My Breastfeeding Experience

When I was pregnant, I decided that I really wanted to breastfeed.  I had always been on the fence about it because my mom had a lot of trouble breastfeeding both my brother and me and the idea of breastfeeding seemed a little weird, to be honest.  But, after learning that breastmilk is so good for babies, I decided I really wanted to do it.  I decided I would read as much as I could on the subject, get advice from other mom friends, and go to a breastfeeding class.  The information I read was very helpful.  I read articles that encouraged moms to keep trying even when you run into problems, I read a book about how benefecial breastfeeding is and I learned about all the different breastfeeding positions I could.  I signed up for a breastfeeding class through the hospital.  The problem with the class was the only available date was on the day of my due date.  As I got closer to my due date, I realized there was no way I could take the class before I had the baby.  When I signed up for the class, I was reassured that there were plenty of lactation consultants and nurses at the hospital who could help me if I wans't able to attend the class.  So, I felt somewhat confident about breastfeeding. 

Well, little Aiden and I had problems right off the bat.  I could never get him to latch, even with the lactation consultant helping me several times.  He had to have supplemental formula feedings before we left the hospital.  I was very discouraged and didn't think that I would be able to breastfeed at all.  When we left, the lactation consultant sent us home with a manual breast pump and lots of encouragement that I could get him to latch.  The pump is what saved us and helped me to eventually breastfeed!  I tried and tried to get Aiden to latch once we got home, even with help from my mom, grandmother, and Brandon.  We never could get it.  So, being the determined person that I am, I decided my son was going to get breastmilk any way that I could give it to him.  So, I pumped.  That manual pump was not easy to use at all.  It was quite time consuming, too and with a newborn in the house, there is no extra time to spare!   Brandon's grandparents came to the rescue and got me a very nice electric pump.  I pumped for Aiden several times a day until he was about 2 1/2 months old.  I was working with him once in a while to try to get him to latch.  On Memorial day, I tried again since we had a whole day with nothing to do and Aiden finally caught on and latched!  I now have been breastfeeding him ever since and I love it.  I love knowing that I am doing everything I can to give him the best nutrition, I love the relationship we have because of it, and I love spending that extra time just the two of us.  I am so excited to finally be able to breastfeed and accomplish one of my biggest goals.  I have now made it to 6 months of breastfeeding and hope to be able to continue until Aiden is a year old. 

By the way, I don't think less of anyone who doesn't breastfeed.  I understand it is a very personal choice and not everyone is able to or has the desire to.    :)

Aiden's Birth Story

At 1:13 p.m. on Thursday, March 8, 2012 Brandon and I welcomed our precious baby boy into this world.  We woke up that morning around 3 am and got ready to go to the hospital.  I was being induced because my doctor was going on vacation the week he was due and I really wanted her to be the doctor that delivered my baby.  And Aiden was ready to come anyway, I was already dilated 2 cm.  We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 5 am and we arrived around 5:15.  We only had to wait a few minutes before we were taken up to a room because we had pre-registered.  Both Brandon and I were a combination of super excited, nervous, scared, and happy. 

We got settled into a room around 5:30 or 5:45, the nurses got me all set up, and started my Pitocin drip around 6.  From around 6 until about 8, there wasn't much going on.  My Pitocin was slowly increased and then my doctor came by at 8 to break my water.  My Mom arrived at the hospital shortly before my doctor came by and her arrival was such a comfort to me.  I knew my Mom was there if I needed her!  After my doctor broke my water, she encouraged me to go ahead and get my epidural.  At first I wanted to see how far I could progress without needing one, but she encouraged me again to go ahead and get it.  I decided to listen to her voice of wisdom :)    Around 9, the anesthesiologist came to give me my epidural.  This was a scary procedure for me, especially because they wouldn't allow any family in the room, even Brandon.  I was so needing his hand to hold during this, but before I knew it, it was over and SO worth it.  By the time my epidural kicked in, I had just really started to feel some pain from my contractions, up until then I had only really felt pressure from them.  I feel very lucky to have only felt a little labor pain :)    After the epidural, I got my catheter, which was actually great because then I could quit getting up every 5 minutes to pee!  

