Rachel's TMI Post
Dec. 15th, 2010 12:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldAt this rate, I will have more posts in December than November, go me!
People keep asking me about how things are going, I'm never sure if they really want to know or if they are just being polite. lol On the happy side, I can sort of use my left hand now, I got to see most of my cousins over the last 2 weeks, and I've been watching a lot of Trek along with a few documentaries. I watched Beer Wars, which was fascinating despite the fact I don't drink beer and Life After Tomorrow about women who were formerly in Annie.
In 2 months of life outside the womb Adina has been to: a baby naming (the Rabbi's twin sons), an after party for a wedding (For friends of ours who live in Austria), and has now been to a funeral (The grandmother my cousins and I don't have in common. She was 97 and had a long good life, no one cried, we went to let our uncle know we were thinking of him.)
She's also now 8lbs 11oz and 22 inches. Everyone who sees her tells me how beautiful she is and squees.
Things have been tough at times since Adina has been born. I've had some post-partum depression episodes where I just felt completely miserable and couldn't stop crying. Most of them had to do with my milk production, lack of sleep, or not holding the baby enough. Yes, I find I need to hold the baby a certain amount each day to feel OK.
Good new is, we are getting better at nursing. Adina can suck for 10+ minutes and swallow and I have a lot less pain. I've only been using the right side for nursing, since the left side tends to be a disaster and much more painful. Ironically, the left side also produces about 1/3 more milk than the right. I'm hoping that letting her nurse on the right will increase milk production there.
I get very depressed when my milk production slacks off. It makes me worry we will have to supplement with formula. It's not that formula is necessarily bad, but I don't want to use it. It does not help that formula gets recalled on a semi-regular basis. It also smells worse than breast milk and particularly smells worse when she spits it up. I also feel like a cow when I pump sometimes, and if I don't pump enough my boobs become hard and painful and I leak lots and lots of milk. It is not fun. I have tried nipple shields for leakage and they irritate my nipples. On average I'm now producing about 4-5 oz every time I pump. It makes me really happy and I'm very impressed. Just 2 weeks ago it was more like 3-4 oz. I try to pump every time we feed the baby so that there is always something stored in the fridge or freezer. I've gotten use to getting up around 3 or 4 am, and I watch Next Generation with my husband which makes it a lot better.
I'm also suffering from constipation. It's infamous as a problem for pregnant women but I didn't get it until post-partum. I know part of my problem is I've been eating chocolate every day. I'm now trying to make chocolate a sometimes food and cut back to 3x a week and I'm also trying to drink a lot more water in hopes that this will help.
And in more unfun news I have tendinitis of the left hand, yes, it's official. I'm also in danger of developing it on the right side. It makes it really hard to lift my baby or nurse or even use my hands. From Friday until Monday my left hand was pretty much un-useable and even now I need to watch things. Just putting my hair back in a ponytail was excruciatingly painful. I was given a cortisone shot on Friday and it HURT!!! I'm sure it did not make things much better. I screamed quite a bit on getting the shot and the doctors and nurses kept saying to me "Didn't you just have a baby 2 months ago" and honestly, the shot hurt more! Yes, I know everyone says labor is awful, blah blah blah but seriously, for me it was just not that bad. I've had worse period cramps. It does help that she was tiny, but I think my mind set also helped. I hope I never need a shot in my hand or wrist again.
And finally, despite what people say about breastfeeding helping you lose weight, that is so not happening for me. I've not lost an ounce. I'm still hugely fat from pregnancy and I hate having this huge paunchy belly I never had before pregnancy. But if I don't eat enough fat, then I make a lot less milk. I'm hoping when she is on solid food combined with milk, I can work harder to lose weight. I'm also planning to join a walking group at the mall one I can drive again. It's just hard and depressing and I need some new clothes but I am sad about being huge. My husband still thinks I am sexy, but I don't feel sexy or pretty. It's funny, I felt prettier when I was pregnant.
People keep asking me about how things are going, I'm never sure if they really want to know or if they are just being polite. lol On the happy side, I can sort of use my left hand now, I got to see most of my cousins over the last 2 weeks, and I've been watching a lot of Trek along with a few documentaries. I watched Beer Wars, which was fascinating despite the fact I don't drink beer and Life After Tomorrow about women who were formerly in Annie.
In 2 months of life outside the womb Adina has been to: a baby naming (the Rabbi's twin sons), an after party for a wedding (For friends of ours who live in Austria), and has now been to a funeral (The grandmother my cousins and I don't have in common. She was 97 and had a long good life, no one cried, we went to let our uncle know we were thinking of him.)
She's also now 8lbs 11oz and 22 inches. Everyone who sees her tells me how beautiful she is and squees.
Things have been tough at times since Adina has been born. I've had some post-partum depression episodes where I just felt completely miserable and couldn't stop crying. Most of them had to do with my milk production, lack of sleep, or not holding the baby enough. Yes, I find I need to hold the baby a certain amount each day to feel OK.
Good new is, we are getting better at nursing. Adina can suck for 10+ minutes and swallow and I have a lot less pain. I've only been using the right side for nursing, since the left side tends to be a disaster and much more painful. Ironically, the left side also produces about 1/3 more milk than the right. I'm hoping that letting her nurse on the right will increase milk production there.
I get very depressed when my milk production slacks off. It makes me worry we will have to supplement with formula. It's not that formula is necessarily bad, but I don't want to use it. It does not help that formula gets recalled on a semi-regular basis. It also smells worse than breast milk and particularly smells worse when she spits it up. I also feel like a cow when I pump sometimes, and if I don't pump enough my boobs become hard and painful and I leak lots and lots of milk. It is not fun. I have tried nipple shields for leakage and they irritate my nipples. On average I'm now producing about 4-5 oz every time I pump. It makes me really happy and I'm very impressed. Just 2 weeks ago it was more like 3-4 oz. I try to pump every time we feed the baby so that there is always something stored in the fridge or freezer. I've gotten use to getting up around 3 or 4 am, and I watch Next Generation with my husband which makes it a lot better.
I'm also suffering from constipation. It's infamous as a problem for pregnant women but I didn't get it until post-partum. I know part of my problem is I've been eating chocolate every day. I'm now trying to make chocolate a sometimes food and cut back to 3x a week and I'm also trying to drink a lot more water in hopes that this will help.
And in more unfun news I have tendinitis of the left hand, yes, it's official. I'm also in danger of developing it on the right side. It makes it really hard to lift my baby or nurse or even use my hands. From Friday until Monday my left hand was pretty much un-useable and even now I need to watch things. Just putting my hair back in a ponytail was excruciatingly painful. I was given a cortisone shot on Friday and it HURT!!! I'm sure it did not make things much better. I screamed quite a bit on getting the shot and the doctors and nurses kept saying to me "Didn't you just have a baby 2 months ago" and honestly, the shot hurt more! Yes, I know everyone says labor is awful, blah blah blah but seriously, for me it was just not that bad. I've had worse period cramps. It does help that she was tiny, but I think my mind set also helped. I hope I never need a shot in my hand or wrist again.
And finally, despite what people say about breastfeeding helping you lose weight, that is so not happening for me. I've not lost an ounce. I'm still hugely fat from pregnancy and I hate having this huge paunchy belly I never had before pregnancy. But if I don't eat enough fat, then I make a lot less milk. I'm hoping when she is on solid food combined with milk, I can work harder to lose weight. I'm also planning to join a walking group at the mall one I can drive again. It's just hard and depressing and I need some new clothes but I am sad about being huge. My husband still thinks I am sexy, but I don't feel sexy or pretty. It's funny, I felt prettier when I was pregnant.
