Pregnancy Points

This pregnancy has been pretty uneventful with the exception of the bleeding/spotting which thankfully stopped after a few weeks. 

• My nausea was minimal.  I experienced most nausea in the late afternoon hours.  I would also say I experienced more nausea with Lucia which usually occurred in the evenings. 
• I was exhausted during the first trimester, but I think my body was already primed and already exhausted so it did not affect me as much as during my pregnancy with Lucia.  However, I sure do miss those days during my pregnancy with Lucia where I would pick up take-out on my way home from work and go straight to bed.  That does not happen with baby number two, so take advantage of sleep first time moms! 
• I crave citrus as I did with Lucia, but also have a bit more salty cravings than I did with Lucia.
• I experienced more round ligament pain, but really it was just a bit of a nuisance.
• This little boy has settled himself pretty low. I feel lots of pressure.  I felt very little pressure with Lucia even at the very end of my pregnancy. 
• I am 27 weeks and 4 days today, and I have had very minimal swelling. NOTHING compared to the swelling I had with Lucia. 
• The beginning of my second trimester with Lucia I was plagued with awful migraines. I have only had a few headaches here and there with this pregnancy.  
• I decided to skip the 1 hr glucose test and go straight for the gusto (3 hr glucose test).  I did this for a couple of reasons; I failed the 1 hour with Lucia figured I would fail again, I am in the midst of busy season at work and would rather just be away from work for 3 hours rather than 4.  I know a bit crazy. Anyhow, I passed with flying colors.  
• I am anemic which I also was with Lucia. I was not surprised by this. 
• I am way more laid back, but I think that is consistent with second children

Praying that things continue to remain eventful!

Back Again

Oh hey! It has been a while. I have been soul searching and realized I truly miss blogging. So here I am - let me catch you up!

The big news - I am pregnant.  I am 26 weeks pregnant to be exact.  This was not exactly a planned pregnancy nor was it a big surprise.  Albeit, it was a rocky road in the beginning which was to be expected as any natural pregnancy or pregnancy has been a major trigger in the terms of anxiety after the losses we had been through. 

I had experienced a drastic decrease in breast milk production, but I figured this was from dealing with the stress and grief of my Mother's death.  This was not my first inkling that I was pregnant.  My first inkling was an ice cream craving. I decided to dig out one of my many pregnancy tests from beneath my bathroom counter one morning and tested. I was indeed pregnant, but then realized the test was expired. I walked around the next couple of days in a daze alongside my husband who was also in a daze of "wow... we could be having a baby next year, this is super exciting but also super scary". I tested shortly after using a First Response and I was indeed pregnant. 

I made an OB appointment where we saw a flickering heartbeat. 

The next couple of weeks were rough. I had begun bleeding. I know spotting/bleeding during pregnancy can be completely normal but looking back to my history this was never the case.  My OB was great with scheduling a couple of extra ultrasounds to keep me afloat.  They had no reason for the bleeding.  I was instructed to 'take it easy' but honestly how was that to happen when we had planned to host Thanksgiving, Lucia's First Birthday and Christmas Eve in the span of a month?

We decided to keep this news between us, MIL, FIL and my sister who I had plan to recruit to assist me with the upcoming events we were hosting.

The spotting/bleeding stopped shortly after Lucia's 1st birthday, but the anxiety was still extremely heavy. After consulting with maternal fetal medicine we had decided to scheduled a CVS to ensure the baby was not carrying any chromosomal abnormalities as was the case with our prior pregnancy losses.  Sure, we had other noninvasive options but they were screening options that could ultimately lead to a CVS or amnio.  It just made sense for our mental stability to go straight to a CVS. 

The procedure was pretty much painless. I expected much worse.  The waiting for results was excruciating. We received the preliminary results (FISH) which included the gender approximately a week later. I will never forget the moment my husband received the call.  We were at the pediatrician with Lucia for a sudden rash (which happened to just be due to a virus she had earlier) and my husband said 'normal boy'. Are eyes welled up with tears of happiness.  At this point we began to feel good about this pregnancy, but were still hesitant. 

We received the full results shortly after Christmas - 46,XY and announced to everyone shortly after. 

& soon there would be four
   

Dear Lucia, (Ten Months)

Dear Lucia,

I am not going to lie, it has been a very rough month.  I lost my Mother this month, and in turn you lost your maternal grandmother. Let me tell you a bit about her…

She was selfless.  She always saw the good in others. She made friends wherever she went.  She could be a bit flighty, but it was all part of her bubbly personality. She loved myself and your aunts and uncles unconditionally. She was never quick to judge.  She enjoyed reality TV, garage sales and a hot cup of tea with cream.  Her smile was contagious.  She loved acting silly.  She made the best pierogi, lasagna, pasta salad and potato salad. 

You have truly been the light of so many people’s darkest days these days. You make your Granda smile and you keep me afloat.

You are so much fun and doing so much.  You have begun to test your balancing skills by letting go of what you are holding and putting your hands in the air.  You stay up for 5 seconds and then fall, but so proud of yourself.

 

You continue to love music and dancing whenever your favorite tune comes on.

We love you so much Lucia.

Love,

Mama 

Dear Lucia, (Nine Months)

Dear Lucia,

You have officially been out in this world longer than you were inside mama!

You my sweet daughter are definitely more of a little girl than a baby these days and we are absolutely loving watching you grow.

You are saying a couple of words now including dada, baba and mama.  You only say mama when you as a last resort when someone is doing something you are not a fan of (diaper changes and sleeping in your crib).

You have really begun to put a word to a few items. If we say "light" "butterfly" or "food" you look at those objects knowing what we are saying. You also dance on command and have begun to wave and give kisses. These have been sporadic but have been becoming more regular.

