Galactogogues

Sounds like a special kind of space ship, right? ("Beam me up to starship galactogogue, Scotty!")  Nope, a "galactogogue" is something that's supposed to increase one's milk supply. Apparently oats, flax seed meal, and brewer's yeast are the go-to foods for upping/maintaining milk production, so I've been eating a steady supply of these in the hopes of ensuring that Rose never runs out of her favorite meal. Since I hate oatmeal (but like baked oats), these are the two recipes that I've been constantly making, eating, and enjoying. You know, for Rose's sake. ;)


Emily's Yummy Nuggets
My sister-in-law gave me a batch of these after Rose was born and I was instantly hooked! Easy to eat with one hand, energy dense, and a galactogogue to boot? Sign me up for more! I tweaked Emily's recipe a bit, but we still refer to them by this name. I've been eating two of these muffins for breakfast every morning. Every I know who has tried them (even non- nursing mothers) loves them!

1/3 c coconut oil
1/3 c butter
1/3 c honey
1/3 c maple syrup
1/3 c raw cane sugar

Melt the above. Cool slightly, then add to a bowl of:


3 c rolled oats
2 c spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 c flax seed meal
3/4 c chopped walnuts


Beat 4 large eggs, then add to the above.

Then stir in 3/4 c chocolate chips (if you do it right away, the chips will melt. If you let the mixture cool a bit more, the chips will stay in chip form).

Scoop into 24 muffin cups.  Bake at 325 for about 25 min.

Lactation Cookie Bars
This one definitely needs a more appealing name, but these are a great dessert to have on hand! Super yummy. The original recipe is here and my tweaked version is below.


1 stick butter
1 cup raw cane sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar

Cream the above. Add 8 oz apple sauce.

2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


Add these ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons brewer’s yeast


Mix these dry ingredients together, then add to the wet ingredients.

3 cups rolled/non-instant oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut


Stir in those remaining ingredients.


Preheat oven to 350. Either bake in a greased pan, or make cookies. (Baked in a pan it takes about 25-30 minutes to cook until a toothpick comes out clean).

Enjoy!

Rose's swimming pool

Okay, I'm sorry for writing your third post of the day, but I just couldn't resist uploading these photos!


Mike took Rose in the big whirlpool tub in the basement tonight. I think she believes we have our own private baby swimming pool in the house! She loves it!

Pumping

Now that I have two full weeks of experience with pumping, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what it's been like to add this to my daily routine. It was obviously WAY easier to just feed Rose and not have to pump during the day (I mean, easier once we got past the pain and all), but it hasn't been quite as bad to do while working as I was afraid it might be.

Basically my schedule is to wake up at 5:30 every morning and immediately pump. I usually get anywhere from 8 to 12 ounces (wow!) at this one - enough to make Rose's morning bottle (which Mike give her after I wake up) and to freeze 1or 2 additional 4-ounce bags of milk. Then I shower, get dressed, pack my lunch, wash the pump parts from the morning, eat "Emily's Yummy Nuggets" for breakfast (more on that in an upcoming post!), and am out the door by 6:30. I generally see clients at 7, 8 and 9, and then it's time for my first pumping break at 10. I close the curtains, lock the door, set up my little machine and pump away for about 15 minutes. At first I tried to do work while I was pumping, but I quickly learned that was not going to work. Instead, this is the time of the day that Mike and I usually "chat" over google, and I also eat a little snack to tide me over until my late lunch.  Then I hide the little machine, put the milk in the refrigerated bag, and set up the pump parts for the afternoon session. By the time all that is done around 10:30, I try to squeeze in a little paperwork or some phone calls before I see clients at 11 and 12. Most days I have a meeting at 1pm, then I repeat the whole pumping process at 2pm. From 2:30 to 3:30 I try to squeeze in a dictation, finish up paperwork, and glance ahead to the next day's schedule. I race out the door at 3:30, then once I'm home I quickly transfer the day's milk to special freezer bags, change clothes and shoes, then race-walk over to Rose's school so I can get there around 4pm. After we walk home I put away my morning pump parts, wash my daytime pump parts, wash all the bottles she used, put her dirty daycare diapers in the laundry, and set out clean daycare diapers for the next day (we use different cloth diapers at home than they use for us at daycare). Then Rose and I will play (if she's awake) or I start dinner (if she's asleep). Finally, it's time for her evening bath, our daily chores (more on that in an upcoming post too!), and a few minutes of quiet time before I go to sleep and am ready to start the whole routine again the next day. Whew!

