I took Jonah in for a check- up yesterday and it went all right. He didn't like being undressed while they measured him at all and he was ready to go before the doc even came into see us. "All done" he said emphatically while trying to push me to get up to leave, as the doc came in and sat down. I had to help her hold the stethoscope in place so she could check his heart and lungs.

I mentioned his recent eczema flare-up and she just suggested using Eucerin on it. I was hoping for something a little more thoughtful than that as she is a naturopath as well. I'm going to try some other things on my own, including consulting my ND books.

I opted to have his third and final polio and Hib shots given even though he has a cold. He did good and didn't cry or anything. Stupid Hib though, just like the first time, about four hours after he was in a lot of pain at the injection site. I asked the assistant who gave the shot about giving him some Tylenol and she said it wasn't necessary. She also went on about how Tylenol was not an anti- inflammatory, only Motron was. Whatever, it says on the label that it is a pain reliever, I checked when I gave him some.

The poor baby came into the kitchen as I was finishing dinner and gestured that he had a boo-boo, that he hurt his leg and wanted a kiss. At first I thought he bumped himself but then I realized it was his shot. He was so upset that it wouldn't stop hurting him and he kept crying and saying "all done" because he wanted it to stop hurting. It makes me sad to think of it. It was hard to get him to sleep after that as he was so agitated. I think the Tylenol did finally take the edge off some. It should feel better for him in the morning.

When we did go to bed finally be pushed for me not to lay next to him so I put a pillow on that side and got in on the opposite side of the bed. Not sure what was up with that. Now I'm up in the middle of the night and starving so I'll have to get up and grab something, perhaps a bowl of cereal.

I was thinking over the weekend about the presidential race. I was talking to someone at work about how we don't feel that Obama has really reached out for our support and that stuck with me. Why do I feel this way and what would it take to change it.

I thought about all the news and commentary I've been reading, about how in some regards Obama and McCain's policy directions and positions aren't always that far apart. So I thought some more... what did I care about as a woman? What would make me feel more excited about Obama and his "pro-woman" agenda? Here's what I came up with:

Work with Congress to pass the late Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Fibroid Research and Education Act. This has been stalled out in committee for years and yet it is so needed. Fibroids affecting between 25-80% of all women (and their families), and a disproportionate amount of women of African-American descent. This would be great for women and it would also be a nice gesture in remembrance of Tubbs-Jones legacy.

Work to better support women who want to breastfeed
Breastfeeding and working is a hard deal, not impossible but surely challenging for the best of us. Greater flexibility in working arrangements, possibly thought family leave, could help more women be able to offer their children this best start in life. Since Obama says he's for preventative health care, this is the best preventative care option around. (see the Breastfeeding Promotion Act)

Provide mandatory access to optional supplementary insurance plans to cover infertility treatments
After trying so long for my own child, I was lucky enough that my particular condition (fibroids) fell within the purview of my health insurance coverage. Also, I was able to conceive on my own after a good stint of work with alternative care providers. Many couples aren't so lucky and for them assisted reproduction is the best path towards achieving a successful pregnancy yet most health insurance plans don't cover these treatments. The plans themselves would be optional and supplementary, sort of like how you can get a catastrophic plan in case of disability/dismemberment. Since insurance is currently handled on a state by state basis, federal plans would have to be put in place to incentivize the creation of these plans. See Family Building Act of 2007

Expand support for small businesses to offer childcare benefits
I looked into it for our business and there is a federal tax break for offering a childcare benefit but it wasn't that comprehensive. Perhaps the tax break is enough but additional support for how to structure the benefits could go a long way to helping more families out. (see Employer-Supported Child Care and Starting Early Starting Right Act)

How about increasing support for HeadStart programming?

Expanding surviving widows to claim a greater portion of their deceased husband social security?

I'm going to keep thinking of other things that might fall on my women's agenda. Add your ideas as well -- what can the government do to help you meet your priorities?

