Sunday, April 19, 2009

If you've seen One, you've seen Two

Something my Stepmother used to say about boobs... For some reason I always got a chuckle about it. And lately, it's given me a bit of Girl Power to think of Boobs as this minor thing.
If you are offended in reading about boobs, or some of my recent technical difficulties, therein, don't read on.

To start out, I am pleased to announce, I got out this week. Got out to PLAY, With and Without the baby. My first adventure out alone, came this week, when I made a Dairy Queen run, I was desperate earlier this week for a Butterfinger Blizzard (which sounds scrumptious as I write this... maybe this evening another one is called for, a bit of relief from my toddler terror) so I nursed Sam, gave him to Daddy, and ran away. It was 20 minutes for my mental health. And it was Good.
However, my Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Health has been repeatedly under attack lately, and it seems that when I get a fix, it doesn't last long, and I find myself once again "a woman on the edge". I am tired, sore....huddled masses yearning to breathe free...etc. The new baby thing is exhausting, but I know it can be worse. I recall it being so with Chris. Sam is such a very good baby. He is rarely fussy for any reason other than being dirty or hungry, and usually remedying those takes care of his fussage. (Not that Chris wasn't a Good Baby, he just didn't have the same opportunity to be because of all his own technical difficulties. I actually think that if Chris would've been 100% healthy, he would've been just as angelic as Sam, indeed he has/had his moments.) Samuel can wear a woman out, because sometimes he gets hungry every hour. I'm serious, it can be like clockwork, he'll stay awake -ish and start getting fussy, and Bam I look at the clock, and it's exactly 1 hour after I last nursed. Today, he's been better, but often he'll go for 3 hours in the morning and evening, wanting to nurse hourly, and just when my body adjusts accordingly, then he'll sleep for 3 hours and I want to explode! I was rewarded on Tuesday this week by my first Plugged Duct with this child. I got a number of them with Christopher, the first ones luckily(?) appearing when we were still at Riley, and I had Lactation Consultants at my call, plus lots of time to devote to Boob Baths and whatnot. This one crept up on me in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning, a lump appeared way up close to my ribs. I tried massaging it out, but after one of Sam's 3 hour naps, I woke up to a chain of lumps working their hot, painful, inflamed way down to my nipple. I started a regime of Nursing (and when Sam didn't want to nurse, I pumped), hot packs, Boob Soaks (those pink plastic tubs from the hospital are perfect for filling with hot water and plopping a boob into, or two if you are a lot less endowed than I), massage, and hot showers. Would you believe my Nursing Book said Take to your bed? With a toddler? Ha! Very funny. I had Eric take Chris to preschool, so I could fight it, and take a morning power nap. By lunchtime it was doing better. I found it odd that they recommend sleep, but I found my pain increased when Sam slept and I went a couple hours without nursing. Therefore, was sleeping really all that helpful? By mid-morning, my hot chain of lumps were a little less fiery and I had a plugged duct right on my nipple. Dang it! All my nursing had moved the plug down, but not rid it entirely, and then nursing really got painful. Well, I was a superchamp, and performed surgery on myself to fix that too, and continued my plugged duct fighting regime. I got two naps Tuesday, and I think the sleeping and the nursing regime helped. I felt better by Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday I was only just tender.
Thursday evening called for a Mom's Night Out. I gave up Chocolate for Lent this year (Sure, in my very pregnant state at the time, it made sense, since I didn't feel right giving up something I'd already given up for that, I wanted to take on something else) and really wanted to celebrate after Easter by giving in to my Lenten craving for the Applebee's Triple Chocolate meltdown. There were only 3 of us, and exception was made to the Mom's only for Samuel to attend. Our small party had a great time. We swapped childbirth stories (something I really love to hear about), and drowned our sorrows in Triple Chocolate Meltdowns and dipping fries into dressings. Really it was a boost to my mental health. The Best Boost to my evening, was indirectly Sam's fault. He woke up, and was dirty, and after getting riled up after his diaper change, he was hungry. My choices were feed him or go home, and frankly I didn't want to go home. Sure our desserts were done, but we were having a fine therapeutic time just chatting. So, I parked myself in the corner of our table, and whipped out a boob and fed the baby. Honestly, it was my first time nursing in that much public. I feel like I moved up in the world, moved up by Nursing In Public. I nursed Chris in public, sort of, usually I'd find a place to hide, a little room, or in my car, once in the handicap stall at Olive Garden. I vowed I wouldn't do that again. In Facebook world, I got into this group about Breastfeeding Awareness, and it's been empowering me. So, sure I broke out the girls at the applebee's. I am not one for covering the baby, frankly I'm so endowed, I regularly worry about suffocation, I'm not going to add a blanket to the mix. So, I was a brave girl, and just whipped 'em out. Well, our waitress came over, sat down and chatted with us, she'd just stopped nursing. My tablemates and I expressed approval. The really cool thing was that if anyone saw anything, they didn't say anything. But I figure, if someone is really bothered by my feeding my baby in a restaurant (where EVERYONE is supposed to eat) they've got bigger issues than my boobs. And that's saying something. It was good for me to get out, have a treat, and do something that I was afraid to do with Chris.

