Breastfeeding

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the other day, I saw a bear, a great big bear, a way out there…

August 25, 2010 in Breastfeeding, Brittany, Darby, Homeschooling, Jacob, Jarvis, Justice, Lists, Paige, Random by Petra | 6 comments

Lists are our friends.

  1. Andy’s parents and sister came for a visit this week, and we had a blast. I definitely hit the jackpot when it comes to in-laws. And I’m not just saying that because they read my blog. I really, truly mean it. Love them!

    It was more difficult than it should have been to take this photo - lol.

    I had to use the flash to get a semi-decent shot. Ideally, I'd have taken this photo during daylight when everyone was all fixed up (note the freshly bathed, pajama'd three in front), but alas, I forgot to even touch my camera during their whole visit until the last possible second).

  2. Darby got baptized on Sunday morning (and Andy’s family was here to see – so cool)!  So proud of her that she genuinely wants to follow Jesus.  :)

    Darby was too short to see much during the actual baptism, but I managed to take her photo just after. :)

    Getting her baptism certificate (I was using Andy's point&shoot camera and I have no idea how to work that thing - lol)

  3. Jarvis had his first (soccer) scrimmage with another team last night and he did great. Looking forward to his games, which start in about three weeks.
  4. Have I mentioned our school plans on my blog? If not, fyi (and for prosperity’s sake), we are homeschooling all the kids this year. That’ll be 5 kids. Homeschooled. Grades K, 4, 7, 9, and 12.  Once we start, if you don’t hear from me for a while, check in and make sure I’m still alive and sane, would you? ;)   Seriously though - I’m looking forward to it. We aren’t ‘officially’ starting for a couple more weeks-ish, but are doing some things to prepare such as diagnostic testing (starting today). 
  5. I went to Darby and Jarvis’ old schools yesterday to withdraw them (school started today — what? you don’t wait until the last possible minute to do things? whatever.), and my decision was just completely confirmed.  Ahhhh… feels good to be doing the right thing for your family. 
  6. And please don’t take that last sentence to mean that I think everyone should homeschool. I definitely do not feel that way.  But I do know that this is the right thing for OUR family right now. 
  7. I caught the Dojo Sensei in Mousehunt a few days ago. Exciting, right?
  8. As you know, my iPhone got wet.  So sad.  I did manage to get it working again, but the LCD screen is all smeared and ruined. I can only barely see 1/2 the screen, and when I try to turn it on, I can’t slide the bar to get to the main menu.  So it’s useless to me.  It’s okay, you can cry too.
  9. Since I don’t have a few hundred dollars set aside for replacing phones, Andrew found his 5 year old Motorola Razr L7.  We charged it, and lo and behold it works. So, I have a phone now, which is nice.  The downside is that I have to pay the iPhone $30 monthly fee until April, when my contract ends, and it’ll probably be April before I can afford another iPhone.  Oh well.  At least I can check my yahoo mail on the Razr, and set alarms on the calendar.  I’m just happy to be able to talk and text again – not that I talk/text often, but it’s nice to have the option.
  10. Note to self: record Brittany playing the piano and post it. She totally rocks.
  11. (disclaimer: this point includes the words ‘breast’ and ‘mastitis’… move on to the next point if you aren’t interested)… A few weeks ago, I cut down on the amount of times per day that Paige nursed, thinking that I’d wean her by 18 months.  She got down to nursing 3 or 4 times a day (at bed time, nap time, sometimes in the morning, and sometimes if she woke up in the middle of the night).  Well, then she started teething again (and no, those eye teeth haven’t poked through yet), and she wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME.  So I accomodated her since it seemed to comfort her, and my milk supply went up again.  Then, one day, about a week and a half ago, she refused to nurse.  Ever again.  She went from getting my milk supply WAY up to absolutely nothing.  With no warning whatsoever.  It was so weird. Anyway, so that led to mastitis in BOTH breasts (fun for me), which I quickly nipped in the bud with garlic, but because of the process of going cold turkey on the breastfeeding, it was kind of a long week or so.  I did pump a few times for relief, but I’ve never had much luck with pumping (and I hate doing it).  I’m finally feeling ‘normal’ and my energy is starting to return.  Thankfully.
  12. I made some barbecue chicken when Andy’s family was here that turned out really great, if I do say so myself.  I’ve been struggling trying to find a barbecue sauce that we all like that is 1. gluten-free, 2. chemical-free, and 3. corn-free. Corn-free is nearly impossible to find.  The last barbecue chicken I had made was kind of gross – dry and the sauce not tasty (an organic Annie’s sauce – I do not recommend).  And of course, we had company when I made it (so sorry Pastor Josh and Trisha! I’ll make a better main course next time!  Not that you read my blog, but just in case… I really can make chicken taste good. lol).  Anyway… the homemade barbecue sauce had rave reviews, it cooked well with the chicken, which came out really moist and wonderful, and of course, I have no idea how I made it.  I did write down all the ingredients I used, but amounts?  Who knows?  I just threw stuff in there until it smelled right.  If I can replicate it, I’ll share the recipe. 
  13. Speaking of corn-free… have you seen King Corn?  We watched that the other day.  Other food documentaries I’ve watched lately are Food, Inc. and The Beautiful Truth.  I recommend them all (and they can all be found on netflix’s instant play list).  Watch them, make changes, and stop killing yourself by ingesting poison.  When we’re all old and I am clear-headed and healthy (because hopefully I made my changes before it was too late – my health is slowly but surely improving), and when you have Alzheimer’s because you thought I was nuts for eating organic and not using harsh chemicals in my home?  I’ll say “I told you so!” and you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about because the dementia will be so bad, but I’ll say it anyway and you’ll say “who are you again?” and the nurse will come wipe your drool and wheel you away and I’ll go for a jog.
  14. Yes, the correct spelling of ‘BBQ’ or ‘barbeque’ is actually ‘barbecue’.  In case you are judging my spelling of the word in point number 12.  Not that I’m ever very aware of grammar on my blog, but misspelled words is a pet peeve of mine.  Fragments and run-on sentences are okay though.  Unless I’m writing a book – in that case, I’d be more careful with my grammar.  Believe it or not, I do understand proper grammar.  I really am qualified to teach it to my children.  :)
  15. That last point was FULL of terrible grammar.
  16. Did I blog about Josh’s visit last week?  I think I just posted a few photos from our trip to the capitol (in the things-I-love post).  Well, Josh visited last week and we had a great visit.  Jacob thinks Uncle Josh hung the moon and gets a little hyper excited when Josh is around.  What can you do?  He’s four.

