A Month Already?

Wow! That went kinda fast. By way of a boobjuice update, Jackie is gaining weight nicely and going through diapers like a champ, so the most important things are all good. But the yeast is still with us. Grrr. Nothing like last kiddo, but not fun. When let down feeling changed from achy to prickly (it's hard to write a blog entry while pointed towards my husband's computer showing The Hulk. Edward Norton is a genius. I swear watching him eat breakfast cereal would be interesting.) Anyway, as I was saying. When I felt prickly I said "oh no you DIDN'T" and called my physician. After discussing my case history with Robert, she said she ordinarily wouldn't skip to fluconazole (diflucan), as being the Big Guns, but given my history, she would be willing to do so. I said I wanted to nip this sucker in the bud before it spoiled all my fun. So guess what I've got? Yep. Seven days into the prescription with a refill for seven more on the way. Not. Messing. Around. Plus I think the topical anti-yeast salve I was using was making my nipples itch. So I switched to coconut oil. I love coconut oil. I use it on baby bottoms, on mama nipples, and there's a really tasty recipe for a spread made out of coconut oil in Hilary Jacobson's Mother Food.

Supply seems to be fine, which is nice. I want to get the pumping going now before my supply calms down from that after birth make milk and lots of it reaction. But I don't want to freeze milk with yeast in it. So I've pumped and dumped a couple times, which sort of breaks my heart, but I'm not getting that much yet anyway. Soon, though, yeast or not, I'll want to start freezing to build a stockpile for my return to work.

And then more broadly - it's easier the second time around, or it has been for us. Some of that is likely just knowing what we were in for. Some of it is being able to relax and enjoy, and having (so far knock wood) a much milder case of post partum anxiety this time to spoil the fun. And Jackie seems like a pretty easy baby so far, although of course she has those afternoon/evening fussy periods where she wants to nurse all the time but won't stay latched on. My midwife suggested putting her in the carrier and going for a walk, so next time we'll give that a shot. Last night when it happened, my brother in law took her and I got to go take a hot bath. Ahhhh.

Which brings me to the biggest thing that is making it easier this time around. Help. My sister and her hubby are in our building. One time when Jackie was about a week old, Cathy came downstairs and just did the dishes. It was the day before my birthday, and that is the best birthday present I've gotten in a while, I must say. Friends have stopped by with food. And I got a birthday check, which I promptly turned around and spent on post partum doula services. This was a stroke of sheer genius. My birth doula also does post partum doula work, so she has been doing most of the hours. She comes over and does dishes or folds laundry or holds the baby so I can take a sitz bath (ah, hemorrhoids...) But she's also a mama and a lactation-friendly source of lots of interesting info on birth and new parenthood. So we can talk about yeast or is this a plugged duct or whatever, and she checks in on me and is smart about what to look out for in a new (again) mama.

If I was composing my first baby registry today, it would have way less stuff, and more services. Lactation consultant, doula services, massage, house cleaning... that's my latest splurge by the way. I am determined that we are going to clean up our own mess on an ongoing basis, but we had gotten far enough behind and are spending so much of our not-holding-a-kid time on laundry that I went ahead and had a service come in once to get us caught up. I figure it will be easier to try to keep it that way than get it that way. Not easy, mind you, but easier.

So that's the haps from boobjuice central over here. In a final note, recently heard from Mama Suzi to her eldest: "That's right. We don't put stickers on Mommy's nipples."

Much love,

Suzi