Woman's Daybook

I've been feeling a bit frustrated with my blogging lately. The things I write don't come out the way I want them to. That hasn't stopped me from blogging like crazy, though. ;)

In an effort to help get my thoughts straight, I will simplify my posts with The Simple Woman's Daybook



Outside my window...it is raining and the snow is melting.


I am thinking...about what I want to eat for lunch.


I am thankful for...a healthy baby and 16 weeks of maternity leave.


From the kitchen...I just realized that I cannot make the homemade pizza that I was planning on making, because I forgot to buy the mozzarella cheese. Darn it!


I am wearing...yoga pants and a pink maternity shirt. I will probably add a sweatshirt here soon.


I am creating...a digital scrapbook of my little man.


I am going...to eat lunch, then give my baby a bath; after he eats, then I'll take a shower.


I am reading...other people's blogs. I sometimes pick up The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and read bits I'm curious about.


I am hoping...my son becomes a productive member of society and does not become a serial killer.


I am hearing...the baby swing and a DVR'd version of Private Practice.


Around the house...I need to do laundry.


One of my favorite things...giving Riley a bath. (which he is due for today.) :D


A few plans for the rest of the week: I would like to get my hair cut and colored, but we'll see if that ever happens. Otherwise I plan on trying to get some sleep this week.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...Riley in a puppy hat and outfit. He's saying "But mom! I want to eat now, I don't want to swing!"

Sweets and treats

I didn't get very much sleep last night, and only kind of napped this morning. Riley, however sleeps just fine during the day. Last night he would fall asleep while nursing, I would burp him and he would still be sleeping. After I would lay him down, however, he would wake up. I let him fuss for a bit, but each time he would start to cry and scream so I would pick him up and he would show signs of wanting to nurse. It was definitely a rough night. I ended up falling asleep while burping him this morning at 0600.

I'm guessing there will be a lot of blog posts about sleep, because already I've talked about it nearly every day I've posted this year. I apologize in advance.

In other news I've been doing a lot of baking/making of sweets of late. One thing I made before Christmas was Cream Cheese Banana bread. I found the recipe here. (and I don't think she wants me to re-post the recipe, so you will just have to go there to see it.)

The only thing I have to warn you about is that the recipe calls for self rising flour. I personally do not have this, and unfortunately I forgot that it was different than all purpose flour. If you also do not carry self rising flour, you can make your own by using the following conversion:

1 cup of self rising flour= 1 cup of all purpose/plain flour minus 2 tsp., and add 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt to make the full cup. 

For this recipe instead of 3 c. self rising flour you would use:
2-7/8 c. all purpose flour (which is the same as 3 c. minus 2 Tbsp.) (Or just use 3c. and not care about the extra 2 Tbsp and risk having it be just a touch dry)
4-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt

I forgot about this conversion and had already put in the 3 c. all purpose flour, so I added the salt and baking powder after I was done mixing. I over mixed my dough, so it ended up being a bit crumbly and dry. I will remake this and see if it is less dry with less flour and less mixing. It did have a good flavor though. I made one loaf with nuts and one with mini chocolate chips. Both were lovely. :D

I have more recently made a pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies. I'm married to someone with as big of a sweet tooth as I have. It will be hard to lose the extra 7-10 pounds of baby weight with treats readily available, but I'll begin working on that soon.

I got Zumba Fitness for our x-box Kinect for Christmas. I haven't tried it yet, because I wasn't supposed to do too much heavy exercising. My midwife said to let my lochia get my guide when it comes to activity. If it increases, I'm doing too much. I do notice an increase when I am more active, especially when Riley and I leave the house. My lochia is nearly gone now though so I will probably try it soon. I never realized how long lochia (bleeding after delivery) sticks around after having a baby. Thankfully it was only heavy for like 4 days after delivery and has been light ever since.

I don't see myself restraining from cookies and ice cream in the near future. They taste too darn good to me right now. :D

Please do not be offended

This post really might offend some people. I apologize in advance.

Something I've learned about having a newborn is what accessories are necessary and what ones aren't. I had 3 baby showers. One with my family and friends, one with Jamaal's side of family and friends (I thought a lot more of his family and friends would come, so I separated them. If I would have known only 9 people were going to go, I wouldn't have separated them. You live and you learn.) and one at my work. I registered at Target and Baby's R Us. For the most part, though, I received clothes.

