Breastfeeding

You know how everyone says that breastfeeding is a MUST and that it is the healthiest choice for the baby. Well... breastfeeding is the healthiest choice but sometimes it just doesn't work for everyone.
My daughter was born exactly one month before her due date. She did not have a strong suck, so she just couldn't latch! I really wanted to breastfeed so I decided I would do whatever it took. I had to pump off milk and feed my daughter from a tube for the first couple of weeks. I then tried to tape the tube to my breast (suggested to help in the suckling strength) so that it would seem like the milk was coming from the nipple, when in fact I was controlling the amount of flow. That didn't work well at all. So back to finger feeding it was. I was very stressed out because if you have already had a child, you know how often they eat and how long it takes at each feeding those first few weeks. Not to mention I had to sterilize and pump again before each feeding!
Finally at about three and a half weeks, the public nurse introduced me to a nipple shield. It was a miracle! My daughter latched on to that and I never looked back!
They don't often tell you about the nipple shield when you're breastfeeding because apparently it can interfere with the process, but it didn't with us. Thank goodness because after a month I was about to give up!
I wanted so badly to breastfeed, especially when my daughter came early but to be quite honest, I could never find enough energy to do that for a second child.
It's okay if for some reason breastfeeding doesn't work for you. It simply is not for everybody!

Prenancy and Maternity Clothes ~ What you need to know

Have you bought maternity clothes yet? Make sure you don't get someone else to do the work for you unless you know exactly what you're doing!

I remember when I finally went shopping for maternity wear... I entered the store and headed for some very stylish clothes. I grabbed some medium sized shirts with great confidence and entered the change room.

I am a very small person and had no idea that maternity sizes were sized according to your pre-pregnancy size. I came out looking little a whale!

I had a friend send her husband for maternity wear as he has great taste in clothing and she was super busy with work. He figured since she was quite big at this point he should go up a size or two. Needless to say she wasn't a happy camper when she tried on clothes that were miles too big!

So remember... maternity clothes come in pre-pregnancy sizes!

Secrets They Keep When You're Pregnant

My friend recently got pregnant and stated asking all kinds of questions about what it was like when I was pregnant. I tend to be a very candid person, so when I revealed some 'secrets' she was almost appalled! :) So, here are the top 10 things people avoid telling you about pregnancy...

10. Hemorrhoids are a good possibility!

• What more can I say?

9. Morning sickness isn't just for the morning

• Not every woman gets morning sickness, but if you do it may come in different forms and at different times. Some women get physically sick, while others (like myself for about 5 weeks) compare it to the worst hangover you can imagine, all day long!

8. It's okay to exercise!!!

• Some silly people think when a woman is pregnant she should do nothing, lift nothing and be waited on hand and foot! Ladies!!!! This is how you gain weight! Now, if you are in a high risk pregnancy, do listen to what I am saying. Your doctor will best tell you your needs. However, if you are having a normal pregnancy and you are a healthy woman, don't stop what you are doing! I exercised for 7 months of my pregnancy. I DID modify the exercises, and intensity levels and there WERE things I did not do, but lifting, walking, and even running, are not unhealthy things to do if you're healthy and not high risk. However, always ask your doctor about any concerns you might have!

7. THE SWAB at 36 weeks

• People like to omit this fun swab and you get unpleasantly surprised at about 36 weeks when your doctor says you need to have a Group B Strep swab. You may think, What's that, and how do you test for it? Well, this very long cotton ended q-tip like instrument is inserted in your rectum... that's how! So, don't be surprised! It has to be done because, although it is a harmless bacteria to the many women who carry it, if it passes to your baby it can cause detrimental effects.

6. You might get dark hair on your belly and your nipples get darker

• It's all about the hormones! It too shall pass!

5. Take advice with a grain of salt.

• Everyone has an opinion about something and you will never please everyone! St angers got angry at me because I didn't want to find out the gender of my baby, older family members told me to put honey on the end of a nipple (A HUGE NO-NO), and everyone had something to say about names, scheduling and breastfeeding. The best advice for you... DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

