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Reflections on Noah’s Birth. Part 4

7 Feb

Read Part 1 Here ||| Read Part 2 Here || Read Part 3 Here

I made a promise a long time ago to write out my reflections and thoughts regarding my son’s birth, and ten months later, I’m finally getting around to it.

Peter, holding Noah for the first time!

Here is what I do remember.

I struggled and still do with how fast my labor was.  In case you’re reading this for the first time, I arrived at the birth center in raging labor, with contractions right on top of each other (convinced I was in transition) and my midwife let me know I was four cm.  I honestly thought I would have to leave and get an epidural because I had no idea how I would manage if the contractions worsened.  The good news is that the pain of the contractions never got worse, only the pressure below intensified.  I should mention that we arrived at the birth center somewhere between 5:35 and 5:45 and I was 4 cm when we arrived and I birthed my son at 6:13 pm.  That means that active labor, transition, pushing  – and kablamo – babe in arms was less than 45 minutes.  That’s crazy fast.  CRAZY!

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I Encapsulated My Placenta | Pictures Included

1 Feb

WARNING: If you click to read this post you will see lots of pictures of my baby’s placenta.

Once upon a time I ate iguana eggs, scrambled up and served with Corn Flakes. I went on a short-term, medical, faith-based trip with my father deep into the Mosquito Coast of Honduras.  The kind woman who prepared the meals for our team (I know, I know) wasn’t sure what to do with the Corn Flakes that we brought, so she stirred them into the local delicacy she served us –  scrambled iguana eggs. Mmmmm, delicious. I ate till my plate was clean because I was convinced I would offend her other wise.  This is proof that I’m not faint of heart.

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Postpartum Hair Regrowth Is Here

8 Jan

It’s baaaaaack…

My postpartum hair loss arrived with a vengeance.  I had known to expect it because I had experienced it with Zoe.  But, like all things with my sweet son, this time, the experience was completely different.  My hair started falling out six weeks postpartum and finally stopped at six months.   The clumps that fell out when I washed my hair were the size of soft-balls.   Fortunately, I have always had very thick hair, so the loss wasn’t noticeable to others when they looked at me.  But I noticed.  I went from wrapping my pony-tail holder (What are they called? Elastics?) twice around my pony-tail to, by the end of the postpartum hair loss, needing to wrap it FOUR times.  The good news is that I finally have that cool, flat, sleek, straight hair look.  Up till then, I’ve always had bushy-wig-looking-hair (thick hair isn’t always awesome, y’all).  The bad news is that it’s growing back in, and it’s sticking straight up out of the top of my head.

ps. It’s also grey.

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How To Convert a Regular Bra Into a Nursing Bra

4 Jan

I look for cheap nursing bras at thrift stores and snatch those up, (pay no mind to the quality or the size of them- it’s the hardware that you want from them). I cut out the clips and straps from them and sew them into my bras that already fit me well.

Please keep in mind, I wear wire bras. I know that the trick with a wire bra is to have a proper fit.  The wire should not dig into any of your breast tissue  – meaning the wire should lay on your rib cage, just outside of your breast.  When you’ve got full breasts wearing a wireless bra is not always an option – they just don’t support the girls the same way a wire does.  Please remember, if you do start wearing a wire nursing bra to do it *after* your engorgement stage.

Not sure on your fit to begin with – especially while nursing? Then check out my post on finding the right fit for you:  You Might Be Wearing The Wrong Size Bra.

Here’s some photo examples of one of my (finished) converted bras:

My homemade nursing bra. Click on the image to view it larger.

You can see how I hand stitched the claps in. Click on the image to view it larger.

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