We have our first big winter storm (for this year) bearing down on us, the fun is supposed to start this evening.
We are as prepared as we can be. We've got a ton of food in the house, and a couple of new snow shovels. One of the new shovels is a small one designed to go in cars I think, but we got it because it's just the right size for Rowen (boy #1.) Shoveling is sooo much more fun when there's a 3 year old helping. :-D
We won't be headed out tonight to pick up last minute essentials. If it's essential, we have backups in storage for it. We certainly won't be headed out for gifts or decorations. I think the boys have a couple of store-bought toys, but everything else is largely DIY or handmade.
It will be nice to have snow on the ground for Yule. Silly, I know. But with time off from work, and no gardens to tend, I like playing in snow. Shoveling is ok when I need to get in some exercise, but building snow people, snow forts, snow sculptures, is all just fun. I love sledding too, and Rowen is just about old enough to take to some gentle sledding slopes.
It's also nice to be headed into winter and know that I'm not going to be ginormously pregnant. I've got all my balance and flexibility back from pregnancy with Logan (baby #2) and I'm quickly regaining muscle strength. There's just something about pregnancy during winter that makes me feel especially vulnerable, and I'm glad to be past it.
Anyway, I hope this storm finds you and yours bundled up warm and toasty.
Have a great Solstice.
May the darkest night give way to a brighter morning.
-Jennie
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Here's another way to give
http://www.weareatheism.com/donate/nonbelievers-giving-aid-support-sandy-hook-elementary/
Aid going directly to the families of the Sandy Hook elementary victims.
Aid going directly to the families of the Sandy Hook elementary victims.
Two Sisters
Sometimes it feels like I have two sisters. I don't, I just have the
one. But, it's hard to grasp that the addiction riddled, organ-killing,
homeless person is the same sister I grew up with.
I was remembering this morning, a fond memory of our childhood in Oklahoma. My mother was sending us up trees to collect mistletoe for the holidays. All three of us kids were tree climbers, but Melody was the best. She could climb higher and longer than either Will or I. She was fearless.
Fearless.
Not a word I can use anymore in conjunction with her name.
I wish I had advice for others facing a similar disconnect with loved ones. But I don't.
She was a bright, athletic, normal sort of kid. She was a high maintenance teenager, but who isn't? Did she fall in with too many drinkers in high school? Was she genetically predisposed to alcoholism? Maybe.
Was there more we could have done as a family? I doubt it. She's had more help and more opportunities than many young adults get. We've tried interventions, tough love, no-strings-attached love, none of it seems to help.
It can't help, not until she decides to quit her addictions, and that's the only fight we can't fight for her.
It can't help, not until she loves herself as much as we love her.
Not until she stops trying to fill the holes in her life with alcohol or the latest man/boy/sugar-daddy.
I know, logically, that there's a good chance she'll die before she gets to that point. That is almost too painful to contemplate. I want to delete it from this page, and never think about it or write it again. But, something stays my hand. Something in me needs to have that out in the open where it can't fester in the dark and quiet corners of my head.
Give your loved ones an extra hug this year when you see them. Count your blessings if they are whole and happy and leading productive lives. For those of you fighting through the pain of addiction, your own or a loved ones, know that you're not alone. Find a support group, or make your own if you need to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's go back to that happy memory of the mistletoe, that's a lot nicer to write about.
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on trees and bushes. Birds eat the ripe (white) seeds and then as they clean their beaks on branches of trees, the seeds get "planted" for the next generation. The mistletoe has no roots of its own. What it does have is tiny extensions called holdfasts, that grip onto the bark of the host plant. They also serve as a sort of umbilical cord, and suck the nutrients from the host. Because of its dependence on the host, mistletoe is only found on living trees. Mistletoe plants can be either female or male; only the female has the beautiful but highly toxic berries.
Mistletoe as decoration during the dark of winter is an old tradition. Predating Christianity. In the old druid and pagan traditions Mistletoe represented the Green Lord, or Saturn.
