to the kwwl website.  On their home page there is a poll about public breast feeding.  Show your support.  And here is the story that aired about the nurse in that was held today.

To my bloggy friends, please help me spread the word and link me up on your blogs if you are inclined to do so.  Let me know in the comments if you do.  I'd love to read it.

To Liz... YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!  You rock girl!  I'm so proud of you for standing up for what you believe in and what's right!  Keep fighting for nursing moms EVERYWHERE! ~mwah!~

Out of curiosity I did a query to see how my posts in my blog mention nursing.  Here's the posts if you're interested.   9 posts come up with the search breastfeeding.  A whopping 48 come up using nursing!

Ok mamas... how many times does your blog mention nursing or breastfeeding?

End of an Era

I am happy to report that Jayden is now weaned.  My goal was for that to happen before I went to Phoenix to make it a little easier on both of us while I’m away.  She’s now been one full week without nursing.  She still acts like she wants to sometimes but she’s not nearly as demanding about it as she was a week ago.  She’s now chugging down whole milk from both bottles and sippies and really seems to like it.  Hat’s off to mammas who do extended b/f but it’s not for me.  I’ll be happy when I can pack away the bottles!  I suppose the next step would be to cut back my calorie intake or I’m going to blow up like a balloon!

Breastfeeding woes

This for some may be a "too-much-information" kind of post for some. Soooo, please disregard this post if you don't want to hear about such problems. Those of you who breastfeed or have in the past keep reading cuz I need some advice or maybe even some been there done that kind of sympathy.

Jayden and I have thrush. Woe is us! She had an appointment 2 weeks ago for a cold and we had noticed her tongue was a little white. I suspected thrush but the doctor dismissed it saying it was not thrush because the white wiped away. So about 3 days ago my "girls" started itching like crazy. It progressed to mild discomfort and my skin is very irritated. Yesterday it became pretty much unbearable and totally painful to nurse. So much so everytime I nurse I feel like jumping out of my skin.

I talked to the lactation consultant and diagnosed over the phone for me so I wouldn't have to come in to get it checked out. She had me call my OBGYN who thankfully agreed to call in an RX for APNO. It's a compounded RX so only a few places in town do compounding. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to take Jayden back to the Dr and that they would agree to do the same. But nope, I guess they want their $ for the office visit!

Today we took her in and wow big suprise she has thrush too! And she has the whole fungal diaper rash thing going on too. Grrrr! If they would have listened to us 3 weeks ago we wouldn't be going through this crap right now! So I'm a little ticked but still like our Dr. I was hoping to be able to combine this with the flu shot booster that was due *tomorrow* but when I asked the nurse over the phone she said that I couldn't even do it one day early.

I took Trevor with me in hopes that maybe we could still do it and I could save the hassle going back next week. And so I played to the Doctor's sympathy and she did it! I was so happy she said that it was exactly 28 days so she could do it. I really was wanting to avoid going back again next week. Since Trevor's 2 year check in August we all have been to the Dr. way too many times. Damn, I was just sitting her counting and between all of us it's been 10 appointments* so far equalling $235 for the appointments alone, not including rx's!

Trevor of course freaked out when he got his shot. He was pretty ticked at the nurse but it was soon forgotten. With Jayden, it was the craziest thing! She didn't cry or even winced. As soon as they were done she even smiled at the nurse. They couldn't believe it. I was shocked too. On the plus side, I think Trevor is finally starting to get over his fear of elavators. Normally he screams. On the way up he whined a little but on the way down he even seemed like he enjoyed it a little bit. It will be so much easier once he completely conquers that fear.

So if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear on a personal level what worked. For myself I'm using the APNO (all-purpose-nipple-ointment) and using a vinegar/water rinse. And I'm eating massive quantities of activa yogurt. For Jayden we're using nystatin both oral drops and swabbing her cheeks and nystatin ointment for the diaper rash. In addition to that, of course we are practicing good hygiene and will be sterilizing pump parts, bottles and pacifiers. Does anyone know if the dishwasher actually sterilizes so I can avoid that step? I think it does but I'm not sure.

