Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Baby #2 - 6 weeks

November 13, 2010 

How far along: 6 weeks 

Baby's size: sweet pea or blue berry

Symptoms: Exhausted!  I am also still nauseous, but it is tolerable.  TMI, but my boobs hurt off and on.  Definitely while breastfeeding (see tandem nursing at the bottom)

Sleep: fine...thank goodness for a baby that sleeps through the night.

Total Weight Gain:  down about 2 pounds. 

Maternity clothes:Not even close.

Best moment this week: Getting the shirt in the mail that we are going to put Superman in when we get to Kansas City next weekend.  It is how we are going to tell my husband's parents.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nope...too nauseous.

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: maybe wine a little, but not really. The only reason I even mention it is because we went to get our wine shipments from the wineries we belong to and I obviously couldn't try it.  I did sniff though...I love to sniff the wine. :)

What I'm looking forward to: telling my in-laws and my first doctor's appointment

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  I definitely feel pregnant when I work out.  I don't have the same stamina and since I have to be careful about my heart rate, I can't run as much.  I think I am going to have to give up the C25K stuff because of it. :(

Milestones: none

Emotions: I am so emotional this week!  I have been crying about everything.  I think I even started to cry during The Office.  My husband thought it was cute, I think it is annoying. 


Tandem Nursing: I thought I would add this piece beginning this week.  It is killing me that I can't write (and publish) posts about this right now so this will have to do for now.  
    I am still nursing Superman.  When you are pregnant and still nursing your other child, you are "tandem nursing" (you are also tandem nursing if you are nursing two or more children).  Therefore, I am a tandem nurser!  
     Before I knew I was pregnant I noticed that my supply was dipping.  As you know from my posts in April, my supply occasionally dips when I am about to get my period so I was convinced I wasn't pregnant, but in fact getting my period.  About a week later I found out I was actually pregnant.
     So here is how I noticed the decrease: I had been pumping once every morning for many months now and instead of getting my usual 3+ ounces, I was lucky to get two.  Then it moved to barely one.  Then Superman started needing to nurse on both sides sometimes.  Then Superman needed to nurse both sides every time.  Then I got smart and started eating oatmeal again (had stopped because the idea of it makes me nauseous, but it turns out I don't mind it when I am eating it).  Now Superman will nurse both sides most of the time, but he will occasionally only need one side (yeah!).  When those times are in the morning, I pump.  Otherwise I just do a happy dance and move on.  
     I bought a book called, "The Adventures in Tandem Nursing" that KellyMom.com recommends.  Initially I felt like the book just told me all the reasons why this wasn't going to work.  However, it did give me some good tips on how to feed him as I get larger and what the experience will be like.  The one thing they didn't really touch on was tips for boosting supply which was disappointing.
     Three of the four things they touched on have really been my main issues.  Supply (as I already mentioned), nausea and pain.  The pain is the normal pregnancy tender breasts pain with added sharp pains every time Superman nurses.  It hurts the most when he first latches, but seems to get better as he continues.  His latch has also been off, but I don't think that is pregnancy related.  The nausea is intermittent and isn't too bad.  The book talks about women throwing up while nursing....I am not that bad.  I just feel super queasy and my jaw hurts (weird right?).  The other symptom they mention is that my milk can change flavor.  This may have actually happened, but since Superman can't talk he can't tell me.  However, he hasn't turned me down to nurse and they said that can happen when the taste changes. 
    I feel like there are a couple areas that people might want specific information as I go week by week.  So I will update these specifics each week, along with any additional information that I learn. 
Supply: holding steady. (made lactation cookies to help)
Pain:YES! As I mentioned above, it gets better as he nurses though.
Nausea while nursing: minimal this week
Positions for nursing: With the nursing pillow in the cradle hold. 

Till next week! 

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