No one loves a party like the ancient Romans, and their festival of Saturnalia is one of the most well-documented celebrations of the Winter Solstice. This week-long bacchanal included exchanging of gifts, lots of food and wine, dancing and music. Slaves got the week off work, courts were closed, and all kinds of debauchery took place. This festival honored Saturn, of course, and he was an agricultural god. To keep him happy, fertility rituals took place under the mistletoe. Today, we don't quite go as far under our mistletoe (at least not usually) but it does explain where the kissing tradition comes from.
:-D See, much more interesting than you may have thought.
Go send your kids up a tree for some mistletoe if you live in an area where they grow. I've not seen any since we moved to Iowa, so I think it needs warmer locations. Good Luck! Happy Holidays!
-Jennie
I was remembering this morning, a fond memory of our childhood in Oklahoma. My mother was sending us up trees to collect mistletoe for the holidays. All three of us kids were tree climbers, but Melody was the best. She could climb higher and longer than either Will or I. She was fearless.
Fearless.
Not a word I can use anymore in conjunction with her name.
I wish I had advice for others facing a similar disconnect with loved ones. But I don't.She was a bright, athletic, normal sort of kid. She was a high maintenance teenager, but who isn't? Did she fall in with too many drinkers in high school? Was she genetically predisposed to alcoholism? Maybe.
Was there more we could have done as a family? I doubt it. She's had more help and more opportunities than many young adults get. We've tried interventions, tough love, no-strings-attached love, none of it seems to help.
It can't help, not until she decides to quit her addictions, and that's the only fight we can't fight for her.
It can't help, not until she loves herself as much as we love her.
Not until she stops trying to fill the holes in her life with alcohol or the latest man/boy/sugar-daddy.
I know, logically, that there's a good chance she'll die before she gets to that point. That is almost too painful to contemplate. I want to delete it from this page, and never think about it or write it again. But, something stays my hand. Something in me needs to have that out in the open where it can't fester in the dark and quiet corners of my head.
Give your loved ones an extra hug this year when you see them. Count your blessings if they are whole and happy and leading productive lives. For those of you fighting through the pain of addiction, your own or a loved ones, know that you're not alone. Find a support group, or make your own if you need to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's go back to that happy memory of the mistletoe, that's a lot nicer to write about.
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on trees and bushes. Birds eat the ripe (white) seeds and then as they clean their beaks on branches of trees, the seeds get "planted" for the next generation. The mistletoe has no roots of its own. What it does have is tiny extensions called holdfasts, that grip onto the bark of the host plant. They also serve as a sort of umbilical cord, and suck the nutrients from the host. Because of its dependence on the host, mistletoe is only found on living trees. Mistletoe plants can be either female or male; only the female has the beautiful but highly toxic berries.
Mistletoe as decoration during the dark of winter is an old tradition. Predating Christianity. In the old druid and pagan traditions Mistletoe represented the Green Lord, or Saturn.
No one loves a party like the ancient Romans, and their festival of Saturnalia is one of the most well-documented celebrations of the Winter Solstice. This week-long bacchanal included exchanging of gifts, lots of food and wine, dancing and music. Slaves got the week off work, courts were closed, and all kinds of debauchery took place. This festival honored Saturn, of course, and he was an agricultural god. To keep him happy, fertility rituals took place under the mistletoe. Today, we don't quite go as far under our mistletoe (at least not usually) but it does explain where the kissing tradition comes from.
:-D See, much more interesting than you may have thought.
Go send your kids up a tree for some mistletoe if you live in an area where they grow. I've not seen any since we moved to Iowa, so I think it needs warmer locations. Good Luck! Happy Holidays!
-Jennie
Monday, December 10, 2012
Charitable Giving - As An Atheist
My company has a great program, called, "Jeans for Dollars." In return for $5 a week out of an employee's paycheck, said employee can wear jeans to work on Fridays. The $5 gets combined with all the other $5, and a check is written each week to a different local charity. It's an optional thing, no one is pressured to participate. For the first 3 years of my employment here, I elected not to participate. Even during the time when I was on the committee that managed the list of 52 charities. My problem was always that the list was chocked full of religious leaning charities. Faith based charities, church organized outreach, whatever you want to call them. It seemed like there wasn't anyone in this area doing charitable works without needing Jebus along to proselytize.
