My name is Katie. I am three! I would really like to see a tree...

A few months ago, I started asking Katie what theme she might like for her third birthday party.  I love to get all crafty and plan ahead.  She had become obsessed with the Lorax movie around that time and decided she wanted a "Lorlax birthday."
 
The main premise behind the Dr. Seuss book and movie is that the Lorax character is the guardian of the trees.  When the Onceler starts chopping down the Truffula trees to makes Thneeds (a fine thing that all people need), the Lorax sets out to warn him about the dangers of cutting down the forest.  Can I just stop here and say how warm it makes my heart that my daughter is a tree hugger at her core? No brain washing needed. :)

Keeping with the environmental awareness theme of the story, we used no disposable kitchen products other than the flexible straws that we decorated with Lorax mustaches for the kiddos to use.  I really appreciate our family and friends going along with keeping up with their plates, napkins, cups, forks.  Next year I'll try to remember that it would be nice to have separate plates for dessert.  To me, the clean up was really not much more work since we just put everything in the dishwasher.

Here are some shots from the festivities:

Truffula tree light fixture

Katie's artwork for the party.  The Lorax on the left and the Onceler on the right.  I am extremely biased, but I see a little bit of a future Picasso in her collages here. ;)

 

Trina and Levi playing pin the mustache on the Lorax.  He was a little dizzy from spinning in circles before making his move. ;)

Cake! Made with almost all natural or organic ingredients.  Used spinach for the green icing color.  Truffula tree tooth picks from Target and Barbaloots made out of Teddy Graham crackers.

Happy Birthday to you!

A few of Katie's friends enjoying cake.

I am the Boo.  I speak for the trees.

Since her birthday actually falls on Easter this year, we thought a "small" party with her little church buddies and a couple of cousins would be easier than planning a big shindig right before Easter.  By the time we added in parents and siblings, we had a house full.  And the kids partied hardy!

A huge thank you to all our friends and family that helped us get ready for the party and celebrate!  We are so blessed to be surrounded with love!

~Carla

Levi's Birth Day

I've been meaning to write this for a while.  Like for a year.  I kept thinking I would get around to it.  Well, what a great day to write the story of Levi's birth, on his birthday.  Seriously, where does a year go?  I thought time went fast before I had kids, I had no idea.

Tuesday March 27, 2012

7:00 am-  I woke up that morning expecting to go to work.  I got out of bed, and was about to get in the shower when my water broke.  It was exactly how people describe it: a gush!  I was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  My due date was April 1.  Adam was already downstairs getting ready to leave for work.  I yelled down the steps, "I'm pretty sure my water just broke."  He replied, "Really?"  He called work and made arrangements for a sub and ran around the house like a chicken with his head cut off.  I immediately called my mom and my friend/doula/nurse extraordinaire Cristin.  Cristin said I could get into the shower, but to come to the hospital as soon as I could.



My mom got to the hospital around 8:00.  In fact, she beat us to the hospital.  When we walked up to the doors, there she was filming.  We walked into L&D and casually told them we were there to have a baby.  We were checked into Triage where the nurse confirmed that my water had broken.  They put an external heart rate monitor on my belly.  The nurse went to call Dr. Moore, but came back to inform me that she was off on Tuesdays.  I was BEYOND upset.  I had spoken with Dr. Moore about my birth plan and she agreed to no interventions unless absolutely necessary etc.  The nurse told me that the on-call doctor wanted to start Pitocin immediately.  I was devastated.  I wanted to attempt a natural birth, but I knew that it would be more difficult with Pitocin contractions.  Cristin convinced the nurse to call back and explain my situation.  The nurse came back with good news that Dr. Moore had agreed to deliver my baby on her day off!

Before the contractions: eating a popsicle. 

Dr. Moore agreed to let my body start contracting without Pitocin.  Cristin, Adam, mom, and I moved to labor and delivery from Triage.  They were able to put a portable heart rate monitor on me so I could move around and attempt to start contracting on my own.  Cristin, Adam, and I walked the halls constantly.  I bounced on a stability ball.  Still, nothing.