The last issue of Mothering Magazine mentioned that co-sleeping and breastfeeding work together are the best combo as the mother and infant get into the same sleep rhythms.

quote:

Helen Ball, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and director of the Parent-Infant Sleep Lab at Durham University, UK, discovered some significant differences between these two groups in research published in 2004 and 2005. Ball's observations were consistent with the observations of previous sleep-lab studies in regard to mother-infant bed-sharing behaviors. Significant differences were found, however, between formula and breastfed infants. Breastfeeding mothers shared a bed with their infants in a characteristic manner that provides several safety benefits. For example, their sleep positions are oriented to one another, and they experience synchronous arousal during sleep; that is, they wake up spontaneously at the same time for feedings. Formula-feeding mothers, on the other hand, shared a bed in a more variable and thus unpredictable manner, with possible negative consequences for infant safety.

From: Who Wants to Sleep Alone?
Issue 149 - July/August 2008
by Peggy O'Mara, Editor and Publisher

Try a search on Mothering.com for articles about "cosleep", this one is also quite good:

Breastfeeding & Bedsharing Still Useful (and Important) after All These Years
By James J. McKenna
Issue 114 September/October 2002

My little guy knows how to use the potty as we started doing EC with him from 9 weeks old. He's recently entered the next phase of cognitive development and now won't use the toilet at all. Even though he hasn't forgotten, it is as if his mind is having a hard time managing his need to have control over when he goes with his body's need to go if that makes any sense.

I've had to just back off and accept that as he continues to develop and mature that things change. I always knew that there was going to be some transistion between my offering and him being potty-trained. I still have no idea how it will play out but after 14 months of success I'm having no pottying successes and lots of poopy diapers (where I used to have one a month!) Eventually he will get there; synchronizing need, want, action, anticipation, etc. I can't make it happen for him.

Here's some info from Diaperaps about Potty Training that I reference now and again. We use their training pants on Jonah:

http://www.diaperaps.com/home/dp1/pottytips_main.html

Breastfeeding and Cavities -- AAP says no correlation

I found this a couple weeks ago and thought that it might be useful for others. One of my BG friends said her doc told her to stop night nursing to prevent cavities... but the AAP report didn't find a correlation...

Association Between Infant Breastfeeding and Early Childhood Caries in the United States
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/120/4/e944



quote:

Conclusions
These data provide no evidence that breastfeeding or its duration are independently associated with an increased risk for ECC, S-ECC, or a greater number of decayed or filled tooth surfaces among children ages 2 to 5 years in the United States. In contrast, they corroborate that children living in poverty and Mexican American children are at increased risk for poor oral health in the early years, and they indicate that maternal smoking is another such potential risk factor. Clearly, there is a need for more research to identify specific characteristics of poverty and Mexican American ethnicity that contribute to or cause ECC, and the same applies to children prenatally or postnatally exposed to cigarette smoke. Despite the need for more understanding of how these factors may be causally related to ECC, the findings reported do not indicate any reason to delay action to improve the oral health of children. Rather, they highlight the need to target children living in poverty, those who are Mexican American, and those whose mothers smoke or smoked during pregnancy for timely caries risk assessment and regular preventive dental visits.

I've been super busy with work lately and I'm super run down. My partner and I are trying to figure out how to get me some down time as I'm absolutely bleary eyed.

Part of it is Jonah too. He's been going through some serious separation anxiety, only wanting mama and that has been making it hard for me to take a break and take care of myself. He's also thoroughly off pottying at the moment which is adding to the fun. I'm guessing its a bunch of things that aren't working for him but I'm not sure how much I can accomodate his needs right now due to work demands. I'm doing my best. He does get to nurse during the day and still sleeps with me so it isn't like he is being deprived.

Breech Delivery Notes

I saw on the Business of Being Born Facebook group that Gina was having a rough time of it with her doctor about her baby being breech at 37 weeks.

I was reminded of Coyote Medicine, Lewis Mehl-Madrona's book where he talks about breech delivery and how it requires a lot of patience but there is no reason it can't be successful much of the time.

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/enews/enews0106.asp

Last night Jonah couldn't get to sleep so finally at 10pm, just as the fireworks were about to get started (they start late here in Seattle due to it being lighter at night at our higher latitude), we decided to just go with the flow and took him to the park down the street to see his first fireworks. He had on his pajamas, slippers and a wool sweater. He snacked on cereal while we watched the exposions and kept signing "more". They were far enough away that the loug bangs didn't scare him. Finally we got him to bed at 11pm.

