Oh man, you wanna talk about nursing cred...Self has a special section on breast cancer this month, and one of the ladies in it was talking about how she had a (single) mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy to protect her ability to breastfeed--and then she had twins, which I am assuming she nursed because they didn't say differently. Man, you nurse twins with ONE breast...

Saber is two months old tomorrow...so it will be our 2 month nursing anniversary. Because I am so exhausted, I am simply taking it "week by week"...telling myself that I can go one more week-and when I hit that goal, then making it a week later. It's working so far...

I DID get in a 2 mile walk a little bit ago-because of the miraculousness of the Fisher Price baby swing that goes in BOTH directions. Saber apparently doesn't like the traditional way-he likes cradle direction. If I had bought a Graco (one direction) swing...I wouldn't have had my workout. The past few days he has been taking a mid-morning nap in it for about an hour and a half. It is BLISS considering the past few weeks................

He is still not sleeping much at night-up/down all night long, and cranky in the morning with an exhausted ME-but I will take what I can get, and this nap is an improvement. I can exercise, get dressed, and make lunch for Raiden before he goes to kindergarten.

Oh...Saber is smiling now, too. Usually after I feel like bashing my head against the wall is when he decides to give me the silly gummy grin. He has his 2 month appointment tomorrow as well with the doctor-so I'll let you all know how he has grown.

Aphil, every time I see your son's name I mistake it for mine for just a split-second. (You can probably guess how many times I've been mistakenly called Saber.)

Two months is good. A very good start.

I actually got in a good walk today for the first time in ages. Went with my cousin Maggie, who is in a lot better shape than I am right now, though she doesn't think she is. We got in about a three mile walk, going by her estimate. Went up to a nearby church & walked their labyrinth, which was a neat experience. And then I did no small amount of walking at Wal-Mart & the library on top of that, so I'm happy to sit still for a while tonight!

I would love to walk in a labyrinth!!!!!!

That labrynth does sound cool. I know I love fall and am going to try and get in some walks with the kids (even if it is in our yard. )

Aphil--congrats on making it to the two month mark. I know I made it to my 6 week mark this week, which is longer than I made it with William.

I'm doing well. Instead of trying to tackle everyone of my bad habits right now I'm trying to just take it meal by meal and make it through a healthy breakfast. I've had my morning snack of peanut butter and carrot sticks and a boiled egg. I'm hoping if I get in more protein it will keep me fuller longer and if I get enough healthy days in, I'll stop craving so many sweets.
I had my PP checkup last Friday and all is well with me. Nate also had an appointment to check his weight. He was up to just over 8 lbs. and 20.4 inches. I'm not one of those women who have super milk right away, instead my kids have all lost more than 10% of their birthweight, hover for a week at a low number and then gain. He gained 1 1/2 pounds in just over two weeks so he's done better than the other two but I also feed him EBM more often than they got it. I felt better know exactly how much he eats at a time. We are down to giving him about 1 1/2 ounces after a feeding of EBM so he's finally starting to eat more at the breast. I should also get my new pump through WIC either Friday or Monday and I need it. One of my flanges (???) is cracked at the base where it attaches to the bottles and it doesn't always pump very well. I end up having to switch sides in the middle which is a PITA. Once I get the new one, I can leave my old one at home since I only pump one side at a time at the morning and bedtime feeding.
Oh and he is still sleeping through the night. The past couple of nights I have put him in bed with me around 4 a.m. and he went right back to sleep but I think he hit his 6 week growth spurt.

Saber's stats from his doctor's appt.:

birth (36 weeks):

9lbs. 3 oz. 21" long

1 month old:

9 lbs. 8oz. 23" long (He was a sleepy nurser and I had trouble getting him to stay awake long enough to feed really well, so he lost, then hovered, and finally got his birth weight back when he was around 3 weeks...then gained a few ounces by his 1 month checkup.

2 months old (Wednesday):

11 pounds 15oz. (He gained 2 pounds 7 ounces over the month! Since he is gaining over an ounce a day...I am sure he is low 12's by now. )

24" long

It is sooooo good to see you! Your son is beautiful!! I had my DS on August 24th. He weighed 9lbs 9.6ounces and was 23inches long. He has red hair and blue eyes.
At his 2 week check-up he weighed 11lbs 6oz. And as of yesterday (at 7 weeks) he weighed 17 pounds! He is a BIG eater! My grandma asked me if my breastmilk is straight cream....LOL! He is such a good baby. We named him Kristoffer. We used the Scandinavian spelling. I am at work right now. I didn't pump much because I have been taking care of my Dad, so I don't have much of a stored supply. However, I pumped at 10:30 tonight and got 5 ounces off of one side- I hope that is OK. We are supplementing with a bit of formula until I can get my stored supply built up. I am a little nervous tonight- I haven't been away from the baby at all since the day he was born. But, Rick is doing a very good job with him. {{{deep breath}}}

Love ya,
Jennifer

Sheesh, I can never get more than 2 ounces off a side at a pumping! So yeah, I think 5 ounces is OK. Sounds like you're doing just wonderful.