Sometime after all that, my Dad arrived at the hospital.  I was so happy to have both parents there by this time.  I remember around 10 we were just watching t.v. and chatting.  At some point, Aiden started to get in distress and we had to have an internal fetal monitor hooked up so the nurses could keep a better eye on him.  They kept me on my side and kept turning me to try to keep him out of distress.  At one point his heart rate got really low and they called my doctor, but she said to just keep doing what we were doing and his heart rate went back up.  It was scary for a few minutes, though.  By 11 am, I was dilated to 10 cm and it was time to have a baby!  I couldn't have been more shocked!  I couldn't believe the nurse when she told me that I was ready to push after only being in labor for 5 hours!  My doctor got to the hospital pretty fast because Aiden had been in distress.  They gave me oxygen to help his heart rate stay up and we got ready to have a baby! 

I had kind of a hard time with pushing because our stubborn little Aiden wanted to be born face up and he wouldn't fit that way, so my doctor kept having to turn him face down.  After 2 hours of pushing, I was exhausted and my doctor asked me if I wanted help.  I tiredly said yes and she delivered Aiden with the vacuum, which sounds scary, but wasn't.  Our son was finally born!  He was so beautiful!  Brandon and I were both crying and couldn't stop looking at our precious baby boy.  He weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 19 inches long.  Our family was dying to meet him because they were on pins and needles in the waiting room and hadn't heard anything in over 2 hours.  After Brandon and I had a little alone time with him, all our family came in and met our bundle of joy.  Brandon and I couldn't have been more excited to welcome our son into the world!   

Pregnancy Weeks 26, 27, 28, and 29

Since I have quit my job, I haven't had access to internet regularly, so I'm a bit behind on blogging.  We are currently in the process of trying to get internet, but since I'm so cheap and so few places provide internet to the boonies of Medina, it might be awhile :)  So here's some catching up on Aiden and the family: 

December 1st was Brandon's birthday and he had the day off work, so I took a half day to be able to celebrate his birthday with him and we enjoyed spending some extra time together. I made him the most chocolate of chocolate cakes that has been nicknamed "The Death Cake".  It has been nicknamed as such because you feel like you're going to die while you eat it, it's so rich.  For Brandon's birthday dinner he decided he wanted to go to Longhorn and get filet mignon, which, of course, I happily agreed to.  His parents also came to visit over the weekend and it was nice for Brandon to get to see them close to his birthday. 
Brandon said the best thing that he got to do for his birthday was hear the baby's heartbeat by putting his ear up to my belly.  We had just read that it was possible to hear the heartbeat starting in week 25 and he was so excited to be able to hear it!  It's special too because it's something that he can experience that I can't. 

During week 26 of pregnancy, Aiden was about 14 inches long and weighed about 1 1/2 pounds.  He was about the size of an English cucumber.  He started taking practice breaths of amniotic fluid, which is preparing him for his first breath.  His eyes were forming and he also has eyelashes now.

During weeks 27 and 28 his brain was continuing to develop, he started blinking, and he is sleeping at regular intervals now. 

As of this week, week 29, Aiden now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds, is about 15 inches long and is about the size of a butternut squash.  His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature and his head is growing to support his developing brain.  He is so active these days and it's really fun to notice when he's kicking and moving around.  The day I had my glucose test, he was active all day long and then really quiet the next day.  If I play the Just Dance game on the Wii, he is really active after I'm done dancing.  Also, if I play music and especially if I sing along to it, he kicks a lot.  We like to say he's going to be good at sports and music, like his Daddy :) 

We also had a busy, but fun Christmas and enjoyed spending some time together just the two of us, since it will be our last quiet Christmas! 

Pregnancy Week 25

Week 25!  Only 15 more weeks to go! 

This week Aiden is about 13 1/2 inches long, weighs around a pound and a half and is about the size of an eggplant.  He's getting a sense of equilibrium and now knows which way is up and down.  He's continuing to put on more fat and grow more hair.  This week Brandon has started reading stories to Aiden at night right before we go to bed.  On Sunday night when Brandon was reading to him, Aiden was kicking, like he was excited to hear Brandon's voice.  It was the sweetest thing.  

I'm approaching the third trimester and it seems like it's gone by so fast.  It's getting harder to sleep and I'm starting to lose some of that wonderful second trimester energy.  But the closer I am to the third trimester means I'm getting closer to meeting my sweet baby boy! 

