20 Week Anatomy Scan... and other things

So, this week started out very busy for the Naylor family! Avery started her swimming lessons today, Andrew started his new job today and I had my 20 week ultrasound. Andrew left about 6:30am this morning and even though I tried to go back to sleep, I ended up just laying in bed until the girls got up about about 7:00 or so. My sister Donea decided to come with me to my ultrasound so I wouldn't be alone and to watch Hadley, who was also going with us. And I dropped Avery off at my sister Desiree's around 8:00am for her to take her to swimming lessons. Well, my anatomy scan went great! Carter looks amazing and was moving all around, though he was trying to sleep and kept hiding his face and laying on his belly. But we got confirmation he is still a boy - which is good news! Not that I wouldn't be excited for another girl, but I'm pretty set on this little one being our baby boy Carter now. I'll have one more ultrasound in August or September, an elective 3D ultrasound so Andrew can see him again. Plus, it's our last baby, so we want to do something special. Avery's swim lessons went great, even though she refused to put her face under water. She was going out there without a floatie and trying to swim herself. Can't wait to take her myself tomorrow! And Andrew's job went as well as a new job can go. :) He takes such great care of our family. Plus, his song he recorded and wrote himself is on iTunes for purchase now! It was a good day for our family... And to add a bit about little miss Hadley, well, the girl ate amazingly today. Half of a cheese quesadilla and cheerios for lunch and mac & cheese, applesauce and string cheese for dinner. She already eats way more than her picky, non-eating sister!