    Britta and Josh imitating Justice on the bench. lol

  17. Darby and Paige wore matching dresses to church on Sunday – and of course, these were the only two photos that I got.  I’ll have to make them wear them again and take some real photos. Darby was the one that picked out their clothes, so don’t be all “why are you forcing your children to match” on me – it was HER idea! ;)  (dresses are complements of our good friend Robyn who passes her girls’ clothes down to my girls). :)

    Paige is tugging at her face in the one on the right, which explains why her eye looks all wonky. lol

You make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman…

February 28, 2010 in Breastfeeding, Health, Natural remedies by Petra | 10 comments

I don’t know why I keep thinking I need to include chemicals in my life in any way, shape, or form!

I just went through a round of antibiotics because of mastitis in my left breast. A few days in, my breast was better, but then I got a pill stuck in my throat (I have a small esophagus) and it was a night from h-e-double-hockey-sticks complete with nausea, my throat/chest being on fire, sweating, and feeling like I was going to die. I skipped a day of the antibiotics after that, fearing another pill getting lodged in my throat/chest, but started feeling bad again so decided it’d be best to finish off the drugs. The day after that, my right breast became infected! Argh. I kept up with the antibiotics, and my breast cleared up except for a small spot that was still a bit tender. I finally finished the antibiotics a few days ago, and had a huge party to celebrate. Hundreds of people were invited. There was dancing in the streets. I hate swallowing pills. My body hates chemicals. I felt like I had been hit by a truck the entire time I was on them, so being done caused me to sing the Hallelujah chorus at the top of my lungs!