I wasn't interested in sending my money to religious based organizations. In my opinion, the harm done by religions far outweighs the good their charitable arms do.
I feel like fewer women would need rescue shelters if fewer of them followed church doctrine. Telling women they are inferior to men. Telling women to stay home and raise as many kids as possible, preaching against practical birth control options. Telling women not to pursue education or careers. Telling women not to speak or teach as those are men's roles, yes, that IS still happening.
All of that just leads to women who have far fewer options when the Shit Hits the Fan; when Lord-Husband becomes abusive, or a user, or just has the bad luck to die. I don't want to imply that running a family and keeping house are easy, or not hard work, they are. But, they don't translate well into jobs that can support said family. Especially when the person in question has no other training or certifications.
I feel like you can't, as an organization, intentionally and systematically limit and debase an entire HALF of the population, and then turn around and want accolades for, "All the good we do."
Where was I? Oh, right, the company program. My plan was to find a few secular charities in the area and either get them on the list, or just send them my money directly. Sadly, no such charities exists in the area. This is a really religious corner of the upper midwest.
Additionally, my wardrobe has shifted a little since baby #2, and I have some better fitting jeans than I do work slacks. Winter is closing in, and jeans are warmer than my work slacks.
All of this combined to convince me to finally sign up for the program. I try to convince myself that in the trenches of poverty and addiction, maybe these organizations are actually doing some good. Some of them provide food for women and kids, some provide emergency housing. If they are more Christian than I'm comfortable with, well, maybe I can live with that for now. And maybe I'll rethink things once summer comes around and I'll remove my $5 from the program. :-D Stay tuned for further developments.
Here are some excellent secular charities, for those interested in charitable giving before the end of the year.
Camp Quest - a secular kids camp, they have scholarships for kids who might not otherwise get summer camp experience.
Foundation Beyond Belief - They aggregate charitable giving by humanists and atheists and give funds to a set of causes/charities every quarter.
Burners Without Borders - the usual "without borders" deal, a group of people interested in volunteering to help others. They take donations of money and time.
-Jennie
I wasn't interested in sending my money to religious based organizations. In my opinion, the harm done by religions far outweighs the good their charitable arms do.
I feel like fewer women would need rescue shelters if fewer of them followed church doctrine. Telling women they are inferior to men. Telling women to stay home and raise as many kids as possible, preaching against practical birth control options. Telling women not to pursue education or careers. Telling women not to speak or teach as those are men's roles, yes, that IS still happening.
All of that just leads to women who have far fewer options when the Shit Hits the Fan; when Lord-Husband becomes abusive, or a user, or just has the bad luck to die. I don't want to imply that running a family and keeping house are easy, or not hard work, they are. But, they don't translate well into jobs that can support said family. Especially when the person in question has no other training or certifications.
I feel like you can't, as an organization, intentionally and systematically limit and debase an entire HALF of the population, and then turn around and want accolades for, "All the good we do."
Where was I? Oh, right, the company program. My plan was to find a few secular charities in the area and either get them on the list, or just send them my money directly. Sadly, no such charities exists in the area. This is a really religious corner of the upper midwest.
Additionally, my wardrobe has shifted a little since baby #2, and I have some better fitting jeans than I do work slacks. Winter is closing in, and jeans are warmer than my work slacks.
All of this combined to convince me to finally sign up for the program. I try to convince myself that in the trenches of poverty and addiction, maybe these organizations are actually doing some good. Some of them provide food for women and kids, some provide emergency housing. If they are more Christian than I'm comfortable with, well, maybe I can live with that for now. And maybe I'll rethink things once summer comes around and I'll remove my $5 from the program. :-D Stay tuned for further developments.
Here are some excellent secular charities, for those interested in charitable giving before the end of the year.
Camp Quest - a secular kids camp, they have scholarships for kids who might not otherwise get summer camp experience.