Around 12:30 Dr. Moore came in to say they wanted to start Pitocin.  I conceded.  She explained they would start it on a low dose and increase it every 30 minutes.  I still wasn't sure what to expect.  I hadn't really felt any pain yet.  I knew I had the option of an epidural if I decided I needed one.  I really just wanted to see how far I could get without one.  I was determined to at least attempt a natural birth.  I had read up on natural births and knew my body was meant to do this.  It helped me to think that women birthed babies for thousands of years before the "epidural."

My contractions pretty much started immediately.  They became intense pretty quickly.  They were every 2-3 minutes at first, but I was breathing through them.  Honestly, I found that as long as I focused on something (which happened to be one of the diamonds in a pattern on my hospital gown) the contractions were over before I realized it.  It's almost as if your mind blocks everything else out during the contraction.  It was a very spiritual experience for me.  I loved knowing that my body was meant for this and I found comfort in that.  After a contraction, everything went back to normal and I was allowed a few minutes to rest.  My contractions weren't lasting too long at this point.

After laboring 2-3 hours, they checked my cervix and I was at 3 1/2 centimeters.  I was so disappointed.  I had worked through a lot of contractions to gain a couple of centimeters!  At this point, my contractions were picking up as they were continuing to increase my level of Pitocin.  I remember saying, "I don't know," trying to get someone to acknowledge me.  I think Cristin had spoken with the nurses and told them my plan was to go natural.  Not one nurse ever said, "It's okay honey, you can have an epidural whenever you're ready."  I think that was a huge part of my success.  No one ever mentioned the word "epidural."  I think if someone had, I would've said, "Yeah, okay, I'll have one."  I could have easily convinced myself at this stage that I needed one.  I couldn't imagine how much worse my contractions would get.

I just kept thinking "If I can get through the next one."  That was how I did it.  The contractions continued to get closer together.  My breaks between were becoming much shorter.  They became so intense that I felt like I couldn't move at all during one.  During my breaks I would just melt, almost fall asleep instantly.  This was my body recovering.  When Cristin left to teach her childbirth class, Adam, mom, Carla, and my mother-in-law provided my support (literally and figuratively).  Mom and Carla would provide "counter pressure" on my hips, while my mother-in-law would massage my feet.  During what I guess would have been "transition" my tone completely changed.  It was almost as if I was alone.  I zoned everyone and everything else out.  I really couldn't hear conversations around me.

7:43 pm- coming into Transition

8:00 pm-  I started to feel the need to push.  It was a strong feeling and one that was hard to ignore.  This was by far the worst part of the whole experience.  The nurse told me not to push so I didn't stretch my cervix before it was fully dilated.  Somehow, I made it through another 45 minutes of contractions.

8:45 pm-  The nurse came in and told everyone except mom and Adam to leave.  The lights came down above my bed.  It was a bit of a show.  Everyone was in the room getting ready.  They wheeled in the cart they would put him in.  Dr. Moore arrived at this point.  I was so ready to push!!

Dr. Moore instructed me to push when my next contraction started.  When the contraction started the nurse/doctor counted from 1-10.  It felt so amazing to push.  After the first round, I felt what they call the "ring of fire."  It felt like his head was there!  It hurt, but it was more of a relief to push.  They turned off my Pitocin (it was on the highest possible level) to give me a longer break between contractions/pushing.  I remember Dr. Moore looking at the monitor and saying "He's not liking being down there," referring to him in the birth canal.  When I heard that, I was committed to getting him out with the next push!  They put an O2 mask on me and that freaked me out.  I think I pushed 1-2 more times and I heard the cry!  Oh what a wonderful sound!  I was so relieved.  He was born at 9:15 and weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz, and 19 in. long. 

I had communicated to the staff and my family that Kangaroo care was very important to me.  As soon as he was out, they gave him to me for skin to skin.  I laid with him on my chest for about an hour.   He breastfed almost instantly.  It was so beautiful.

It seems like it was only yesterday.  We've made so many memories over the last year!  Mommy loves you Levi Joel!  Happy birthday baby!

