I hope my husband gets a job soon lol
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
My PostPartum Wishlist
So I spend a lot of time watching TV as my 8 week old likes to nurse constantly, and also doesn't get good naps anywhere else but my lap. I see a lot of commercials and shows that recommend a lot of exercise equipment for in-home workouts. My compiled list of things I want to try:
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sling Me!
Autumn sleeping in the Star SlingMy friend Astrid let me borrow the Peanut Shell (www.thepeanutshell.com). It is not like any I had ever tried before. It is made of fleece and basically reminds me of one of those Turtle Fur neck bands only way bigger. You put it over one shoulder (almost fits like a shawl) and there is some extra fabric up front to make space for the baby. I was able to nurse her in it while walking around TJ Maxx and also had dinner at Moe's when she was 9 days old very peacefully! She's getting a bit too heavy for it already though, at least to lay in it the traditional cradle way. I think when she can hold her head up firmly and is more stable over all she'll be able to ride in different positions in it.
My friend Jamie's friend Rachel (hehe) gave me a sling from Star Slings (www.starslings.com) that is made of a denim type material. Its stronger, not flexible like the fleece one, and is shaped more like a regular sling. This one hurts my back less but it was hard for me to get Autumn in there in a position that she was comfortable in as well. There are no adjustable parts on this one either, so it was a matter of spinning it around my torso until it was just the right angle. She is now sleeping happily in it as I type. I can see this one being one I will reach for while doing housework and doing anything that requires 2 hands! I don't think I can nurse her easily in this one just yet. She is 5 weeks old today and I would estimate weighs about 11-12 lbs or more. She is growing fast!
I also have a Baby Bjorn that is on its 4th kid and a Snugli which I really wish I could use more often but they KILL my back. The Bjorn is best, and perhaps when Autumn is ready to face forward I will find it more comfortable but for now it has to be so high up on my chest that I need a massage after wearing it for more than 15 min or so!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Best Invention Ever (For New Moms)
Even though I'm 30 and on my 3rd kid I do still have some vanity issues. I do still care what I look like to some extent (although lately I'm starting to feel that fade a bit ha ha) and I don't want to be a mom with a FUPA (if you don't know what that means go HERE).
On the back of a Fit Pregnancy magazine...now THERE'S an oxymoron! I saw an advertisement for something called the Belly Bandit. I should have ordered it right then and there but it was a little "pricey" for my cheap arse so I hesitated. The cheapest one is $40-$45 depending what website you buy it from. The Belly Bandit website of course is more expensive. I got mine from Best Baby Organics website for $40. Free shipping too!!
Here is a before picture of me...shudder and apologies for my gross body!!!! But its beautiful, right hahahaha!
This is me about 4 days after giving birth. Floppy!!! And my insides ached like crazy this time.
This is me wearing the Belly Bandit (also known as a compression wrap):
And this is my stomach after wearing it for TWO DAYS and nights!!!!!!:
Unbelievable!! The After pictures are me 7 days after having the baby! I was so excited to see that it actually is working and I didn't waste my money. The only cons so far are that once you start to make it tighter it starts to buckle in a few places and it rides up under my boobs, and if I get sweaty at all it starts to itch where my stretch marks are. I remedied the itch by putting a couple of kleenex between my skin and the wrap. I think that the more expensive versions probably don't have this problem because they have covers on them or are made of bamboo which breathes easier.
The other part that is hard is it takes commitment because you have to wear it day AND night for 6 weeks. If you take it off, you look great but then you start to sag again because you need to give your muscles time to get used to being hard again and not floppy. Also I notice that when I take it off to shower I can feel the achiness coming back. Its probably not so bad if you haven't had other children before or if you were in excellent shape and exercised through your entire pregnancy. However I was not and did not because of the type of job I have which was me sitting on my butt for 8 hours a day answering phones. Ugh.
I have been wearing it for a week now so I will post some more pics after its been a couple of more weeks to show the progress.
Oh and here is a pre-third baby pic of me so you can see what I am going to have to try to come close to attaining again:
This picture was taken after the first 2 were born so I know I can lose the weight. I don't think I will ever be that skinny again but that's ok. I just want to be able to wear jeans again instead of sweatpants all the time!!
On the back of a Fit Pregnancy magazine...now THERE'S an oxymoron! I saw an advertisement for something called the Belly Bandit. I should have ordered it right then and there but it was a little "pricey" for my cheap arse so I hesitated. The cheapest one is $40-$45 depending what website you buy it from. The Belly Bandit website of course is more expensive. I got mine from Best Baby Organics website for $40. Free shipping too!!
Here is a before picture of me...shudder and apologies for my gross body!!!! But its beautiful, right hahahaha!
This is me about 4 days after giving birth. Floppy!!! And my insides ached like crazy this time.This is me wearing the Belly Bandit (also known as a compression wrap):
And this is my stomach after wearing it for TWO DAYS and nights!!!!!!:
Unbelievable!! The After pictures are me 7 days after having the baby! I was so excited to see that it actually is working and I didn't waste my money. The only cons so far are that once you start to make it tighter it starts to buckle in a few places and it rides up under my boobs, and if I get sweaty at all it starts to itch where my stretch marks are. I remedied the itch by putting a couple of kleenex between my skin and the wrap. I think that the more expensive versions probably don't have this problem because they have covers on them or are made of bamboo which breathes easier.