Breastfeeding... and Parenting

Breastfeeding is such a controversial topic, so I'm not trying to get in a fight with anyone by posting this specific post.
I'll preface this post with how I feel about it. Parenting is a science, and the exact same formula will not work for every parent and every family. Sometimes, I feel like I"m just winging it. You do something one way, it doesn't work for you or your child, so you change it up. Unless you are hurting your children, there's no right or wrong way to parent.
I had some lofty ideas of what parenting would be like when I was in college and even when I was pregnant. Most of things are much different now.
Here is what's important for parenting: if there are 2 of you, make sure you are on the same page (ish). I say ish because as long as you are close in your ideas, you can probably work it out. But co-parenting is hardest when each parent is doing their own very different thing.
Okay, back to breastfeeding. It wasn't until I took a health and growth class in college that I realized how awesome breastfeeding might be. It is not always the right choice for every family. It is not always the right choice for every kid. And it sometimes doesn't even work out for some. But I learned enough in that class to realize, Hey, maybe I do want to try breastfeeding my kids.
I won't go in to how awesome breast milk is specifically. Most of us have heard it. If you haven't, google it.
So, when I was pregnant with Avery, I figured I'd give it a whirl. I bought a few books. Set up a little nursing station in her bedroom (rocker, ottoman, receiving blankets/burp cloths, pump, cd player with soothing music, lamp, book case for miscellaneous reading about breastfeeding of course). My goal was 6 months, then I'd reevaluate then. I always swore I wouldn't breastfeed past one year.
But Avery was born 6 weeks early. And any breastfeeding book will tell you: don't give the baby pacifiers! don't give the baby a bottle! don't supplement with formula! (This is what I gathered from those books anyway.) But my baby in the NICU was given a pacifier right away to evaluate her suck/breathe/swallow action. If she could do that, then she could try to eat. She did it. I started pumping right away, but my body had a hard time realizing what just happened, with the baby coming early. And I was quite alright with them trying to feed her. She got a bottle of formula right away (gasp, I know). And she did great eating. And she gained weight. And she kept her body temperature up. And she was home within 7 days of her birth.
It was worth it. I pumped and when I had milk, we'd feed her that with a bottle. And when I was at the hospital, I would try to breastfeed her. Because her mouth was so tiny, she couldn't latch properly. So we used nipple shields, which I never got her to give up. I breastfed her, along with formula supplementation, for 4 months. 4 months on nipple shields! Once I went back to work, the nipple shield issue plus pumping tanked my supply. So, I quit feeding her myself, because that's what worked for our family. She got frustrated that breastfeeding took too long. I got frustrated that she was so frustrated. And my nerves were shot. And even though I felt a little guilt in quitting... I also felt good for giving it a shot. It was really hard.
So, when I got pregnant with Hadley, I decided I was going to try it again. With a full-term baby. And Hadley got it right away. Even with a c-section, she was breastfeeding within 1 1/2 hours of birth, when she was still alert and figuring out what the heck was going on. She latched right on. It was perfect. She ate every 3 hours and she latched every time. Her latch was shallow, but I had researched and researched latches, since we never had one with Avery, and I knew what to do to correct it. And believe it or not, youtube videos were a big help. If you don't mind watching a complete stranger breastfeed, check them out. Huge help.
I won't lie and say our breastfeeding relationship was the easiest thing ever though, because at about 2 weeks, her latch still wasn't corrected even though she was gaining weight very quickly and eating every 3 hours quite a bit. Incorrect latches HURT. I would dread when she would need to eat and cry, but I knew if I kept it up, we'd get past it. And we did! And after that, our breastfeeding relationship has been the easiest thing EVER. Way easier than buying and preparing formula each time. Granted, I didn't go back to work, so I can't say whether that would have made a difference, but since I'm home, that's what works. She's starting to wean herself now that we introduced milk and she's eating more table foods.
Breastfeeding during teething is also awesome. Did you know breast milk will change based on what's going on with the baby? Yeah, and it's a natural comforter and pain reliever. So, when we hit teething with Avery, our 100% formula-fed baby, it was awful. Lots of crying, restlessness, fits, pain, etc. With very little sleep. And fevers. And drooling.
With Hadley, she just takes shorter naps during the day and she may wake up at night for a feeding. No fevers. Not much crying and fussing. And she rarely acts like she's in pain. Could be the baby. Could be breastfeeding. :)
If you want to breastfeed, you really have to want to. It's work. It's not easy. But it's worth it. Even if you only breastfeed for a week. (Seriously, I learned that in my health & growth class.) But if it's just not something you want to do, I won't think I'm better than you (at least not when it comes to what you're feeding your child.... kidding... maybe). ;) It is a personal choice. But I am telling you there are some major benefits of breastfeeding for your child, and for you. Breastfeeding has allowed me to drop all of my pre-pregnancy weight each time within about 3 weeks. Oh, yeah. Gotta love it. And I definitely plan on doing it again with Carter. And if it doesn't work, I'll know I tried my hardest and move on. Because that's part of parenting too. Moving on and going with the flow. Children will definitely teach you all about that. :)

Eating Without Eggs

We've found out that so far, having Hadley eat egg-free isn't that difficult. She is just now making that transition from jarred baby foods and pureed baby food to more table top foods, so she's typically eating something different from the rest of us, or she's just eating a portion of what we are eating. Because of my pregnancy, we do tend to eat out more often, so it is hard knowing if egg is in something. Typically fruits and vegetables are okay, but bread is always a tricky one... typical breads we eat at home do not contain eggs, so a grilled cheese at home is fine, but when we're out, we aren't sure if the restaurant's homemade bread is or is not made with eggs. So, we just have to pack a lot more of our own stuff to ensure she's eating egg-free.


However, once Hadley is eating more of what we are all eating, we will have to be VERY careful. This means, when we go to birthday parties, Hadley can't eat the cakes or ice cream there. She can't have muffins or banana bread. She can't eat the same snacks that Avery eats occasionally. So, starting now, we have to start limiting all of the family's egg intake. The only thing I won't limit is Avery's intake of actual eggs. She loves scrambled eggs and since they are good for her, we won't limit that. Those days, Hadley will just have to have a different breakfast. I found some egg-free waffles and Pinterest and Google are useful for other egg-free recipes.