So what's pumping really like?
1. It's really weird to be topless in my office. Even with the shades drawn and the door locked, I'm still so uncomfortable every time. I've never been topless in my place of employment before, and hoping I never will be again after I'm done with pumping!
2. It's a little annoying to be a slave to the pump. Crisis with a client? Better not happen at 10 or 2 because I won't be able to help you out, sorry.
3. It's stressful to worry about whether I'm producing enough milk. I'm eating oatmeal cookies and muffins like crazy since that's supposed to help maintain a good milk supply, but I still worry that one day I won't be able to make enough milk to cover the three 4-ounce bottles that Rose is currently drinking at "school" each day. So far I'm running a surplus pretty much every day, and since anxiety can decrease milk, I know I need to just relax and trust that it will continue to work out.
4. It's embarrassing to have to work around. There have been several times that meetings have been scheduled during my pump breaks, but not pumping is just not an option. Once I had to pump in my car on the way from a meeting in St Paul to my office in SLP since there was no other way I could fit it in. And several times I've had to tell people I'll be 10-15 minutes late to a meeting so I can squeeze in a pump break after I'm done with my last client. I don't like telling people that I'll be late since I'm pumping (since I don't like the heifer connotations that people will invariably make) so instead I just say that I'm "preparing lunch for Rose." That makes me feel a little less awkward about sharing what, exactly, I'm doing at that time.
5. It's frustrating to have to take breaks at times I wouldn't normally take a break, like eating two 1/2 lunches each day, rather than just one full lunch. I'm starting to get used to it, but it's definitely taking some adjustment. Whenever I'm done with pumping I'm curious to see if I'll go back to my old schedule or if I'll be used to this new routine that I just keep my current schedule.
6. It's time-consuming. I was so naive when I thought I could just work right through my pump breaks and that they wouldn't disrupt my workflow. Ha!
7. It's heavy.  Some day I'm going to weigh my pumping bag when it's full - somehow it seems to weigh much more than the sum of its parts!

So why do I keep doing it? Good question! After I made it sound that miserable, I must be a masochist to continue, right?

In part I'm pumping because I "should." But the bigger reason I pump is that I really want to! It's not that big of an inconvenience, Rose seems to be thriving on breastmilk, and it's a great way to take a break two breaks in the middle of the day to remember that I'm not just "Steph the psychologist," I'm also "Steph the mom" - an identity that, for several years, I was afraid I'd never have.

Besides, after all the pain and effort it took to get this far, I don't want to stop until I'm good and ready!

For your entertainment, here's a "tour" of one corner of my office. Clockwise from top left:
Photos of Rose: supposedly these enhance milk production
Nalgene and tea mug: must stay hydrated!
Papers: the work I thought I'd do while pumping (ha!)
Ziploc baggie: trail mix for when I need a quick snack
Boxes of Constant Comment: I'm trying to cut down on my Diet Coke consumption, but can't give up the caffeine completely quite yet
LLBean Tote bag: here's where my pump hides out all day!
Lunch bag: my food is always close at hand

And, because you're probably way more interested in Rose than in photos of my office, here she is! Zonked out after a fun week at school  :)

Oh, beautiful morningS! (plural!)

She did it again! Mike* put Rose to bed at 7:30pm and she didn't wake up until 6am. I love it!!!

*this was the first time that Mike has ever put her to bed, as normally I just nurse her before she falls asleep. But last night I had my library meeting until 8:30 so Mike got to try it out himself. He was a bit nervous going in, but apparently he's a natural! She fell right asleep...and stayed asleep. Yay for Daddy!

Oh, beautiful morning! (<- singular "morning," not plural)

Wednesday, August 1

This morning I woke up at 5:30. Half asleep, I reached over and turned off my alarm. Wait a minute - I turned off my alarm? I should have been turning off the monitor. Because after I go to bed I'm always woken up by the monitor next. Did I already wake up? Did I just forget that I fed Rose? What was going on?!?

Then it dawned on me:   Rose had slept through the night!!!

That's right, through the entire night. I don't define "sleeping through the night" as sleeping a five-hour stretch, as some crappy non-parent sleep researchers seem wont to do. "Sleeping through the night" means she goes to sleep, then I go to sleep, then I get a full night's rest before she wakes up again. And last night it finally happened! The feat I'd been dreaming of (ha!) for the past many months. (Maybe the past nine months total? A year? I was constantly waking to use the bathroom throughout most of my pregnancy, so let's just say it's been a looooong time since I last had 7+ hours of uninterrupted sleep.)