Last week we had a great Thanksgiving.  Poor Brandon had to work crazy hours because of black Friday, but he made it through!  On Thanksgiving day we went to my Grandmother's for lunch and had a great time seeing our family and talking about Aiden.  It's fun to think about next year when we will have an 8 month old baby with us for Thanksgiving.  On Friday I went shopping with my Mom and we got some great deals.  I also scored us a video camera online at Kohl's without having to deal with the crazy crowds!  Then over the weekend we put up the tree and decorated some for Christmas. 

In other exciting news, last Friday I turned in my resignation and announced my last day will be next Friday, December 16!

Pregnancy Week 24

This post is a little bit late, but better late than never...

I had another ultrasound last Tuesday and we got to see our sweet baby boy again.  Once again,  he was quite the exhibitionist and pretty stubborn, too.  He was in a comfortable spot and didn't want to move and the woman doing the ultrasound finally got him to move around by poking and prodding him.  After she got all the measurments she needed, she looked around a little bit more and got the funniest shot of him basically mooning us with his legs spread out showing off his boy parts.  She said we have a contrary little son and Brandon and I both at the same time said, "That's your son."  Haha.  The best part about the doctor's appointment was hearing my doctor say everything looked great, Aiden is measuring exactly where he's supposed to be, I'm measuring exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm "boringly normal."  She also wrote me a prescription for acid reflux and it works like a miracle!  I've been eating pizza and Mexican again.  Yay!

This week Aiden weighs a pound and a half!  He has now reached the point of viability which is an exciting milestone to reach.  He  is almost a foot long, about the length of an ear of corn.  He will be starting to plump up soon and look more like a newborn.  His brain is growing quickly now and his taste buds are continuing to develop. 

This week I was getting together all the stuff we have for Aiden and I quickly realized after seeing it all in one pile, that we have a lot of clothes!  We have found some things on clearance for next winter and some cute little hats that we couldn't resist buying.

We also finished registering for all of our smaller stuff at Target and Wal-Mart.  It makes it even more exciting looking forward to having Aiden when we look at all of the little stuff we would be using for him, like bath toys and cute little socks and tiny little onesies.   

Pregnancy Week 23

We had such an exciting trip to Babies R Us!  It was so fun to pick out all of our big items.  We picked out some really cute stuff that I'm so excited to be getting.  We also got a great deal on our furniture.  We got a total of 30% off and saved over $200.

This week Aiden is the size of a mango or papaya, weighs just over a pound and is 11 inches long.  Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing and he is able to hear more clearly.   

The coolest thing Aiden is doing this week is developing the ability to remember things.  How awesome is that?  I was blown away when I read that this week.  He also is gaining control over his movements instead of just little muscle jerks and spasms. 

It's still amazing to us to learn what development takes place each week and to see what God is doing in forming our son. 

I have another ultrasound on Tuesday and can't wait to see Aiden again and see what's he's doing in there! 

It's now less than four months until my due date and now that we have the nursery furniture it's getting harder to wait to meet him!

Coming soon to the blog: ultrasound pictures!

Pregnancy Week 22

This week has been exciting!  I've been feeling Aiden's little kicks more and more strongly and I am starting to notice a pattern to them.  I like to say he's practicing his karate in there :)  Brandon even felt a couple of good kicks last night.  The look on his face when he gets to feel a kick is priceless. 

It's hard to describe the different emotions I'm experiencing.  Before I've even met Aiden, I'm proud of him.  All he is doing is growing, yet I can't deny this strange sense of pride in our son already.  And I already feel so much love for him that I can't imagine loving him more, but I know I will.  I also feel such a protectiveness of him. 

This week Aiden is the size of a papaya or spaghetti squash.  He is 11 inches long and weighs almost 1 pound!  He is starting to look more like a newborn; he now has tiny tooth buds developing and his eyebrows and eyelids are becoming more distinct.  He's also starting to develop sleep cycles and sleeps about 12-14 hours a day.

I am so looking forward to this weekend!  Brandon was supposed to work, but he's using a vacation day so we can go get nursery furniture and register at Babies R Us!  I am so excited because this is one of the things I've looked forward to for a long time. I can't wait to pick out cute little boy stuff and strollers and everything!