Yesterday, I felt some of my energy returning. I even cleaned up the basement where all the construction is happening.  That wore me out, though, so I took it easy the rest of the night (you’d think two weeks of antibiotics would have me feeling amazing, not just-barely-hanging-on). Then in the evening, my energy was completely gone, I started feeling lightheaded, and within a short amount of time, my right breast was completely hardened on the top half of it all the way up to my armpit and hurt like heck.  I don’t know if I had a fever, I felt horrible though. I was like “great! I’m gonna have to go on antibiotics again!” And I hear that happens a lot – people end up going through two rounds of antibiotics because their body doesn’t quite get well the first time around. I was bummed. So – I was all set to get steadily worse until Monday morning rolled around and I could call the doc’s office. 

But then, then I had an epiphany!

I was like, “ya know? I don’t need those stinky chemicals!!! I’m gonna get rid of this thing au naturale!” And I remembered garlic. And how God gave it to us as a natural antibiotic. Cause He’s awesome like that.

So… last night before bed, as I felt worse and worse, I took a hot shower, drank lots of water, and minced a clove of fresh garlic and ate it with a spoonful of honey (not tasty, but not completely inedible). This morning, my breast was still pretty bad. I minced another clove of garlic and ate it on a spoonful of honey and went to church. When I came home, I was still burping up garlic (I’m sorry to everyone that I talked to at church!), so I was like “I’ll wait until later to take my next dose,” and I took a nap with the heating pad.  Now? my breast is almost completely unblocked and my energy is returning!!!! After only two doses of garlic and a nap!

I plan on taking garlic a couple times a day for at least a couple more days, and resting for at least another day, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to need any more yucky, chemical-filled, plastic-encapsuled pills!!! Hooray!!!

So – that being said, here is my cure for mastitis – start these steps as soon as you begin having symptoms!:

1. Get plenty of rest! This is important! Your body can’t fight infection nearly as well when you are running around pushing your limits.
2. Drink plenty of water. Got to stay hydrated. Fo sho!
3. Apply heat to the affected area. Use a heating pad or a hot washcloth.  You can also take a hot shower or bath.  Some people say taking a hot bath with baking soda and epson salts helped them, as that helps draw toxins out of your body.
4. Keep breastfeeding! And do it often. Begin on the infected side every time so that the baby can help unclog the ducts with the most vigorous sucking.
5. Massage the breast before and during breastfeeding. Yes, it hurts, but it helps too. 
6. Eat a clove of garlic with a spoonful of honey (you can mix it into a cup of hot tea, but that would last much longer than just hurrying up and chewing and swallowing one spoonful) three times per day.
7.If you *must*, take a couple of ibuprofen for the pain (I did take some last night, but I’m limiting my chemical intake more and more, and would like to eventually not even be taking any types of pain killers – I take them much less often than I used to).

And there you have it – more proof that going all natural is a good, good thing! Next time, we’ll talk about my all natural beauty supply list. :)

Disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, a medical professional. However, I know my body, and I know that I have, through my own research and trial/error methods, figured out much more that has helped me heal than any doctor ever told me (and I have been to a lot of doctors). That being said – you are not allowed to sue me if you follow this regimen and it doesn’t happen to work for you. ;) I would recommend trying this method FIRST, and then if you don’t see positive results within 2 or 3 days, go to your doctor.

Watch your footwork/Better learn to bob and weave…

February 23, 2010 in Animals, Breastfeeding, Darby, Paige by Petra | 7 comments

Re: my blog post titles: Let’s start playing “name that song!” No googling!! That’s cheating! :)

I just got photos off my camera from Jarvis’ birthday celebration, so I think tomorrow’s post will be all about Jarvis.  I know he’ll be thrilled. ;)

I think I’ll take photos of the progress we’ve made on the house decor this weekend… be looking for a post – I know I’ve been promising one of those for a long time, but I think it’s actually coming soon! lol

I’m still on antibiotics – I have a couple days left – but am still having issues with the mastitis.  Hoping and praying I don’t have to take another round of meds!

I really enjoy my children! They are all so wonderful and unique and bring me such joy! I am very blessed!