Oh, Allergies

So, we may be adding a whole new twist to this blog. We found out today that Hadley is very allergic to eggs. Which means she can't have anything with eggs - even things she's had in the past without a reaction because she could end up having one if she develops more allergens. We pretty much have to tote my little allergy bag around I prepared when we thought she might have an allergy: her allergy plan, Benadryl, Epi pen in a cute little bag of course. And I have to read the labels on EVERYTHING. I was surprised to learn that some pasta doesn't contain egg and some bread doesn't contain egg. I also found a brand of waffles that are dairy and egg free. And I found an alternative to adding eggs to cakes, which we'll be trying this weekend in anticipation of her upcoming birthday (hello, what's a birthday party without a cake to eat for the birthday girl?!). I found some lasagna and ravioli that is egg-free, which she had tonight - and loved! So even though it's going to be tricky at times, I have a feeling I'll fall right into the routine and it won't be an issue.

On the other hand, my husband is lactose intolerant. Within the past year or so, we've noticed some unpleasant symptoms when he would eat a lot of dairy. Particular brands bothered him more, but eventually just one glass of milk would make him sick. I started buying Lactaid, which helped, but over the past few months, the lactose intolerance has only gotten worse. And if you know Andrew, you know that he loves ice cream and cereal. And if you know me, you know I love cheese and sour cream and will gladly add it to any meal I make. So, we've switched Andrew to soy milk. I found some lactose-free ice cream we'll try this weekend. And he's cut out a lot of cheese, sour cream and any other miscellaneous dairy items. So, I also have to work on cutting dairy out of the stuff I cook for dinner. The good thing about this allergy is it just makes him sick, as opposed to Hadley's allergy which could cause her to go into anaphylactic shock.

Which means, this mama is going to have to change the things we eat and the way we cook. We have to really follow food labels and be conscious of what we are using. Which, let's face it, isn't really a bad thing to do anyway. We should be more conscious of what we're putting into our bodies. So, this blog may turn in to a place where I post recipes or tips and tricks of dealing with allergies. "The Sweetness of Eating Dairy and Egg-Free" has a nice ring to it, no??

Carter

IT'S A BOY!!! My busy week last week combined with the craziness of a very sick daughter this week had me procrastinating on this post. But we found out last Tuesday that we will in fact need to be changing the name of this blog. ;) And actually, on another note for another post, this blog may be going in an entirely different direction, or at least adding to the original idea of just posting stuff about the girls. So, we went for our elective ultrasound at The Ultrasound Zone in Glen Carbon last Tuesday morning. My sister went right before me. We saw each other in passing, but did not share the sexes of the babies. Just that we did in fact find out. :) On a side note, I would recommend The Ultrasound Zone to ANYONE pregnant or that may have another baby in the future. Andrew has always been against 3D/4D ultrasounds (the cost and the creepiness are his reasons). But we agreed to this one since it was just to find out the sex of our baby at the same time as my sister. And it was really fun finding out a month earlier than we normally would through the doctor's office. So, we went in and it was a huge room, she turned down the lights and started right in on looking at the baby: face, movements and finally sex. They had those rock lullaby songs playing and it was SO cool to see our baby moving all around on the big screen. When she kept looking to see what the baby was, Andrew and I both thought we saw something very different, but she kept saying the cord was in the way for a good shot (the baby was cuddling the cord. I have a cute picture of it.). But then she said it: "You're having a boy!" Andrew was so excited! As was I, though I had a feeling it was a boy the whole time. So, we gathered our pictures and were off to the party place to get some blue balloons for our reveal party that night. And the gathering with our families was so much fun. When we ripped open the bags holding the balloons, I was so shocked my sister was having a boy too! I thought with our luck we'd maybe get just one boy. But I am more than excited that our baby boys will be growing up together so close in age. They're gonna be the best of friends. I cannot wait!! :) Carter Michael Naylor, I am so in love with you already! Can't wait to meet you in November (October's okay too).