4. Your water may not break before contractions start (or vice versa)

• You can't always believe what you see in the movies. It may go that way for you but understand that it may be very different for you. My water broke at 4:30am on a Saturday. However, my water didn't break in a big gush like I expected. It was a little trickle and I thought I had peed myself. I went to the bathroom, had a pee, wiped, stood up and realized I had no control and peed on my leg (or so I thought). It was the middle of the night and my due date was a month away, so I sat down, wiped again, stood up again, and guess what??? Same thing! So I knew something was up. Remember, this is Saturday morning. I called the hospital, they told me to come in to test to see if it was amniotic fluid. Sure enough it was so I was hooked up to the contraction machine... no contractions... So they sent me home and asked me to come back at suppertime. Suppertime came and went, I was hooked to the contraption again, and still no contractions. Back home I went... and waited for the contractions to begin. I was asked to come in at 8am to be induced, as I was told that 24 hours after your water breaks if your contractions don't begin it could cause infection and hurt the baby. After an uncomfortable sleep, we headed in to the hospital to start the induction. 8am came and went... 10am came and went... 12pm came and went... still no doctor to begin the induction! As luck would have it, FOUR women came in that morning, naturally, so I was put on the back burner. I live in a small town where there were only four beds to accommodate labour and delivery so I had to go over and wait in the OBS. I was informed that the induction would begin at 4pm... still no contractions. At around 4:30pm, a nurse came into my room to inform me that the doctor who was going to do my induction had decided he was going home and was done for the day. He'd be there for over 24 hours, found out earlier his dog had died that morning and since inductions often accompany about 24hours of labour, he was packing it in. I was stunned! My family doctor, who also delivers babies came in around 6pm, quite upset. She informed me that the choice was actually MINE, and that if I wanted the induction done she would call him back in. (The reason the decision was mine was because my water had broke nearly 40 hours previously and the risk of infection was high). Although I would never do anything to harm my baby, I had an strong instinct to say it was okay. I thought, This man's head is not in it. He's working on NO sleep, he lost his dog and will be not be the happiest person if he gets called back into induce my labour. Not knowing what kind of labour and delivery I was going to have, I was actually scared at the thought of him delivering in that state! So, I agreed to wait and be induced the next morning (Monday) at 8am. They wanted to keep me in the hospital to monitor my vitals (for infection reasons) so I sent my family home and decided to get some sleep. I began to have contraction after midnight, although I had no idea what they were. I felt sick and threw up many times. I called a nurse in to ask for gravol or something to make me feel better but she gave me nothing. An hour or so later, I called a nurse in again. It was someone different this time but she, as well, gave me nothing! I couldn't understand it! I was walking around my room trying to fend off the pain, throwing my guts out and no one would give me anything! Finally, around 5:20am I called yet another nurse in. I told her my partner would be up by now as he had to work at 6am (at the hospital), so could she please call him as I really wanted him with me. Ten minutes later, he was there. I told him that I didn't know what to do with myself, the pain was so bad, and he asked me what the nurses had been doing for me. When I said nothing, he was angry, as he could see that I could barely talk I was in so much pain. So, he headed to the nurses station and demanded someone come in and check me out (I hadn't been checked internally because they were ordered not to because it could risk infection as well). The nurse entered the room and took one look at me and called my doctor. The doctor told her to check me and when she did she said, "Oh my God! She's ten centimeters dilated!" This was at 5:50am. I wanted some drugs because the pain was intense, but was told it was too late for any drugs; by the time they kicked in, it would be over. So, my parents were called and I was wheeled to labour and delivery. At 6:05am my parents were there, at 6:10am my doctor showed up and in three pushes and less than 10 minutes later I delivered my beautiful, healthy daughter!
  It was a long one, I know... but just know anything can happen in any order!

3. Some women experience PICA

• This is known as a medical disorder where you crave substances that are not nutritious. One of my girlfriends craved ice cubes. She ate so many that she lost 3 back teeth! Another became obsessed with sniffing markers, and yet another wanted to eat chalk. The pica subsided after giving birth.

2. Sorry ladies... most gender-related myths are just that!

BUT... it's so fun to play around. Although, for me, all fingers pointed to a boy, I had a beautiful baby girl. My instincts were the only thing that was right on this one. However, I loved trying out the gender prediction chart, and other myth pages because they were really fun to play around with.

1. You might not love your baby right away!

• I gave birth to my daughter one month early and I loved being pregnant. I wasn't prepared mentally to have her yet and once she was born I didn't have that attachment to her that I thought I would. Because I was so used to this little being moving around inside me, when she was in my arms, she didn't feel like she belonged to me at all. It took a couple of weeks before I really fell in love with her and no my love grows stronger each and every day.
• Remember... it's okay to feel like this. People don't like to admit it because they think it makes them a bad mother or possibly they are embarrassed about. But it's important to know your hormones are going crazy at this time and that connection might not be they for a while.

We women do not all go through the same things so let's let women out there know that the things they are experiencing are normal!!! I'll add more soon!

Top 10 Secrets They Don't Tell You About Pregnancy

Welcome to Top 10 Pregnancy Secrets! They are many 'secrets' people tend not to tell you or talk about when you are pregnant and I want to reveal as many of them as I can. If you have any pressing questions about your pregnancy or newborn that is not covered in the blog, feel free to email me at rachellutz@eastlink.ca! I'll do my best to answer them, too!