Thursday, June 30, 2011

Mama's Milk Mart

Open 24/7.

That's the way I felt around here...and still do to a certain extent, since a little girl came home to our house!

Lydia had jaundice and it got worse after we came home from the hospital, so we I was feeding and pumping and feeding and pumping to try to wash it out of her and avoid another stay at the hospital. I have to say, there were a couple of days I was so worried about her. She just was so lethargic, moreso than just the newborn sleepiness. I was terrified. When we went to get her blood level tested again, she slept through the entire heel prick. The lady said she'd never seen that before. I was worried, and praying all night long for her because she just barely ate, she had no energy. Thankfully, within a couple of days of extra feedings through bottles, she turned around and became a different baby girl.

While I was recovering from delivery, we took down our baby gate to the kitchen. (It's not a swing gate...just a cheapo wooden one, and I didn't really want to have to hop over it.) Stevie was thrilled with the opportunity to get his own cup from the fridge...and peruse whatever else looked good in there too. However, he was also carrying the gallon jug of milk out to me (because of course I was probably nursing) when his cup was empty. That turned into trying to open the jug himself....and trying to pour the jug himself. And well, I had some gallons of milk to clean up off of the floor, off of him, and off of his trucks he tried to play with in it. After a few rounds of this, I decided I made a quick recovery, and we needed the gate back up! Stevie is generally even more interested in milk these days, and I wonder if it's because he sees his sister with bottles of milk sometimes. He's gone through a half gallon of milk just on the weekends.

Like with Stevie, I had a dip in my supply again around 6 weeks, just in time for a growth spurt. I was back to pumping around the clock and visited a natural foods store for some herbs to boost me back up. (They are really helping too! I wish I had done this when I was nursing Stevie.) It was a family affair, so Matt and I loaded up the kids and went to the store. That was an experience! I'd never been there before, but I knew what I was looking for. We pulled into the parking lot and the walls were painted these bright colors to look like farm fields and sunflower fields. I thought it looked a little cheesey, and I turned to Matt, "Are there really going to be walking vegetables in there?" (referring to their commercials)Well, there were aisles and aisles of supplements in what seemed to me no particular order, and thankfully, no walking vegetables. Stevie enjoyed pointing to several containers (thankfully, he wasn't plucking all the bottles off the shelves) and jabbering about them. As I was looking, a guy came over and asked what I was looking for. I turned to him, and he was this young (young as in, around my and Matt's age) muscle man guy. I told him what I was looking for, and I guess judging the book by the cover, totally expected him to need assistance finding it. (No offense to the guy at all, but I figured his expertise would be in the "body building" supplements. My husband who has a nursing wife isn't familiar with what I was looking for.) Boy was I wrong! He acted completely familiar with it! He brought me right to it and told me it was in this form and this form...but you might not want this one because it contains alcohol, and this is another section for "lactation support." I almost laughed out loud at his knowledge, and when we rounded the corner, I did! Matt did too! So, if you need a good natural foods store, I know one where the employees really know their stuff!

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