Foundation Beyond Belief - They aggregate charitable giving by humanists and atheists and give funds to a set of causes/charities every quarter.
Burners Without Borders - the usual "without borders" deal, a group of people interested in volunteering to help others. They take donations of money and time.
-Jennie
Friday, December 7, 2012
What Do You Call It?
Hubby and I were raised in different areas of the country. Neither of us is really "from" somewhere, as we both moved around extensively. In general though, we grew up in different parts of the country. Different parts of the country, with apparently different language customs. It's a bit funny when it comes to names for pieces of furniture, or parts of rooms. I never realized how many different names there can be for one piece of furniture.
We find that if we don't address it head on, we'll spend months talking past one another, missing important directions or requests because we're not understanding what the other is talking about.
We had to go through the house and point at things and say, "We're going to call this the, "small pantry," and this will be, "front mudroom," and this is the, "large pantry," and this is the "small mudroom."
It was the same with furniture. I always called the main table, "the kitchen table." And it drove Dave nuts, because it's not in the kitchen. hahahaha I'm trying to get in the habit of calling it the "dining room table," but it's a hard habit to break. And we have this TV hutch we got somewhere, I think from my mother, and we don't have a TV, so we use it to sort mail and hold the archives of past years' mail. I spent 5 minutes today trying to get him to pull out a piece of mail for me so I can call the guy from work today, and I couldn't get him to understand which piece of furniture I was talking about. He says he would call it a cabinet, as opposed to a hutch.
I think this can come up in other situations, not just marriage. At least for those of us who don't live and die in the same city we were born in. Take the time to clear up the language confusion, before it becomes a problem. :-) Your team, or family or whoever, will appreciate it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the long blog silence. I've been blogging a lot with my paid position, and I don't have the pressure in my brain to get things out like I used to. Most of my prepper/survival posts are going to that blog, and no longer going up here. If you want to know where that blogging is happening, let me know and I'll whisper it in your ear (digitally speaking.) I don't want to link to it, because we're trying to keep my writing on that blog entirely separate from this blog.
I am going to try to put up more posts here moving forward. Call it a new year's resolution. Smaller things, quicker to write things.
Probably more culture and personal news and probably some sewing projects show and tell. And, probably a few more of my Jennie-rants, that can't go up on the other blog. :-D
I hope your winter solstice season is full of warmth and family and good food. Take care!
-Jennie
We find that if we don't address it head on, we'll spend months talking past one another, missing important directions or requests because we're not understanding what the other is talking about.
We had to go through the house and point at things and say, "We're going to call this the, "small pantry," and this will be, "front mudroom," and this is the, "large pantry," and this is the "small mudroom."
It was the same with furniture. I always called the main table, "the kitchen table." And it drove Dave nuts, because it's not in the kitchen. hahahaha I'm trying to get in the habit of calling it the "dining room table," but it's a hard habit to break. And we have this TV hutch we got somewhere, I think from my mother, and we don't have a TV, so we use it to sort mail and hold the archives of past years' mail. I spent 5 minutes today trying to get him to pull out a piece of mail for me so I can call the guy from work today, and I couldn't get him to understand which piece of furniture I was talking about. He says he would call it a cabinet, as opposed to a hutch.
I think this can come up in other situations, not just marriage. At least for those of us who don't live and die in the same city we were born in. Take the time to clear up the language confusion, before it becomes a problem. :-) Your team, or family or whoever, will appreciate it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the long blog silence. I've been blogging a lot with my paid position, and I don't have the pressure in my brain to get things out like I used to. Most of my prepper/survival posts are going to that blog, and no longer going up here. If you want to know where that blogging is happening, let me know and I'll whisper it in your ear (digitally speaking.) I don't want to link to it, because we're trying to keep my writing on that blog entirely separate from this blog.
I am going to try to put up more posts here moving forward. Call it a new year's resolution. Smaller things, quicker to write things.