The other part that is hard is it takes commitment because you have to wear it day AND night for 6 weeks. If you take it off, you look great but then you start to sag again because you need to give your muscles time to get used to being hard again and not floppy. Also I notice that when I take it off to shower I can feel the achiness coming back. Its probably not so bad if you haven't had other children before or if you were in excellent shape and exercised through your entire pregnancy. However I was not and did not because of the type of job I have which was me sitting on my butt for 8 hours a day answering phones. Ugh.
I have been wearing it for a week now so I will post some more pics after its been a couple of more weeks to show the progress.
Oh and here is a pre-third baby pic of me so you can see what I am going to have to try to come close to attaining again:
This picture was taken after the first 2 were born so I know I can lose the weight. I don't think I will ever be that skinny again but that's ok. I just want to be able to wear jeans again instead of sweatpants all the time!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Will I Ever Get to Be a Happy Housewife?
I find myself at 30 years old on my second marriage with 2 white cats named Fluffy (#1 and #2 respective to their adoptions), 2 school age kids, a newborn, and unfortunately the better paying job. How many ladies out there have a similar situation? My first marriage was to someone who had a decent enough job so that I only had to work part time for the first 2 years of my eldest child's life, and I chose to go back to work after my 2nd child was born since we had to upgrade to a bigger house than a 2 bedroom flat. After a work related divorce (ironic eh?) 2 years later, a quickie marriage to my current husband, and 4 1/2 years after #2 was born I became pregnant. I lost the baby at 11 weeks, and even though it was horrible timing and had been unplanned, I felt desperate to regain the child I had lost and became pregnant again 8 weeks later, due October 15th.
My husband was a grad student at the University and was set to complete his Master's in June of this year. Then it got pushed to August, then September, and finally October 1. We had hypothesized that he would have been done in June, and would have had plenty of time to get a real job that paid enough for me to stay home and care for our growing brood (I even wouldn't mind adding a 4th at sometime in the not too near future...) and that we would have plenty of time to figure out ourselves by October 15th for sure.
Well, life happens, as my wise boss says. First, my darling newborn decided to wait to be born 12 days late. Despite getting the medieval torture method of stripping the membranes 3 separate times. Yes, that DOES hurt by the way. A lot. Anyway, I tried to continue working up to the bitter end, but my third grader apparently picked his nose at the wrong time and came down with the dreaded Swine Flu when I was 41 weeks pregnant. I began to exhibit symptoms so I called and got on Tamiflu immediately in hopes to stave off the dreaded deadly preggo killer. I walked away from the battle with a nasty sinus inflammation and a bad headache but never had a fever or any coughing/pneumonia symptoms.
I even got vaccinated for H1N1 (or Influenza A as they are keen to call it this week) the day before she was born so its at the bottom of my Stress List. I was one of the "lucky" ones to get the liquid gold. Of course, I felt like a governmental guinea pig and every fiber of my being said not to get it as it hasn't been thoroughly tested and if I'm only supposed to take Claritin sparingly while pregnant and can't even take Advil why would I submit to injecting myself with something that could cause who knows what harm. BUT everyone and their mother are storming the castle trying to get a dose so I felt compelled and left it up to God.
I went into labor at 1:00 AM on Oct 27th and delivered my beautiful perfect little girl baby at 6:37 AM.
"Any special requests?" my doctor asked.
"Epidural now please." I replied.
And after 4ish hours of drugged bliss they gave the A-OK to begin pushing. And, I swear, turned off the drugs. That's a new one for me.
I pushed her out in 5 minutes as it was horribly uncomfortable to feel a baby head lodged in my nether regions and I wasn't keen on letting her hang out there for very long. She had the cord wrapped around her neck 1 time and was a little Smurf-like, but once they unwrapped it and sucked out the goo she pinked right up and was a fine little turkey.
"What is her name?" my doctor asked.
"Fluffy #3" I said. I couldn't decide on a real name at that moment! I was just so happy to finally be able to sit up without feeling like Gumby!
My husband is still lacking in the job department, although to his defense he only graduated a month ago, but it is a frightening thought that after 6 weeks of being my children's mother again that I will have to go back to working all day every day to support our household. My husband gets a little bit for continuing to work for the college for the next couple of months, but he came to the marriage with baggage as many people do, and has his own bills to pay on top of contributing to our combined ones.
What do I do, quit and go on Welfare? It is tempting to say the least. I don't know if I want to work anymore. Not because I am lazy, or because I don't like my job, but because I'm sick of reading about all the troubled children who are committing crimes at younger and younger ages with their parents being totally blindsided because they had no idea what their kids were up to. Why? Because they were both full time at work, sometimes working 2 jobs each!! And why does this country only allow for 12 weeks of maternity leave, when day care costs so much you have to work 2 jobs to pay for it additionally? How can Europeans get away with a year of PAID leave and here we are lucky to get 6 weeks of it paid? I want to actually raise my children, not just pop them out and leave it up to them!