A few photos…

Luna lounging under the kitchen table (and excuse the crumbs on the floor – when you have six children, the floors are dirty again as soon as you sweep them!). :)

Paige being absolutely adorable.  I just love her so much! She’s been trying to talk more (she’s had a small vocabulary since around 4 months – she’s in such a hurry to communicate).  I think when babies are starting to talk it is the most adorable stage!!! And yes – that is drool on her chin – her two top front teeth are both right under the gums pushing down – they’ll be poking through any day now! [words Paige says now, at 10 months, 2 weeks, 1 day: cat, mama, dada, mum-mum (her crackers are called mum-mums so she now asks for 'mum-mum' when she wants finger foods), thank you, hi (when greeting someone), hey (when yelling trying to get someone's attention), yay (when clapping), whispered jibber-jabberings in her own language (which is adorable!!!), and it seems like there's more that I'm forgetting... :) ]

Darby not doing her homework. ha! Actually, she always does her homework, but sometimes she’s a bit slow, getting distracted by everything shiny, noisy, or imaginary! :) I think in this photo she was telling me to stop pointing the camera at her! haha!! :)

I know there isn’t much ‘meat’ to this post, but I hadn’t posted in a few days and figured something was better than nothing.  I’m feeling kind of blah from the returning infection, but never fear – I will have more interesting posts as soon as I’m feeling 100% again! :) And lest you feel bad for me – don’t – I have a wonderful loving husband and 4 helpful children (Jacob and Paige aren’t that helpful – lol), so I feel extremely blessed that I am able to just rest when I need to instead of forcing myself to work hard through the illness. Life is good.  God is good.

Where the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly gypsum weed…

February 11, 2010 in Breastfeeding, Paige, Uncategorized by Petra | 3 comments

I am determined to get back onto the blog bandwagon! I know that I haven’t blogged much in the past several months, and that I’ve lost all my readers, but – if only for the journaling-for-future-generations aspect – I WILL get back into this. :)

So, I think it’s been about two months since I blogged on petracarden.com, and one month since I set this page up for blogging and never told anyone… but that’s all about to change. I’m going to blog regularly if it kills me. :)

I think I’m going to plan a recap post to fill you all in on what’s been going on around here.  Today, though, I went to the doctor and got on antibiotics for mastitis (infection in the breast), so I’m feeling pretty awful and pretty much just resting. I will leave you with a photo of Paige in her leotard, leggings, and tutu – she did not want to be photographed, little stinker, but she definitely likes playing dress-up! :) She’s ten months old now and into absolutely everything… such a cutie!!!

Ramblings about breastfeeding…

January 26, 2009 in Breastfeeding by Petra

There’s been an uproar on Facebook as of late concerning photos of women breastfeeding.  These women make no sense to me.  They are all “it’s a beautiful, natural thing”, which yes… I agree… but what does that have to do with fully exposing your breasts on Facebook?  I guess Facebook has banned photos which show too much boob, and I agree with them.  A lady from the La Leche League (a breastfeeding support group) was also all up in arms about Facebook banning photos, but the blurred out photos I saw in the news story were not educational breastfeeding photos (which have  their place on LLL’s website so why do they need to be on Facebook? Just link to them) – the photos I saw were just women with fully exposed breasts and a baby in their arms. What’s the point of that???

That being said… I have breastfed all of my children.  And I even do it in public, but I am careful not to expose myself to others while doing it.  I mean, how hard is that?  Well, there was an incident when Jacob was small… now that I think of it… Andy’s cousin and niece were visiting us in Texas (Andy was in Iraq) while Justice and Jarvis were in Tennessee visiting their aunt and uncle.  So, the visiting girls, my girls, myself, and Jacob went to dinner at Chili’s.  Jacob decided it was time to eat, and so I was feeding him.  I had a floppy shirt on that covered what was going on, and Jacob was a little wild sometimes so draping a blanket wasn’t feasible in the booth (he’d have just knocked it onto the table).  I was completely covered, Jacob was nursing, and the waiter came to take our order.  He got to me, and I noticed he just started looking at the ceiling, the next table, anywhere but towards me… while I explained what I wanted to eat… he left, I looked down and saw that Jacob had stopped eating, and was leaned back looking around at his environment.  Leaving my boob hanging out.  Oops!!!  It wasn’t the end of the world – I mean, hello, a small portion of my boob was exposed to some stranger waiter because my son had unlatched himself unbeknownst to me… and  I was a little more careful with him after that.  I don’t think the Chili’s staff would have been right to kick me out of the restaurant for exposing myself in that situation.  But hello – I’m not going to take a PHOTO of my boobs and post it on Facebook with a caption “breastfeeding is beautiful!”  It’s kind of a different story.  But these women on there are ANGRY.  Because Facebook won’t allow them to post naked photos of themselves.  Are they insane???  Are they just seeking drama?  I don’t get it.