Here are some of his latest accomplishments:

* getting in and out of his little car by himself (facing the correct way)
* sitting on the bottom step of the stairs to have his shoes put on (he's liking sitting on anything his height right now)
* turning around in circles
* giving hugs to us and his stuffed animals, he's also started giving kisses again (he had stopped for a good long while)
* putting keys into keyholes -- he will go into our downstairs bathroom and close the door and practice putting a key into the keyhole (no chance of him locking himself in, the keyhold is huge and old and the key he is using is short and small)
* walking backwards

That's all that I can think of right now. He's becoming a total little kid now.

He's been off pottying a bit since being sick for a few weeks. If I'm able to give him more attention then I can potty him around 5 times a day. I've been way too busy to do so lately though, catching up after all that illness.

I've been super swamped at work and before that Jonah and I (and my partner) were sick for a few weeks. I just learned on Friday that we likely had Adenovirus. We are recovered finally.

The funny thing is that since he has been feeling better Jonah seems to have grown a bit and his appetite is up as well. He is working on his canines and first molars at the same time right now. I think he has gotten one little bit of one of the molars broken through. He hasn't had any new teeth in since February when he got his 8th tooth. I'm thinking in the next few weeks there should be a lot more.

I feel like I can barely keep up as I've been having to work so much and the work just keeps piling on. Jonah has just started getting into that stage where he is dragging stuff all over the house so it feels cluttered at home -- on top of any housework that needs tending to as well. I told my partner that we will just have to live with it for a few more weeks as we are smack in the middle of our busy season and we are also moving into a new office next weekend.

Sick, sick, sick

My nose is dripping as I write this. Baby and I have the flu. We had a cold last weekend and the week before that I had a sinus infection. This is no fun. I think we caught the flu from my partner who thought he had our cold but this is definately a little flu-like bug and we only had a head cold before.

Poor baby has been really feeling poorly. Diarrhea, a cough, and a bit lethargic today with a running nose. At the end of last week he had a fever that lasted a few days as well, along with vomiting and diarrhea. I'm thinking that it is just a mish-mash of viruses. I asked our sitter and she confirmed that she had not been washing his hands after they went to the park so that might be one way that we are all getting exposed. It seems as though there are a series of bugs working their way through Seattle at the moment.

The good thing is that with the continued nursing I can help my little baby both stay hydrated and fed even when he isn't really hungry for solid food. Nursing also provides him with extra cuddles and comfort when he isn't feeling good. I really see the value in nursing past a year. Honestly, my whole take on babyhood is that infancy lasts through at least the first two years.

The other thing that I think about is how the American Academy of Pediatrics says to nurse for at least a year -- that's at the minimum. The World Health Organization, not known for being a really progressive organization, advocates nursing for at least the first two years. Still so many women abandon nursing after one calendar year feeling like they put their time in. We are mammals though and isn't that what mammals do -- nurse their young? It seems crazy to me that gorillas and bears take better, more instinctive care of their young than we do as humans.

We were watching a program on cable this evening, about gorillas in captivity in comparison to the wild. The zoologists have been spending a lot of time trying to help support nature behavior and development in their captive populations. Makes me wonder what a human habitat would look like. Not our post-modern industrial homes but something that would support our natural behavior and development. I guess I would start by looking to what more simplistic societies do. Then maybe take a cue from camping. It sure as heck wouldn't involve including cribs for the babies.

References to Fertility while Breastfeeding

I was reading a bit of this book, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers at my BIL's while away last weekend and came across a section about fertility while breast feeding.

Apparently researchers studying hunter/gatherer groups of humans noticed 3-4 years child-spacing for mothers. At first they thought it was due to poor diet but that wasn't true. Finally they realized it was due to the extended, readily available, nursing on demand, done by the mothers of their babies until about 3yrs. It talked more about how prolactin works to prohibit progesterone from functioning properly during the LP which inhibits implantation. It also mentions that the reason BF as contraception fails for some is that Western moms try to feed on a schedule rather than on-demand which compromises the effect of the hormones released during nursing.

Makes me think I might be in for a little bit longer ride if I'm not going to wean....