Probably more culture and personal news and probably some sewing projects show and tell. And, probably a few more of my Jennie-rants, that can't go up on the other blog. :-D
I hope your winter solstice season is full of warmth and family and good food. Take care!
-Jennie
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Breastfeeding Exclusively While Working Full Time
As a full time working mother, creating a new life comes with some very real challenges. Problems of balancing time and energy, as well as managing expectations. There's also the necessity of handling the physical demands of both the job and the baby. This post is exploring some of the paths I've taken this year and what has worked well for our little non-traditional family arrangement.
Young Logan was born in April. My employer was great about making sure I was weaned off of projects and prepared for my team to step in and take over anything I was working on when baby's timer went off. That part of maternity leave went really well. There were very few hiccups after my water broke early Weds morning and I asked my team lead to take over responsibility for the work I had planned for that week. I had no hesitation about making that call, and nothing but excitement about meeting the young lad that I knew would be out soon. (Well, excitement and a good dollop of fear and anxiety, but I'll save that for the birth story.) I know I'm blessed to have those privileges. I say blessed here, only to use a word other than "lucky," as I don't believe I'm lucky. I'm not happy with blessed either, as it implies that the blessing was bestowed on my by a deity, which I also don't believe in. The family friendly practices of this company were the main reason they lured me out to the middle of nowhere NW Iowa. There was no luck involved, I worked hard for my engineering degree and was extremely picky about the job I accepted here. There are lactation rooms, fully supported FMLA leave policies, my boss is a woman and has had 4 kids with this company. These were all things I verified before taking the position, even though at the time, I wasn't expecting to need to use them.
Anyway, I wanted to be clear on where I'm coming from with this post. I know I'm fortunate in the facilities and the support I receive, and it saddens me that not every woman in America has at least this much support. There's no right or wrong way to be a good parent, and I don't want to imply that this is the only or best way for anyone other than us.
I had 12 weeks off in total. There were 5 of those weeks where I received 50% pay, from the temporary disability insurance the company carries. The rest of the time off was without pay. As the main income provider for my family, this required a lot of advanced planning. For the 8 month prior to the delivery, I sent 400$ a month towards the Health Savings Account (HSA). Plus I transferred a good chunk out of our savings into there, something on the order of 1 or 1.2K. We have a $4,000 deductible on our current health insurance and I knew I wanted at least $3,200 in the HSA before baby came, in order to have enough money in there to cover most of the medical bills. I also tried to get every monthly bill paid up or paid ahead so that the first month after baby we could ignore the mail without anything getting shut off.
Jennie, what does any of this have to do with breastfeeding? Well, I'm getting to that part. All of that work ahead of time set us up so that I could take the maximum allowed time off. I didn't want financial pressures pushing me back to the office, before baby and I were physically ready for it. 12 weeks is barely enough time to ensure that, 5 weeks or 6 weeks would have been really hard.
At 10 weeks out, boss lady and I decided that I would come back part time on week 12, using the last week of FMLA, over a 2 week span. I worked a MWF schedule my first 2 weeks back, using FMLA (unpaid) leave for T/TH. This helped ease both baby and I into the work routine. On my end there was the pumping regimen to endure, and the desk schedule of 7:30-5pm. On baby's end there was adjustment to bottle feeding with Dad. Once I knew my start day, I had to make sure that there was enough milk pumped and frozen to sustain baby for that day. This was a bit of a guess on my part. I knew how many feedings he usually had, and I tried to make sure there were enough bags in the freezer to cover the number of feedings I expected to miss. I didn't really know quantities, so I tried not to worry about it, and I had an extra bag to cover a bit of guessing error.
A few words about pumping at work. I have to pump 3 times a day at work. (I work the aforementioned schedule of 7:30-5 in a cube.) My company has 50+ employees, so we have a lactation room. (It's also a server room, but not high traffic.) My boss leaves my pumping breaks up to me to schedule and follow and work around. I try to stick to a schedule, I use my calendar and repeating alarms to help. I have found that it's not critical though, I can swing one feeding by 30 minutes in either direction and not have any problems. It takes me 15 minutes to pump. I usually combine my pee break/coffee refill and pump break, so I'm away from my desk for 20 minutes each time. By the end of the first week of full time pumping, my nips were hurting enough that I had to break out another set of Soothies pads to ease them a bit Friday and Saturday. Second week of full time went a little better.