And luckily it kept me sane for Friday, because Chris was in rare form Friday morning, earning 2 timeouts and a spanking in the span of 12 minutes. It's got to be some sort of record.
Saturday, I was Super Blessed to get out for my first big hunk of time ALONE. Sans Sam. I had put this on the schedule before Samuel got here. Saturday was the 10th Street Nazarene Church Kid's Resale. Good quality kid stuff for Cheaps. Now we've been given some goodies for Chris, and Sam didn't really need much, but I was on the prowl for a couple things: sandals, a raincoat, a belt or suspenders. Got all of them, and bumped into a friend. I didn't sift through the clothes as much as I usually do, the crowds were thick, and I waited in the Express Line for longer than I shopped. But just doing that for an hour made my incision hurt, and I felt the effects. I needed a drink.
So, of course, I stopped at Starbucks on the way home, ok it wasn't really out of the way. Then I realized how close I was to JoAnn's and stopped for some much needed yarn, I am working a blanket for Sam and needed more yarn. Holy cow shopping wore me out. So, since I was in Avon and breakfast time, I drove through Chick-Fil-A. Speaking of that I found a new reason to love their breakfast menu, the Blueberry Pineapple Smoothie. Dude.
I was in such a great mood when I got home (and I'd only been gone 2 hours!) that I suggested to Eric we go to the zoo. It was a beautiful spring day, and I'd been ITCHING to go to the zoo, well, notsomuch the zoo but the White River Gardens. I asked Chris if he wanted to go to the zoo and see the butterflies and happy flowers. Since we never mentioned seeing any more animals than that, he was perfectly willing to comply. Once there we saw butterflies, and happy flowers, and it was good. Exhausting, but good. I overdid it, of course. But propelled by my nursing bravery, I plopped down on a bench in the shade of the gardens and nursed the baby surrounded by tulips and the sweet smell of hyacinths. We were not avoiding the crowds, as there were still a lot of folks milling about from the Breast Cancer Walk, which we totally would've done, had I not wanted to hit the Kids Resale. Honestly, I probably don't think I had a 5K in me. We weren't entirely unactive in that, Prayer for those touched directly or indirectly by Breast Cancer is Proactive.
Even whipped them out again today to nurse Sam in the nursery at church, which was crowded, so that I could sit in a nice supportive rocker, instead of doing what I did with Chris and feeding him by hiding in a Sunday school room, and feeding him in not nearly as comfy a chair.
Go Girl Power! Grrrr....
That's all I have to say about that.

6 comments:

Carrie said...

Awesome! I am so proud of you for not being afraid of nursing in public... that Breastfeeding Awareness group is interesting, isn't it?

Jenibug7 said...

yay! i used to say that if someone was looking hard enough to actually see boob while i nursed, then, by-golly, they probably deserved to see some. =) glad you are so comfortable with this sweet boy so soon!

Krysten said...

I salute you. I was never that brave. Maybe by the time kiddo number two comes around, I will be. My biggest problem with Sadie eating in public - and this is still true, even with the bottle, is that she feels she must constantly look and interact with everything. So, it takes her 10 times longer to eat beacuse she's not focused on eating! Oh well!

I also had a plugged duct or two along the way. I have definitely felt your pain and I'm glad you've got it all cleared up for now.

Enjoy the week! Hopefully it won't be as miserably rainy in Indy and it is here!

Kathy said...

I don't have time to read your entire post but sorry about the plugged duct...I've heard they are really painful! I don't have that problem since I pump. I guess if he went for long enough without eating you could pump to relieve..

I gave up chocolate for lent too...hard to do!

Seestor said...

Did I ever tell you the story about how I HAD to nurse one time at 1/2 Price Books? Yeah, well, it was summer and I had no cover-up, so I parked on a stool in the History isle to nurse, 'cause I thought, "it's cool, who goes to the History section in a used bookstore besides me?" Yeah, well, I'll tell you who - OLD MEN!!! Yup, musta' scared away at least 3 old men who wanted in there, saw me, and ran away. I felt bad only momentarily, and then I was like, whatever dude, everybody gotta eat. :)
Go Girl Power!!! Keep it up sistergirl! :)

Krysten said...

I can't figure out how to comment on Sam's blog, so I'm commenting on here instead. I, too, loved the little blue streak. We had those on some of the diapers that we purchased and some from the hospital, but they weren't consistently on all the diapers. I don't know what happened to them, but they did sure make life easier!