It was amazing - I felt so rested!!!

Then, of course, it quickly spiraled into panic: was she okay? Did she not wake me because she had stopped breathing? Was she trying to punish me because she hates me and never wants to lay eyes on me ever again? Am I a terrible mother?!?

I took an agonizingly anxiety-ridden shower, choked down my breakfast while trying not to vomit from worry, then finally broke down and asked Mike to go in and check on her.

She was, of course, just fine. Silly mommy needs to worry less!

So there it is! I know this might not happen again for quite some time (although it would be beyond amazing if this is the start of a new trend), but I'm reveling in feeling rested for one day, and cherishing the fact that if she can sleep through the night once, she can certainly do it again.

Three cheers for our great little sleeper!!!


Thursday, August 2

What happened?! Last night she went to bed around 7:30pm, which is her typically bedtime. She then woke up crying so I went in to feed her. Half asleep, I didn't look at the clock until after I was back in bed myself: 10:40. What?!? And then to make matters worse she stayed awake talking to herself for over an hour. (Mike and I let her "chat" since she wasn't sounding upset. But an hour of that? So tiring!) Finally at almost midnight she started sounding fussy so I went in to feed her again, in the hopes that a "milk coma" would convince her to fall asleep. When I turned the nightlight on she lit up with a HUGE smile and started laughing and "talking" even more. It's hard to be upset with the little darling when she does things like that! Thankfully she ate and then slept from midnight until 6:15am. But what a weird thing! Let's hope she doesn't start to have more of these wide awake stretches at night...

Pinkeye

One week of daycare, one sickness later.

Sigh.

So it turns out that the crusty eye, nose goobers, and general grumpiness that I described yesterday were all signs of pinkeye. Mike stayed home with her today (good for Rose, bad for his plan to spend lots of time studying for Wednesday's exam), got her started on prescription eyedrops, and just tried to make her a happier camper. I left work early (good for Rose, bad for the piles of stuff that I'm now super behind on) and then traded off with Mike so he could get some work done this afternoon. Rose's eye is already looking so much better, but she's still struggling with the nose goobers. Thankfully she doesn't seem to mind her steam baths, we've discovered that the NoseFrida is a miracle tool, and she's content to sleep in her bouncy chair again.

Please send some healing vibes to our cute little girl! (And let's hope that we don't continue to have a one-to-one ratio of daycare weeks and illnesses!)

"I'm learning to explore the world through my mouth! (No wonder I got sick!)"

"I get grumpy so fast when I'm not feeling well!"

Fourteen weeks!

Rose survived - even thrived! - at her first week of "school!" I'm so glad we picked the daycare that we did. I think we're all very happy with it - the teachers are great, the location is fabulous, and we love their values (e.g., locally grown, organic food for the bigger kids!). I applied to be on their board of directors and am nervously waiting to hear if I get selected...

The only drawback that we've found so far is that, being a daycare and all, there are lots of germs running around. On Friday when Mike dropped Rose off he noticed that one of the other kids in her class was a little snot machine. Well, lo and behind, Rose was fighting something off by the time I picked her up that afternoon: she had a crusty eye, nose goobers, and was grumpy and tired. We took it easy Friday night and put her to bed a bit early. She woke three times Friday night, but the last two were close enough together that I got out of doing the last one because there was no way she was actually hungry - thank you, Mike, for giving her some TLC so I could "sleep in"! (I can't remember the last time I slept past 7am!) Last night she woke around 12:30 because she was so congested. We gave her a steam bath, then put her to sleep in her bouncy chair so she'd be on an incline. That seemed to do the trick because she then slept until her usual 6:30. We took some photos after she ate breakfast but I just don't think her heart was in it. She was so tired that she didn't even want to suck her thumb - she's now sucking with gusto on her penguin as she tries to fall asleep.   :(

Here are her 14-week portraits:

Setting up the portrait studio...

"Mommy, I'm too tired for a tummy time photo!"

Will she be our brown-eyed girl?

 

"I like to hold on to my flying spaghetti monster blanket."

 

"Can we please be done now?"

And here's one from our dinner with Grammy (Marsha), Grandpa Jack and Auntie Anne last night. (Thanks, Marsha and Jack, for the delicious dinner!)   Anne is going to Charlotte, NC, for the next 1-2 months  -- have fun, Anne!!!

Right now Rose likes:
+ her exersaucer
+ spending time outside!
+ bathtime
+ sucking her thumb!

And she does not like:
- being alone in the backseat of the car if it's not nap time
- loud thunderstorms during the night
- being sick  :(