A few words about the pump. I bought a double electric pump, with letdown programming. I got the cheapest brand in that tier of pumps. Lansinoh's. It didn't come with a bag, or with icepacks but it came with everything needed to pump. I made a bag, because I'm cool like that. It does help to have a bag for it, that way I can easily and discreetly carry it to work on Monday mornings, and home Friday evenings. I use my lunch box to carry the milk home in. It's rare for me not to bring my lunch, so that works fine in my situation. If you know you need a bag, and you know you need a specific ice pack/cooler solution, make sure the pump you buy comes with those. Otherwise, save your money and buy just the pump.
With each pumping session I pump both boobs, simultaneously. (Ha! It took me 9 paragraphs to say boobs. You're welcome.) I expected that to be difficult the first time, but it really wasn't. Letdown has always happened in both, when one is stimulated, so that part didn't feel any different. I always have one lady that lets down a little quicker than the other. It varies each day, depending on my nursing habits the night before. I just keep the pump in letdown mode until both have letdown, then I send it into pump mode. Usually there's only 5-30 seconds difference, so it's not a big deal.
Along with the differences in letdown timings, there's also a difference in quantity. Every day is different, but there's always one that's producing more for whatever reason. Then as the day progresses, the quantities lessen. I can pump 7oz total in the morning session, but my noon session is usually only 5-6 oz, and the afternoon session is usually only 4-5 oz.
So, I usually pump 16-18 oz at work every day. That's still matching up to what baby eats at home with Dave. I know there are some days he wishes he had an extra bit, but he's usually able to keep baby calm (if hungry) until I can get home. There is an extra bag for emergencies in the freezer, but we both do our best to leave that one there for true emergencies, and not just to calm the baby because we can't deal with another 10 minutes of screaming.
Eating for two is a bit of a hassle at work. I eat as much as I can for breakfast, and I bring a jam-packed lunch bag for work. Lots of fruit and veggies to help me feel full and keep me away from the vending machines. Lots of water, to keep hydrated. Lot's of whole grains and lots of dairy. It would cost a fortune to feed me 700 calories at a fast food place, and it wouldn't have the required range of vitamins or whole grains, so I don't even try.
After lunch I toss my ice pack in the freezer to get chilly, and then when I'm headed home for the day I put my 3 bags of milk in the now empty lunch box. At home the milk goes straight in the freezer.
Evenings and nights Logan and I nurse as often as he wants it. Well, as often as I can mange to sit my butt in a chair and let him nurse.
Really, I think that's the hardest part, giving up my night and weekend freedoms to care for this little proto-human. Which is a selfish thing to admit, but I'll admit it. I didn't magically become unselfish or less independant-minded because I birthed spawn. Hubby, who knows me better than I know myself sometimes, was the first to put a finger on it when my frustrations were getting the best of me. Now, I try to be mindful of the transient nature of this bond between baby and I. 30 years from now it probably won't matter if there was less garden produce or a few less salsa dances. I'll have more garden seasons, I will dance again, I won't have another year of breastfeeding Logan.
Some days that mantra works better than others.
But, that's life, yea?
Anyway, I wanted to be clear on where I'm coming from with this post. I know I'm fortunate in the facilities and the support I receive, and it saddens me that not every woman in America has at least this much support. There's no right or wrong way to be a good parent, and I don't want to imply that this is the only or best way for anyone other than us.
I had 12 weeks off in total. There were 5 of those weeks where I received 50% pay, from the temporary disability insurance the company carries. The rest of the time off was without pay. As the main income provider for my family, this required a lot of advanced planning. For the 8 month prior to the delivery, I sent 400$ a month towards the Health Savings Account (HSA). Plus I transferred a good chunk out of our savings into there, something on the order of 1 or 1.2K. We have a $4,000 deductible on our current health insurance and I knew I wanted at least $3,200 in the HSA before baby came, in order to have enough money in there to cover most of the medical bills. I also tried to get every monthly bill paid up or paid ahead so that the first month after baby we could ignore the mail without anything getting shut off.