Welcome back Jennifer. I've been thinking of y'all a lot. Mom said your Dad hasn't been doing well.

As for pumping, I always get more out of my left side than my right. 5 ounces sounds great though. It sounds like your milk may be straight cream. I think of mine as more of skim milk. All my kids were slow gainers in the beginning. I think Lilly stayed in the 5th percentile until she was like 9 months old. We'll see what Nate weighs at his 2 month checkup on the 30th. I have to go and pick up my new pump from WIC here in a bit. My last one made it through the weekend but barely. I'm down to one side that will work and will have to use it before I go. Not bad for one that's almost 4 years old.

Today I was supposed to start back on track but I just don't feel like it. Not doing the whole staying within so many calories and getting in exercise. Instead, I'm going to focus on trying to eat healthier and getting in exercise when I can. There is no sense beating myself up if mentally I'm not there yet.

If you notice that you get a LOT more out of one side-rather than a small half to one ounce difference-try nursing more with the breast that you get less from. If the baby prefers, or suckles longer on one side frequently-it will produce more.
I find that if I notice that trend-a few days of extra attention on the other side helps to even it out.

Wow...17 POUNDS????!!! Our babies are close in age, and started at similar weights-and Saber is about 12 1/2 pounds right now. When pumped and either frozen or chilled-mine also looks like skim milk, with about 1/4"-1/2" of the "cream" on top when it separates.

Sabra-when you pump, do you pump long enough to get multiple letdowns? I can get about 4 ounces total (both sides) when I pump each side with the first letdown on each side...but if I pump, pump, pump and basically get nothing but a drop here and there for about 10 minutes-I will get a second let down and end up with 1/2-1 1/2 ounces more (both sides). I am sure if I did it long enough, I could get another let down-just like when Saber nurses constantly with a growth spurt.

I am doing about 1800-2100 calories a day-and getting in about 30-45 minutes of exercise in a day during Saber's nap. I am trying to get back into "ONEderland" by the time I have my doctor's appointment on the 25th-my first mini goal.

Aphil, I am luckily in a situation where I don't have to pump, and it has been a very long time since I tried. I thought once upon a time it would be good to let Robert give the baby a bottle occasionally, but the truth is I rather like being the only one able to feed them.

As far as babies gaining weight slowly...It is a perfectly normal growth pattern for breast-fed babies, but unfortunately a lot of pedis don't realize that.

I got convinced of the goodness of the Walk Away the Pounds tapes (a DVD for walking just struck me as strange), and I am glad I did because I got to exercise to one yesterday. (I only have 2, the one that comes with the book and the Walk & Kick I bought on clearance at WM.) It's a good workout--feels good, anyway, and basic enough and fun enough that I had both older girls "walking" with me for much of it.

God I miss my exercise. Haven't gone but about twice in two weeks. Been seriously house hunting. Signed one contract, then the guy wanted to cancel the sale. I think he decided to continue renting it to the current tennants. Bum had to pay for the appraisal though...he signed the contract...putz. Just put in a bid on another tonight...well wrote it up, realtor will submit it tomorrow. Then, hopefully, we'll be moving and I'll have some decorating and things to do. But one good thing is Curves is only 2 blocks away from this house. I'll also have more room to use my current exercise equipment.

That sucks about that guy. Hopefully you'll find another one.

Sabra—I love the WATP tapes. I have I think 4. Now if I can just get myself to start using them.

Yay. He finally had a feeding where I didn't have to feed him a bottle afterward. I've been pumping one side while he BF and then if he's still hungry will feed him the expressed 1 oz. at a time. This morning, he BF for about 45 minutes and was so content afterward. I hope he keeps it up because I would like to not have to pump at my 2 night feedings and then the feedings on the weekends. I'll keep up the morning pump/feed schedule because I can get at least 7 oz. and that's 1 1/2 feedings.

Now for the not so good news. I've got thrush and it just sucks. The doc called me in some cream and him some nystatin yesterday. It was horrible last night. Feeding and pumping hurt like ****. This morning it wasn't so bad. I've been boiling all my pump parts and his bottle nipples for 20 minutes each night. Daycare's been boiling his paci's when they boil the nipples they use there. Hopefully it will clear up soon.

Dawn,
I never had thrush so I can't give you any advice, but target sells medela quick clean steam bags if your pump is able to be microwaved (some brands can't). You put your pump stuff and paci's in the bag with 2 oz water and micro for 3-5 min and it kills 99.9% of bacteria. It might help to do that inbetween pumps ina ddition to what you are doing with the boiling. I just know it takes forever to boil enough water to submerge bottles and pumps! Anyway, maybe the extra sterilizing would help it clear up faster. I'm sorry you're in pain!

Mary

The bags are 5 for $5 and you can use each one at least 20 times...I used mine until I saw obvious wear, though.