That said, Jonah is almost 16 months now and recently he has shifted his nursing behavior some. He has cut back a bit and while he will reach for the girls if he wants to nurse he will equally pull my shirt down when he is finished and say "alllll done! allllll done1"


Also, another gal in a group I'm on came across a reference to a greater chance of twins for conceptions while nursing. Something like 12 times more likely to have twins. Evidently it is partly the effect of lower blood calcium levels in nursing moms as well as a higher level of FSH also due to nursing.

(The higher FSH must be our brains yelling at our ovaries over the sound of the prolactin.)

Share Your Co-sleeping Story

I came across this on the Ovusoft.com forums tonight. It seems interesting to try to counter negative comments and attitudes towards co-sleeping. I wish it was a little more scientific in its approach but it was nice to read the affirmative comments from the participants.

Fertility While Nursing

I found this a couple weeks ago and it explains rather reasonably how fertility returns post-partum, while breastfeeding:

The greatest level of suppression is not ovulating, but as your prolactin levels go up, your fertility will gradually return. First you will ovulate, but not have the proper hormone levels for fertilization; then you will ovulate and fertilization may occur, but you still may not have the proper hormone levels for implantation; finally, you may ovulate, be fertilized, and implant, but not have the proper hormone levels for continuing the pregnancy, so you have a very early miscarriage, probably along the lines of minutes or hours after implantation, so you wouldn't know you had been pregnant. It is also possible to ovulate without having the right hormonal levels in the right combinations for the uterus to have been preparing for implantation, so yes, it is possible to ovulate without menstruating. For all of these stages, there seems to be incredible individual variation between women. Some women get pregnant again the first time they ovulate, with no intervening menstrual periods. I knew a woman in Indiana years ago who had three children in six years with no menstrual periods! Her doctor couldn't figure out when to predict her due date
From: http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detfert.html

The author, Kathy Dettwyler, has studied a lot of different aspect of nursing. Her site is pretty interesting to poke around:
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/

I found her mentions about the natural ages of weaning amongst other large mammals to be affirming of what I have been observing with my little one.

I love E.C.

This morning I was getting dressed and I heard the baby walk down the hall from his room. I called to him to see where he was and then found him holding onto the toilet seat. He looked up at me and signed for "more" and then I got him undressed and set him on his seat reducer and he proceeded to have a big poop. Yeah for no poopy diapers! Yeah for baby!

The no poopy diapers is pretty commonplace but the baby initiated trips to the bathroom are still relatively new. We invested in a second toilet seat reducer and a foldable seat for use when we are out. The foldable seat has come in handy and the second seat means that we are totally ready whenever he is.

We have a sitter come help care for the baby a few afternoons a week now as I need to get more work done and baby is ready for more than just hanging with mom and dad at the office. He will potty for her as well which is super and great for her as well as no one likes to change a poopy diaper.

Live and Learn

I've been going through my posts from 2005, the time between my myo and TTC again and then my second miscarriage. In there I found a reference I made to having headaches in my luteal phase, and for some reason I made the connection to them being related to prolactin levels. The reason this seems so odd to me is that in the middle of my past luteal phase I also had a killer headache, and since I'm nursing prolactin is easily related, though I'm not sure. That was the cycle I tried Vitex and while a little helped a lot, more didn't help at all, it rather delayed my ovulation.

Now that I'm TTC while nursing my cycles are a little more unpredicatable. I was loosely charting the start of my period since I first got my first post-partum AF in September. I've just started using Ovusoft's Taking Charge of Your Fertility software again to track it in a little more finer detail. I'm just tracking symptoms but not yet have I delved into basel temp taking. I know my little guy would be fascinated by the beeping of the thermometer and want to take it out of my mouth so I don't know that it would be a practical thing to do while co-sleeping. I also pulled out my fertility monitor from the back of the closet and took a look at it again. It might come in handy though now my thought is of all those little plastic sticks and their foil envelopes and the impact on the environment.

