Boppy Pillows

I thought of another product I've really liked, and that's my Boppy pillow. I have found so many uses for it. You can have it when you're holding the baby so your arms don't get tired. If you have older children, it can be used to help them hold the baby. You can also use it to place baby on, whether on the floor or a bed, so he's propped up, and it can be used for tummy time. And of course you can use it while nursing.

So overall I think it's a great product whether you're nursing or not. I see so many listings for Boppy pillows on Craig's list and I find it funny when they say something like, "I ended up not being able to nurse, so this is almost new." I don't know if they really didn't see the other many uses of it, or if they're saying that so it will seem that their pillow is worth more because it was "barely used."

Alex is the cutest (and I'm not biased at all)

Well, I haven't updated my blog in quite awhile, have I. Alex has been keeping me quite busy, and then add working full time on top of that, and well, it doesn't leave me much time to write. Well, hopefully you agree (from the userpic) that Alex is quite adorable and for the most part he has been really fun. He's a really good baby, especially if I'm paying attention to his cues.

Update on My Crazy Life

So, I know I haven't updated at all. This is because I've been so busy with being a new mom. I got my new laptop from work three days ago and so I now have more freedom to use the Internet (and I don't have to worry about whether my husband is on the computer and what not. So nice!). Anyway, Alex is doing great. He's up to 8 lbs now. Unfortunately, for the last few weeks I had to pump my breast milk and feed him with a bottle because he wasn't pulling enough milk from me. Because of that, my milk supply went down slightly (only producing 1.5 oz per meal total instead of the 2.5 oz that he needed). So I had to supplement a little with formula while the pumping (and taking an herb, Fenugreek, which increases milk) helped to increase my supply so I could feed him with breast milk exclusively. Luckily, it only took about a week. In fact, last week, I was producing around 4–5 oz per pumping, which was enough that I didn't have to pump for nightly feedings—I could just feed him what was left over during the day.

Short Update

Well, things are still improving for Alex. We weighed him again this morning and hewas up another 2 oz. That's 5 oz in two days! He also had another test done for jaundice to see whether we should continue with the billibed. I got a call from the pediatrician's office this morning letting us know that we did not need to put him on the bed today. Yay! We'll have another test done in the morning to see if he's well enough to continue, or if we need to put him back on the bed. When I talked to the lactation specialist today to update her, she said that making sure he gets fed well will help him more than the lights, so the two combined is probably what helped him improve. I guess tomorrow we'll find out if he's better. Also tomorrow, my mother-in-law is coming into town to help out and to see Alex. I'm excited about that. Yay!

The Baby Is Here!

Well, last Thursday, I had a scare. I hadn't really felt the baby move for about 8 hours and I was worried, so I drank some juice, lay on my side, and waited to see if I got 6-10 movements. Well, I didn't. Scary! So I went to the hospital. They hooked me up to a baby monitor and I heard the wonderful sound of my baby's heartbeat. As they were monitoring me, however, they saw that I had high blood pressure (between 130-154/80-104), and so they had my obstetrician come take a look. After 7 hours of being in the hospital that day, my OB came in and announced that I was going to be induced the next day. The high blood pressure is bad for the both mother and baby, and with my due date only days away, there was no reason not to. Well, this was a shock to me because I figured since this was the first baby, I wouldn't have him for at least another week. I was worried I'd have to be induced because of him coming late; I did not expect to be induced before the due date!

One Week to Go!

Or at least there is only one week until my due date (less even. I'm due on Sunday). My hope is that I will not go into labor this week, but I will sometime next week. This is because starting yesterday, I am officially on maternity leave, and it would be really great to have that time to relax, clean some, get some errands done, and basically have a break before I have a baby that takes over my life! But once Sunday comes around, I want that baby out! If at all possible. I would really like to go into labor naturally and not have to be induced, but my doctor won't let it go past 41 weeks, so I should be induced by March 10 at the latest (I say the 10th and not the 9th because I'm not so sure he will induce me on Sunday. I figure he'll probably rather wait till Monday, but he hasn't said anything either way, so I'm not sure). My mother-in-law is coming on Thursday, March 6, and it would be nice to have the baby either by then or on that day so she can have as much time with him as possible. 

So at my appointment yesterday, the doctor this time checked my cervix (again, not comfortable at all!!). I'm still only 1 cm dilated, which is somewhat disappointing. But he seemed surprised or something by how the baby's head is right there. I got the impression he could feel the baby's head when he was checking. (I think the midwife could as well, but she wasn't this awed by it.) He said that was very good, but it probably made me feel like I had a bowling ball in between my legs, and reduced my bladder capacity to 50 cc (I don't know how small that is, but I'm guessing small). I have definitely noticed that my trips to the bathroom have increased. (And it was horrible while I was at work because the bathroom is so far away from my desk.)

The baby still likes to move around quite a bit. I keep feeling his feet move across my belly and push up against my ribs. I've still been lucky that his movements haven't waken me from sleeping. Maybe he's sleeping when I am (which would be a good sign for when he comes out). Even though he's dropped, I still feel like his body is pushing up against my rib area, making it uncomfortable sometimes to sit and nearly impossible to sit forward (with my elbows on my knees). And of course any sort of bending over is uncomfortable. My sister recommended getting a claw thing she has that you can use to pick things up with. I should have done that but didn't. I can't wait till I can bend over again!

There are so many things that I still need to do. I need to clean up the baby's room, get a crib (though we have a bassinet, so it's not essential that we need one right away), pack my bag for the hospital, wash some of the baby's clothes and blankets, and buy some items I still haven't gotten. Today I'm planning on making some flannel blankets. I'm excited. I got fabric and thread for them yesterday and should be way easy to make. Yay! I love not being at work. It's so nice to have a break! I have been so tired lately, though, and I know I should conserve my energy for the delivery, so I will try not to do too much. That's what my husband is for, right?

Baby Update

So yesterday I had another prenatal checkup (seems like I'm always having one. I'm up to once a week now). Everything looked fine in terms of blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat. Because I'm now 38 weeks along, I had the lovely pleasure of having my cervix checked by the midwife. It wasn't a very comfortable experience, but I found out that I'm 1 cm dilated, which she said was good because a lot of first-time moms don't dilate (I'm not sure if she meant this early or what). She said the baby has dropped and his head is right there next to the cervix. This is good; the baby is getting ready to be born! Even though I've dilated a little, I haven't felt any contractions (or at least not that I've recognized. I've had a lot of pressure on my pelvis and some pain, but since I've heard contractions are more of a cramping sensation, i don't think these were contractions). Anyway, I guess the point is, everything is going well and the baby is healthy from all indications. I should have my baby in the next couple of weeks. I'm so excited.