I'm starting to think Women's Lib is backfiring on those of us who want our husbands to take care of us. I think that part of the reason that the divorce rate has skyrocketed is because we wives don't have the respect we used to for our husbands. We can do it all ourselves, so if they piss us off we can just shed them and move on looking for the next unfulfilling relationship.
There isn't that sense of the unbreakable bond of family that there used to be. Dad is no longer the "Head of Household" by default, and Mom is no longer "always there for you".
I know there are some success stories of Supermoms who can juggle it all and have their kids turn out just fine. But I don't feel like I'm Supermom material. I'm mostly regular Mom material. I think I would have a nervous breakdown trying to make everyone happy and hold it all together. I just want to put on a polka dot dress with an apron, learn how to cook beyond Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwiches, and wear high heels and pearls while vacuuming. Is that too much to ask?
Fluffy #1
Fluffy #2
Fluffy #3
My husband was a grad student at the University and was set to complete his Master's in June of this year. Then it got pushed to August, then September, and finally October 1. We had hypothesized that he would have been done in June, and would have had plenty of time to get a real job that paid enough for me to stay home and care for our growing brood (I even wouldn't mind adding a 4th at sometime in the not too near future...) and that we would have plenty of time to figure out ourselves by October 15th for sure.
Well, life happens, as my wise boss says. First, my darling newborn decided to wait to be born 12 days late. Despite getting the medieval torture method of stripping the membranes 3 separate times. Yes, that DOES hurt by the way. A lot. Anyway, I tried to continue working up to the bitter end, but my third grader apparently picked his nose at the wrong time and came down with the dreaded Swine Flu when I was 41 weeks pregnant. I began to exhibit symptoms so I called and got on Tamiflu immediately in hopes to stave off the dreaded deadly preggo killer. I walked away from the battle with a nasty sinus inflammation and a bad headache but never had a fever or any coughing/pneumonia symptoms.
I even got vaccinated for H1N1 (or Influenza A as they are keen to call it this week) the day before she was born so its at the bottom of my Stress List. I was one of the "lucky" ones to get the liquid gold. Of course, I felt like a governmental guinea pig and every fiber of my being said not to get it as it hasn't been thoroughly tested and if I'm only supposed to take Claritin sparingly while pregnant and can't even take Advil why would I submit to injecting myself with something that could cause who knows what harm. BUT everyone and their mother are storming the castle trying to get a dose so I felt compelled and left it up to God.
I went into labor at 1:00 AM on Oct 27th and delivered my beautiful perfect little girl baby at 6:37 AM.
"Any special requests?" my doctor asked.
"Epidural now please." I replied.
And after 4ish hours of drugged bliss they gave the A-OK to begin pushing. And, I swear, turned off the drugs. That's a new one for me.
I pushed her out in 5 minutes as it was horribly uncomfortable to feel a baby head lodged in my nether regions and I wasn't keen on letting her hang out there for very long. She had the cord wrapped around her neck 1 time and was a little Smurf-like, but once they unwrapped it and sucked out the goo she pinked right up and was a fine little turkey.
"What is her name?" my doctor asked.
"Fluffy #3" I said. I couldn't decide on a real name at that moment! I was just so happy to finally be able to sit up without feeling like Gumby!
My husband is still lacking in the job department, although to his defense he only graduated a month ago, but it is a frightening thought that after 6 weeks of being my children's mother again that I will have to go back to working all day every day to support our household. My husband gets a little bit for continuing to work for the college for the next couple of months, but he came to the marriage with baggage as many people do, and has his own bills to pay on top of contributing to our combined ones.
What do I do, quit and go on Welfare? It is tempting to say the least. I don't know if I want to work anymore. Not because I am lazy, or because I don't like my job, but because I'm sick of reading about all the troubled children who are committing crimes at younger and younger ages with their parents being totally blindsided because they had no idea what their kids were up to. Why? Because they were both full time at work, sometimes working 2 jobs each!! And why does this country only allow for 12 weeks of maternity leave, when day care costs so much you have to work 2 jobs to pay for it additionally? How can Europeans get away with a year of PAID leave and here we are lucky to get 6 weeks of it paid? I want to actually raise my children, not just pop them out and leave it up to them!
I'm starting to think Women's Lib is backfiring on those of us who want our husbands to take care of us. I think that part of the reason that the divorce rate has skyrocketed is because we wives don't have the respect we used to for our husbands. We can do it all ourselves, so if they piss us off we can just shed them and move on looking for the next unfulfilling relationship.
There isn't that sense of the unbreakable bond of family that there used to be. Dad is no longer the "Head of Household" by default, and Mom is no longer "always there for you".
I know there are some success stories of Supermoms who can juggle it all and have their kids turn out just fine. But I don't feel like I'm Supermom material. I'm mostly regular Mom material. I think I would have a nervous breakdown trying to make everyone happy and hold it all together. I just want to put on a polka dot dress with an apron, learn how to cook beyond Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwiches, and wear high heels and pearls while vacuuming. Is that too much to ask?
Fluffy #1
Fluffy #2
Fluffy #3
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