I'm trying to be diligent about taking my prenatal vitamins as you are supposed to do while nursing. I try to eat a balanced diet, eating a good 3-4 meals a day plus snacks to keep my calorie count up for nursing. The baby is growing well and my energy level has been good so I think we are doing okay in that regard. My partner is back taking Acetyl-l-Carnetine and Arginine again, plus his daily vitamin. We held off on grape seed extract for now and we have talked about getting some more Preseed again, that's the really expensive lube that doesn't hurt the sperm. I think one of the cheapest places to get that is through Ovusoft

Trailer for The Business of Being Born

Trying Not to Relive the Past...

I recently switched to the newer version of Blogger and I'm trying to help improve access to my earlier blog postings by adding in tags. I started at the oldest posts and was working my way forward but I hit the ones around my first pregnancy -- which is now 4 years later (amazing that it is so far behind me now) -- and I feel like it is going to be tough to categorize those really well. I think I'm going to have to just quickly tag and move on those loss posts and not get too particular about what I'm writing about in the individual ones -- it is a little too sensitive for me to read through them again.

Possible Signs of Pending Ovulation
* Slightly more "in the mood"
* About that time based on past cycles
* Nipples start to hurt while nursing
* Slightly irritable
* Hair and skin start to get oily, chance of a pimple or two
* Feeling a little more damp than usual (CM)
* Feeling a little softened up during BD

Signs that Ovulation Might Have Occured
* Feeling slightly more irritable
* Even more oily hair and skin
* More pimples showing up
* Can't find a thing to wear that I like

* Headache mid-LP
* Not "in the mood" really
* Slightly drier
* Possibly having odd waves of CM (damp/not so damp)
* Nipples hurt slightly less
* It is about that time based on past cycle
* AF shows up

New Mom's - Watch Out for "Mommy Thumb" (deQuervain's Tendonitis)

You can put yourself at risk of developing repetitive stress injuries if you don't pick up your baby properly.

deQuervain's Tendonitis

New mothers are especially prone to this type of tendonitis: caring for an infant often creates awkward hand positioning, and hormonal fluctuations associated with pregnancy and nursing further contribute to its occurrence.

Last April (my baby was 2.5 months old) I recall seeing a discussion about someone's thumbs hurting and the next day it happened to me. In the space of one day I developed deQuervain's Tendonitis in both my wrists/thumbs. I had to go for physical therapy, take ibuprofen, ice my wrists, try to get my partner to give me wrist massages, wear hand braces and it severely limited what I was able to do.

It can evidently emerge slowly or all at once so you need to try to prevent it if you can. I don't know how common it is but it was very painful -- my thumbs felt like they were going to fall off for a bit that was how weak they were, small movements in the wrong direction would give me shriekingly bad pains running down into my hands, even while sleeping. I almost dropped him on the floor a couple times because it was so bad. It took about 6 months before my hands were significantly improved and that largely was related to my baby learning how to crawl.

Prevention Tips

* When picking up your baby try not to hook your hands under their arms to lift
* If you have to pick the baby up under the arms then bear the weight more on your hand and less on your thumb
* Try not to lift up your baby from lying down to upright using that hold as it increases the likelihood of injury (said my physical therapist)
* Lift your baby by cradling their head and butt with your forearms and lift that way.
* Try to limit how much you have to move the baby around -- don't go to the changing table if you can just do the diaper change where you are.

I had to severely limit how much I moved the baby around so diaper changes were whereever we were -- on the floor, on the bed, etc. I had to bail on handwashing dishes and I would have to have my partner assist with getting the baby into and out of the bath. I also started cosleeping full-time as it really helped cut down on the amount of carrying I had to do.

Here are some shots of my wrist brace, I got two but found I only needed to really wear it on my left wrist which was the more badly injured. The braces are totally worth it as the normal sleeping position of most people involves curling your hands in, a position that actually aggravates the condition. The braces help protect the inflamed and swollen area of the wrist and hold your hands in a neutral position. Ace bandages actually add pressure and contribute to more pain.



Oh, and I wanted to add that the doctor I consulted with, a hand specialist, said that they usually see this emerge in mothers of older infants/toddlers. My baby grew really fast though and I think that contributed to it -- my body couldn't adapt fast enough to the weight I was lifting.
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Note: My health insurance didn't cover the physical therapy, plus it was just one more thing to try to manage to fit in with the baby that I could have done without. Do try to protect yourself and avoid developing this condition -- you will thank yourself later.