While we are on the topic of breastfeeding… we all know I feel breastmilk is the best nutrition for a baby (along with a healthy diet for Mom while she is nursing).  I started off with my firstborn, having been taught that six months was the ideal amount of time for breastfeeding – anything past that just wasn’t “normal”.  I didn’t breastfeed Brittany and Justice nearly as long as I would have if I could go back in time (Justice was a different story… a longer one I’ll tell at some point, I’m sure).  All of my oldest four kids had breastmilk, but they also had formula.  By the time Jacob came, he refused to ever have a bottle (even with breast milk in it), and I ended up nursing him the longest of all the kids.  Now, after all my research on nutrition – I don’t think I would give ANY of my babies man-made “formula” at all… ever… if I could go back and change things.  This new baby certainly will never have it.  Breast milk only.  Until she is able to digest cow’s milk, then she’ll have organic, no-hormones-added cow’s milk.

I love breastfeeding.  It’s the sweetest, most natural, bonding time with mother and baby.  There is nothing that compares.  I do know women who never breastfed, had any interest in ever doing so, and actually think that it is gross.  But I really don’t understand that.  I have also heard “I had to quit after a few weeks because I just felt like I always had a baby attached to me.”  I don’t understand that either.  I mean, I can’t even comprehend feeling like that.  Yes, your baby has to be with you at least every couple of hours when you are solely breastfeeding, but what’s wrong with that?  By the time they are drinking other things and eating baby food (around six months usually), you can do things without them for longer periods of time if need be.  I *know* that some women have those feelings and emotions and aren’t as naturally inclined to be as nurturing as I am, but I still can’t fathom it.  I’ve never even remotely begun to feel that way, even when I was a teenage mother.  Don’t get me wrong – I understand the need for a Mom to have some ‘me time’, to take breaks, whatever – but a nice hot bath, or even an alone trip to a two hour movie recharges my batteries and I’m good for a while (and actually, those ‘alone’ trips to the movies are me *and* the baby if I’m solely breastfeeding – I just throw the baby in the carrier and go see a movie, nursing during the movie if he/she is hungry).  “My baby wasn’t getting enough to eat” – well, breastfed babies don’t gain weight as quickly as formula fed babies.  Your baby was/is getting plenty to eat (there are extenuating circumstances where, due to other health issues, some women do not produce enough milk – but those are rare).  Let’s see, what else?  Breastfed babies don’t sleep through the night as soon as formula-fed babies.  Yep, you have to make a few sacrifices with the ‘best’ choice sometimes.  But you don’t have to get up and go to the kitchen to mix bottles in the middle of the night either – heck, I barely wake up for feedings – just bring the baby to the bed with me and nurse lying down.  If I’m still awake, then I put the kid back in it’s bed, if not, then she/he is right there for the next feeding when she’s ready.  Easy peasy.  Cracked nipples, infections, soreness – check, check, and check – had them all.  Yep, they hurt, but they are easily treated and they don’t last long.  And they are usually preventable by making sure the baby is latched on far enough, massaging blocked milk ducts, etc.  And convenience?  My boobs are with me at all times, I don’t have to stock up on bottles, water, formula, any of that.  I just need to grab the baby and feed him/her.  Can’t get more convenient than that.

I realize that everyone does not feel as strongly about breastfeeding as I do, but the more kids I have and the more research I do, the more strongly I feel about it.  Not only is it best for the baby, it is best for the mother – you burn SO many calories.  People are always asking me how I’m so thin so quickly after giving birth.  It’s simple.  I breastfeed.  And I eat more while breastfeeding than while pregnant – it burns THAT many calories!!!  Does it make my boobs not as perky or firm after I’m done – sure enough.  But that’s one of those ‘sacrifices’ I mentioned earlier.  ;)

Oh, p.s. I think breastfeeding past a certain age is pretty gross… I met a woman who was still breastfeeding at age 4 1/2 – that’s a bit creepy to me.  I realize those views mostly come from our culture, but I just think that although breastfeeding is extremely special as a bonding time for mother and baby… it is something that I personally wouldn’t want to REMEMBER doing.  And I have VIVID memories from age 4 1/2.  Just sayin’. ;)