Jennie, what does any of this have to do with breastfeeding? Well, I'm getting to that part. All of that work ahead of time set us up so that I could take the maximum allowed time off. I didn't want financial pressures pushing me back to the office, before baby and I were physically ready for it. 12 weeks is barely enough time to ensure that, 5 weeks or 6 weeks would have been really hard.
At 10 weeks out, boss lady and I decided that I would come back part time on week 12, using the last week of FMLA, over a 2 week span. I worked a MWF schedule my first 2 weeks back, using FMLA (unpaid) leave for T/TH. This helped ease both baby and I into the work routine. On my end there was the pumping regimen to endure, and the desk schedule of 7:30-5pm. On baby's end there was adjustment to bottle feeding with Dad. Once I knew my start day, I had to make sure that there was enough milk pumped and frozen to sustain baby for that day. This was a bit of a guess on my part. I knew how many feedings he usually had, and I tried to make sure there were enough bags in the freezer to cover the number of feedings I expected to miss. I didn't really know quantities, so I tried not to worry about it, and I had an extra bag to cover a bit of guessing error.
A few words about pumping at work. I have to pump 3 times a day at work. (I work the aforementioned schedule of 7:30-5 in a cube.) My company has 50+ employees, so we have a lactation room. (It's also a server room, but not high traffic.) My boss leaves my pumping breaks up to me to schedule and follow and work around. I try to stick to a schedule, I use my calendar and repeating alarms to help. I have found that it's not critical though, I can swing one feeding by 30 minutes in either direction and not have any problems. It takes me 15 minutes to pump. I usually combine my pee break/coffee refill and pump break, so I'm away from my desk for 20 minutes each time. By the end of the first week of full time pumping, my nips were hurting enough that I had to break out another set of Soothies pads to ease them a bit Friday and Saturday. Second week of full time went a little better.
With each pumping session I pump both boobs, simultaneously. (Ha! It took me 9 paragraphs to say boobs. You're welcome.) I expected that to be difficult the first time, but it really wasn't. Letdown has always happened in both, when one is stimulated, so that part didn't feel any different. I always have one lady that lets down a little quicker than the other. It varies each day, depending on my nursing habits the night before. I just keep the pump in letdown mode until both have letdown, then I send it into pump mode. Usually there's only 5-30 seconds difference, so it's not a big deal.
Along with the differences in letdown timings, there's also a difference in quantity. Every day is different, but there's always one that's producing more for whatever reason. Then as the day progresses, the quantities lessen. I can pump 7oz total in the morning session, but my noon session is usually only 5-6 oz, and the afternoon session is usually only 4-5 oz.
So, I usually pump 16-18 oz at work every day. That's still matching up to what baby eats at home with Dave. I know there are some days he wishes he had an extra bit, but he's usually able to keep baby calm (if hungry) until I can get home. There is an extra bag for emergencies in the freezer, but we both do our best to leave that one there for true emergencies, and not just to calm the baby because we can't deal with another 10 minutes of screaming.
Eating for two is a bit of a hassle at work. I eat as much as I can for breakfast, and I bring a jam-packed lunch bag for work. Lots of fruit and veggies to help me feel full and keep me away from the vending machines. Lots of water, to keep hydrated. Lot's of whole grains and lots of dairy. It would cost a fortune to feed me 700 calories at a fast food place, and it wouldn't have the required range of vitamins or whole grains, so I don't even try.
After lunch I toss my ice pack in the freezer to get chilly, and then when I'm headed home for the day I put my 3 bags of milk in the now empty lunch box. At home the milk goes straight in the freezer.
Evenings and nights Logan and I nurse as often as he wants it. Well, as often as I can mange to sit my butt in a chair and let him nurse.