You love food!  You are a huge fan of banana pancakes in the morning and tried pastina with bone broth a couple of weeks ago.  You are not a huge fan of being spoon fed by others and prefer to self-feed with your fingers or by grabbing the spoon from our hands. It's a treat and more often than not very messy.

You are always moving.  You are pulling yourself up and working your way to walking around objects that you have pulled yourself up onto.  You more often than not prefer army crawling but if you see something that catches your eye that you want you are quickly up on all fours and moving faster than I thought was possible. 

You love to play, but have spent the majority of your days exploring.  You love blowing raspberries whether it be on our arms or the couch cushions. Your favorite toys are stainless steels bowls, measuring cups your table and stuffed animals namely Curious George and your Jellycat lamb.

You are outgrowing your 6-9 month clothing, but a lot still fits.  You are a bit of a peanut.  Your feet are still so small (3.25 inches) and chubby.  The perfect size to nibble.

You amaze us each and every day!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Lucia, (Eight Months)

Dear Lucia,
What a month it has been!  You are officially 4 months away from your first birthday, and full of just as much spunk as we knew you would have. Although, you still do make people work for your smiles and rock the 'suspicious' look more often than not.

You are definitely beginning to transform from baby to little little girl.  You are literally growing up before our eyes. We are cherishing every moment and every step along the way.

You have developed quite a few solid loves over the past month including Mickey Mouse, your bunny lovey, chewing on your baby spoons, walks to the park, anything musical, water and being a part of our family meals.

This month we went on what was your first family lake vacation. We rented a cabin with your Aunt Rita, Uncle Brian and Derek on Lake Delton. The views from the cabin was beautiful and you enjoyed gazing out to the lake.  You also enjoyed your first visit to the beach, albeit short visit as you could not grasp that sand was not edible. 

You were such an easygoing baby on the trip! You specifically enjoyed getting a taste of some real food at dinner each night. You tried french fries, perch and mashed potatoes. 

You love to babble. You have been babbling much more than before as of recently including 'dada' over and over and over again.  You love to lay in bed horizontally and push your feet into Daddy when he is sleeping and say 'dada' repetitively until he gives you 100% of his attention. 

You are not crawling but you scoot and roll as your primary modes of transportation. You have no issue from getting to your destination.

The end of the month was a rough one.  You were unable to rest and were much more clingy than usual and were waking a couple of times at night. We were unsure what the deal was but realized on August 2nd when your first tooth broke through!

We love you Lucia and are anxious to see what the next month will bring!

Love,


Mama

Dear Lucia, (Seven Months)

Dear Lucia,

You are seven months old and I can hardly believe it.

I guess I can sum things up by saying...

You are a ton of fun. You love life and the glimmer in your eyes tells us so. You are full of spunk and personality.

I have said it before and I will say it again we are so blessed to have you in our lives. Your smile is contagious and any inkling of a bad day can be remedied with a smile from you.

You have begun sleeping in your own crib. You love your own space and more often than not we have to retrieve you when you have woken because you do not cry, but instead babble or play with your paci or toes.

You have begun eating solids. You have tried mashed/pureed avocado, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, egg yolk, broccoli and pears. Your favorite being sweet potato mixed with egg yolk.  You also love drinking a bit of water from your Hello Kitty sippy. Your reaction when you get a drop or two of water is priceless.

You love to play both independently and with others.  You love to hear us sing with your favorite songs being, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "If Your're Happy and You Know It..."

We had your six month pictures taken and here are a couple of our favorites.

We love you so very much Lucia. 

Love, 

Mommy

Exclusive Pumping

Not everyone has a 'journey' to exclusively pumping there can be more than one reason others may 'choose' to exclusively pump.  I think its important to note this because in the beginning I was completely naive to this concept. I just assumed ALL mothers wanted to either formula feed or breastfeed their babies. This is not the case.  There are also mothers out there who want to feed their babies breast milk without breastfeeding. 

My journey to EPing was not an easy one.  Lucia had issues latching. We worked with numerous lactation consultants. She did not have a lip or tongue tie.  She had a small mouth, was very eager to eat and lacked some coordination to do so.  The thing is breastfeeding isn't as natural of a process for some as society may lead us to believe.  

I began hand expressing colostrum and spoon feeding her and she would have an occasional latch for a very short period of time. On the second day I began pumping. I continued attempting to feed her from my breast. I was constantly ringing the LC's for assistance.  

We left the hospital two days after Lucia's birth. The pediatrician was a little reluctant to release us as she lost a little bit more than the acceptable 10% weight loss but agreed to do so after we agreed to a weigh-in two days later.  

My milk came in on the third day just as we had hoped. This was huge as I had a few risk factors in issues with delayed lactation including a long induction, cesarean section and large amount of blood loss after delivery.  It was at this point I came to grips with the fact that my heart was set on breastfeeding, but in the end my heart and mind were truly set on feeding Lucia my milk or breast milk (I would have considered donor milk) until she was one year old.

I continued to try and breastfeed Lucia for a couple of weeks after we were home, but also continued to pump every 2.5 hours to maintain and grow my supply. When I was not pumping I was practicing skin to skin and attempting to have Lucia latch. 

After many sleepless nights and numerous lactation consultant visits I decided to exclusively pump.  

Was I disappointed? I was and still am a bit sad, but I am also thrilled I have had enough milk to feed Lucia from day 1. 

I have been exclusively pumping for 6 months and 18 days and have been blessed to be able to feed Lucia solely my breast milk. It has not been easy, but it hasn't been extremely difficult neither. The pros outweigh the cons. When I see her thriving and enjoying mamas milk it makes me beam with happiness. 

Do you have any questions regarding exclusively pumping?