Katie's Weaning

To say that the first few months of breastfeeding were HARD is an understatement.  Well, let me back up a bit.  Actually the first few days of breastfeeding far exceeded my expectations.  We started off amazingly well considering the initial obstacles we faced.  Katie was born via c-section at 12:51 pm on March 31, 2010.  My first record of being able to latch her was 4:38 pm.  According to askdrsears.com, "Studies show that newborns who have early contact with their mothers learn to latch on more efficiently than babies who are separated from their mothers in the hour or two following birth." Because we had been separated for nearly 4 hours, I made it a priority to put Katie to the breast every time she smacked her little lips.  I was thrilled and encouraged when less than 48 hours after her birth, my milk came in (breastmilk usually changes over from colostrum to mature milk between 2 and 5 days after birth).

Within a week or two, though, something just didn't seem right.  Katie was extremely fussy (partly her temperament) and I experienced intense pain.  My original goal of making it to 6 months seemed nearly impossible.  After several consultations and a couple of doctor visits, we were both diagnosed with thrush.  Even then, it took several more weeks of pain and various remedies to eliminate the infection in both of us.  Interestingly, the best solutions were the most "natural" ones: gentian violet, homeopathic drops, and diligent cleaning with vinegar.

Another element to our breastfeeding relationship early on was pumping.  I went back to work when Katie was 8 weeks old (America, get with the program on reasonable maternity leaves!).  I pumped at work twice a day and was blessed to be able to take my lunch break every single day to go nurse her at the babysitters.  Thankfully Katie took to bottles very well.  It was difficult at times to not be able to enjoy lunch dates with friends or to be able to run errands.  But I treasured breaking up my day to go cuddle with my boo.  Also, I was never able to "build a stash" of frozen expressed milk during my maternity leave because all of the milk could have been infected with thrush.  However, with a little bit of planning and a flexible work schedule, Katie was never short for milk.

Somewhere along the line, days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and suddenly Katie was a year old.  In the US, the AAP recommends breastfeeding infants until at least a year (the World Health Organization says at least two years).  We had arrived at that wonderful one year mark, and if anything, Katie showed MORE interest in nursing than less.  We had entered into the realm of "extended breastfeeding."

I poured over books and articles to educate myself on the benefits of extended breastfeeding (see some links below).  I also felt the need to arm myself with facts if I ever needed to defend what we were doing.  Admittedly, I was self-conscious about breastfeeding a toddler.  Looking back she was still so much a baby, but it didn't feel that way at the time.

I eventually resigned to not worry about what others thought and follow my daughter's lead in the weaning process.  Breastfeeding was for her afterall, so why should it matter what other opinions were?  Breastfeeding is a relationship, though; a two-way street.  Any time I was starting to feel "tied down" or antsy for forward progress, we made changes.  Katie wasn't always ready for these changes, so I occasionally had to back off until she obliged.

As of 6 months ago, Katie still nursed about once during the day and once at night.  The nighttime part was especially frustrating and exhausting for me.  Over fall break, with Daddy's support of stepping in if needed, we nightweaned.  Katie and I talked about what that would look like for about a week before we even attempted it.  She didn't put up much of a fuss, which was our indication that she was ready.

In December, we found out we are expecting our second child.  I knew that the days of nursing Katie were likely coming to an end.  Breastmilk changes over the course of pregnancy.  Some nurslings wean quickly, others don't seem to notice or care.  Katie noticed, but didn't care.  Mommy did though.  I was becoming more uncomfortable and anxious to move on from this chapter of our relationship.  With a little bit of nudging and A LOT of negotiation, we started spreading out sessions to every other day, every few days, once a week...

The last time I noted that we nursed was February 7, 2013.  Katie was 2 years, 10 months, and 1 week when she was officially "weaned."  It feels very bittersweet to say that I don't remember anything about those last few moments of such an important aspect of our relationship as mother and daughter.  On the other hand, life with Katie has continued to flow in the same way it always has.  Her cuddles are just as sweet and we are just as connected.

We would not have made it as long as we did without the support of family and friends.  You know who you are.  Thank you for not treating us like freaks (at least to our faces).  Thank you for believing that although we weren't considered "normal" for this area of the world, we were doing what was "normal" for us.  And last, thank you Katie-boo for continuing to teach me every day what it is to be your mommy.

~Carla

Helpful links for those considering breastfeeding/extended breastfeeding: 

Breastfeeding your newborn — what to expect in the early weeks

Breastfeeding Past Infancy: Fact Sheet

Weaning