Life...: Week in review

This week in one sense has gone by fairly fast, however in another sense it's hasn't. Either way it's been a rough week.

There's a lot of words in the beginning, but I promise there are a lot of pictures at the end.

For a while I have been saying that I would drop from 4 pump sessions to 3 sessions at the beginning of May. I hadn't really thought much about it and all weekend continued with my normal 4 sessions. However, on Monday I did think about it and decided to go ahead and try to drop down to 3 pumpings. Unfortunately when I made that decision I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

So instead of doing my second pumping around 11:30 or 11:45am, I decided to see if I could push it closer to 1:30 or 2pm. I was only able to make it until 12:45pm before I was in horrible pain on one side, so I went ahead and pumped. Unfortunately the pain did not alleviate after I pumped, however I did not feel any knots like I do if I have a clogged duct. I just wrote it off and didn't think too much about it except when my arm would rub up against the tender spot.

That evening I was still VERY sore, so sore that I couldn't hold Bryce in my normal left arm hold. I cooked dinner, then when I sat down to eat, I felt nauseated and didn't want to eat my dinner. I did go ahead and eat because I find if don't eat, it does affect how much I pump. After dinner I continued our normal evening routine, but noticed I had chills and my eyes were burning, they even looked a little bloodshot. I took my temperature to find I had a low grade fever. So it would seem that I might be getting mastitis.

Instead of giving Bryce his normal nighttime 8-9 oz bottle, I decided to nurse him on the side that was sore just in case it was a clogged duct, then give him a smaller bottle afterwards. He nursed for a little bit but my little piggy doesn't have much patience for nursing when he's awake. However based on how much of his bottle he didn't drink and the amount I pumped afterwards compared to what I normally pumped in the evenings he probably got about 3 - 4 oz from nursing. I was also expecting him to refuse to nurse if I did have mastitis because the milk will have a salty taste if there is an infection, but that wasn't the case, however I discovered that it isn't necessarily true that all babies will refuse.

Of course the night that I really needed the rest, Bryce slept horrible; therefore when my alarm went off Tuesday morning it took everything in me to get up. I got in the shower, and felt very light headed and queasy, so much so that I had to sit down in the floor of the shower. Once I was back standing I washed and conditioned my hair, then I grabbed my face wash to wash my face, but instead put it in my hair! I was definitely out of it.

I debated going in to work, but decided I would. I generally feel better if I force myself to get out of the house and distract me from what ails me. I did call my doctor as soon as they opened and they ended up calling me in a presciption for some antibiotics that I picked up that evening. However during the afternoon I developed a bad headache, so bad that it trumped any other pains and queasiness I was feeling.

Now my left boob feels better, it's still a little sore if I press on it, but for the most part I think I took care of it before it got really bad. However I'm still dealing with this darn headache after many doses of Ibuprophen.

Now I'm scared to drop to 3 pumpings in fear that I'll get an infection again, eventhough I'm on antibiotics for 10 days. Was it truly a sign that my body is not ready to quit breastfeeding just yet? Maybe. I figured after almost (can't forget about the nighttime nursing) exclusively pumping for this long that I would start to lose my milk supply because the pump will never be as efficient as the baby, but that's obviously not the case for me. I think I may just have to move the 2nd pumping back in 15 -30 minute increments.

But as a mommy, I couldn't let any of it get me down and I just have to keep on going. And so I did. Okay now that you're bored with me, it's Bryce's to be in the spotlight.

I have realized I haven't been really great about sharing our new food experiences. So far Bryce has tried Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, Bananas, Apple Sauce, and Green Beans. Green beans were new for this week. I'm not so sure Bryce really likes them as he would rather chew on his bumbo seat, but Fara likes them (and takes care of the clean up). Beside the green beans, he's liked everything else.

Every evening this week despite myself not feeling great we have spent our evenings playing, especially tummy time and sitting up. Then after Bryce went to bed, I have worked in the garden until there was no sunlight...and as long as I felt I wasn't going to pass out.

Here Bryce is with Sophie, he scooted himself all around the blanket and kept Sophie with him. This was actually from Sunday evening, apparently I hadn't gotten them off the camera when I did my post earlier in the week.

I think he looks guilty here.

He's still obsessed with his feet.

A picture of his chunky legs!

We can't forget about Fara.

I recently purchased a new camera, and I've been trying to learn everything I can about it. One thing it does is give off a little green beam so you can take the picture without looking through the viewfinder. Here is one I took but I didn' realize I had the zoom on this one, at least it came out cute.