*Trevor 2 year, Jayden 6 months, Jayden suspected Strep, Me emergency room visit for what I thought was a foreign body in my eye and was actually conjunctivitis, Trevor knocked a bookshelf over and I thought he broke his leg, Trevor for an ear infection, Travis for conjunctivitis, Travis for a physical, Travis for a dentist appointment b/c he knocked out a filling, today's visit, plus in 2 weeks Trevor is being seen by a nutritionist for his lack of weight gain. Plus I'm probably forgetting something! Equalling a grand total of $235

And the fun begins

Jayden has blossomed into a social butterfly over the last few days. I can't believe how she has changed in the last week right infront of my eyes. She now is very smiley and smiles with her whole face and says a wonderful "ahhh ga" along with it. I think she is getting close to laughing because sometimes she makes the happiest noises when she smiles. It's super easy to get her to smile now too. Sometimes she even smiles when she is crying!

She likes to chat with all of us. Trevor likes it when she smiles and she smiles at him a lot. She must think he's pretty silly. She also "talks" to me when she's nursing. She'll break latch to look up at me and coo for a second and then intently goes back to nursing with a grunt. Every time she does that I feel like my heart could burst with love!

She's also awake for longer stretches. Last night was by far the longest stretch that she was mostly awake for. She was up from about 5pm until 2am! I'm not exaggerating either. She would doze off for 10 minutes at the most. Just long enough to think ahhh she's asleep so I can go eat/wash clothes/shower/etc. No such luck. She wasn't cranky just wanted to chat with me. I tried nursing her to sleep and she was too squirmy, her legs were constantly kicking. And boy was she gassy! I think she had some gas trouble and that's why she was awake and squirmy.

I swaddled her tightly so she couldn't kick and put her in the bassinet. After about 5 minutes looking at her mobile and trying to kick she fell asleep. Not one bit of fussing involved! That's the first time she went to sleep in her bassinet wide awake without a fight. I thought maybe she'd sleep for 6 or 7 hours being she had been up for sooooo long. Again, no such luck. She did sleep for 4 hours so that was nice.

She's finally asleep tonight in my arms as I type this after being awake pretty much since 6pm. I'm scared to lay her down. But I need to get my rear to bed, it's an early day tomorrow!

If ya can't take the heat...

So today I was leaving work. As I was walking into the parking lot a kid asked me if I was just getting off work. I was a little confused and said, "ummmm yeah." He said do you mind if I looked in your bag." (I was carrying a tote bag.) Turns out he was loss prevention for the store. LOL, he looked like a high school kid. I said "Sure go ahead, I don't mind."

As I'm unzipping my bag he says snottily, "You know you can't bring a bag like that into work, you have to use a clear zipper pouch for your stuff." Ohhh man was it on so I let 'r rip. I was perfectly polite though. I said, "Well you see, I'm a mommy and I breastfeed my baby. I have to pump my breastmilk while I'm at work so I have milk to feed my baby while I'm away at work. So I use this bag to carry my supplies for my pump." I said this as I'm fishing stuff out of my bag so that he could see I had no contraband. I said, "By the way, I'm Dawn, I'm the manager of the Optical Department. I don't think we've met." By this point he was about 10 shades of red. I finished with, "Oh this is my cooler for my milk. Do you need to peek inside that too?" He said no that would be ok and turned around to go back inside. Hee hee!

Now I don't make it a point to be rude to authority but he started it by being a jerk to begin with. Normally I do play nice with others, especially those I work with. I'm going to be really ticked though if he reports me and I catch flack for carrying a bag into work. A couple of the managers are jerks and probably would try to say something about it. Somehow I don't think it will come up.

LOL, poor guy, I think he was new. But I don't think he's going to ask to see in my bag again.