Really, I think that's the hardest part, giving up my night and weekend freedoms to care for this little proto-human. Which is a selfish thing to admit, but I'll admit it. I didn't magically become unselfish or less independant-minded because I birthed spawn. Hubby, who knows me better than I know myself sometimes, was the first to put a finger on it when my frustrations were getting the best of me. Now, I try to be mindful of the transient nature of this bond between baby and I. 30 years from now it probably won't matter if there was less garden produce or a few less salsa dances. I'll have more garden seasons, I will dance again, I won't have another year of breastfeeding Logan.
Some days that mantra works better than others.
But, that's life, yea?
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Reboot
Greetings readers.
I am still alive. :-D
Having a baby is like getting hit with a ton of bricks. :-D I promise, I'll have his birth story up soon, but the important bits are, he's here, we're both fine and life is slowly regaining a bit of rhythm.
Logan Ash Erwin is what we saddled him with and he was born April 19th in the wee hours of the morning.
It's been a wonderful spring and we've had a great start to the summer too. I've been enjoying every intoxicating moment of his newborn months. All the wonderful baby smells, baby kisses and little coos. The digital world took a backseat as real life held me enthralled.
My full time job went on hiatus for an 11 week maternity leave. I'm back part time right now, and will resume full time in a couple of weeks. Yay for employers who aren't asshats!! :-D Seriously though, America lags so far behind other industrial nations for maternity leave, I'm happy that this company fully supported my 12 week leave, but I can't help but feel that I would have loved a 4 or 5 month break. Sigh.. C'est la vie, n'est pas? I'm back to 90% full speed, and feeling great, so hi-ho hi-ho, it's back to work we go.
I'm once again gardening 3 different gardens, which is an odd mirror to my postpartum period with Rowen, when I had 3 different plots in Des Moines. Peas had a good run this spring, Rowen even got into the spirit, and every time we went out to the garden he asked to pick "Peee-pod!" Lettuce has gone wild in my yard, it's literally sprouting up in the grass and along the edges of every flower bed. Love it. I had a great crop of radishes, and found out that I like the White French Breakfast radishes a little more than the typical little red ones. Rounding out our salad heaven was a terrific batch of green onions.
I just harvested my beloved garlic crop. 18 beautiful heads, some of the biggest I've ever grown. Yay!
Whoops! There's the baby call, gotta run. I promise, more posts about everything soon.
I am still alive. :-D
Having a baby is like getting hit with a ton of bricks. :-D I promise, I'll have his birth story up soon, but the important bits are, he's here, we're both fine and life is slowly regaining a bit of rhythm.
Logan Ash Erwin is what we saddled him with and he was born April 19th in the wee hours of the morning.
It's been a wonderful spring and we've had a great start to the summer too. I've been enjoying every intoxicating moment of his newborn months. All the wonderful baby smells, baby kisses and little coos. The digital world took a backseat as real life held me enthralled.
My full time job went on hiatus for an 11 week maternity leave. I'm back part time right now, and will resume full time in a couple of weeks. Yay for employers who aren't asshats!! :-D Seriously though, America lags so far behind other industrial nations for maternity leave, I'm happy that this company fully supported my 12 week leave, but I can't help but feel that I would have loved a 4 or 5 month break. Sigh.. C'est la vie, n'est pas? I'm back to 90% full speed, and feeling great, so hi-ho hi-ho, it's back to work we go.
I'm once again gardening 3 different gardens, which is an odd mirror to my postpartum period with Rowen, when I had 3 different plots in Des Moines. Peas had a good run this spring, Rowen even got into the spirit, and every time we went out to the garden he asked to pick "Peee-pod!" Lettuce has gone wild in my yard, it's literally sprouting up in the grass and along the edges of every flower bed. Love it. I had a great crop of radishes, and found out that I like the White French Breakfast radishes a little more than the typical little red ones. Rounding out our salad heaven was a terrific batch of green onions.
I just harvested my beloved garlic crop. 18 beautiful heads, some of the biggest I've ever grown. Yay!
Whoops! There's the baby call, gotta run. I promise, more posts about everything soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