Don't get me wrong, clothes are necessary, we sometimes go through 3-4 outfits a day. (on a very bad day). But usually go through 2 outfits. Since the outfits are pretty small I usually do a load of all of his clothes and blankets, etc. 1-2 times a week depending on how big the load is getting. I will throw in my nursing bras and camis with his clothes too. Since I use special soap for his clothes, I don't like to waste it (and it smells like him which makes me smile). We have about 10 outfits that fit him right now. Which is just about perfect. I'm glad most people gave larger sizes of clothes. Newborn size clothes were a necessary item for him, only because I had him early. But most newborns don't fit in newborn size clothes for as long as they have fit him.

Clothes are a necessary item, of course. However, when you receive 2-4 (or more) outfits from each person, you begin to have loads and loads of clothes. I have given clothes only as a gift before Riley, and I now know that I will not be doing this again. Clothes are fun to shop for, so I understand the reason for people to want to give clothing, but most people receive second hand clothing as I did, and don't really need a ton of clothes.

From now on, I will limit myself to one outfit, and something else on the baby's registry. Even if it is something as boring as q-tips or laundry detergent. And maybe I won't even give clothes, if I find something  on the registry that is a little bit more expensive that I know was something I wanted/needed right away. Also, if I can't find anything on the registry within my price range, I will give a gift card along with the one outfit I've allotted myself.

Of course I am thankful for any gift we received. I do not judge or disapprove of anyone who gifted several outfits. I have been guilty of this before. And he will look absolutely adorable in each and every one of them. I also know that people do not have to give anything at all, and I am very fortunate to have received any gifts. But if I were to choose between 2 gifts containing clothes and 1 gift of some other necessary item, I know I would choose the latter.

You're my inspiration

I watched Julie and Julia the other day and was inspired to blog a bit more. That is why I've been blogging every day since the 6th of this month.


It also made me want to get Mastering the Art of French Cooking and try making some of the recipes I saw in the movie. I'm sure that I wouldn't make too many of the recipes, as I'm sure many of the recipes are a bit more labor intensive than I prefer. I'm also sure that some of the ingredients might not appeal to the husband or me (or both), and therefore would not be made. But, I would still like to have the book in my arsenal of cook books.

If you haven't seen the movie, you really need to. I laughed. I cried. I drooled.

Speaking of drool, my drooling bug is stretching and groaning, which means that soon he will be awake and fussing for boob juice. I better get to him. Then it is dishes time (the husband got out the last of the homemade ice cream and at that last night, so cookies were not made. And since I didn't have to do dishes, I sat on my butt instead.) Can you tell I got some sleep last night? :D I think the poor guy has reflux and doesn't like to be very flat for sleep. I put him in his swing, and we had like 2-3 hours of sleep at a time. Most of the time I didn't even have the swing on. I slept on the couch next to him, which was much more comfortable than our recliner chair. My back doesn't feel like I slept on rocks.

Happy Monday to you!

Sleepy mama

Last night Riley woke up at 0200, and didn't get to sleep again until 0800. Well, that isn't exactly true. He napped for about 30 minutes at one point, and I'm sure he probably rested well while nursing pretty much the entire time. Growth spurt perhaps? On the plus side, he didn't wake up again until 1140, so I got a good 3+ hours of sleep in. Then I napped for about 2 hours from 1200 to 1430. I am hoping that tonight he sleeps a bit more than that. I am very thankful that my husband was home today to help me with his diaper changes. It is silly, but I really don't enjoy changing his diapers. Nursing him isn't that bad to me, even though I have to get positioned comfortably and usually have to get out of bed to do so. Changing his diaper is not that difficult really...but when you do it about 10 times a day (sometimes more if he decides to pee or poo mid change.) it gets old fast. Jamaal hasn't had to change that many diapers because 1.) he works during the day; 2.) I do all the feedings at night, and it doesn't make sense to make him get up just to change his diaper especially because of #1.

I make a point to ask him to do a couple diaper changes when he has a day off, or when he is home after working during the day. (Though I wait to ask him to change Riley only after he has had a chance to relax some after working.)

Jamaal did all of the diaper changes today except for the one I did before and after his bath. After very little sleep, this was such a blessing.

Jamaal has been such a help around the house. He has been doing laundry and has cleaned both bathrooms. He also does the dishes sometimes as well. I have not done very much housework yet. I have done the dishes a couple times. And I have cooked dinner nearly every night (which sometimes is a huge chore). But I often don't have tons of spare time to myself to get things done. I'm getting better, though not getting enough sleep at night doesn't help me to get chores done.

Well, Jamaal would like some cookies, but before that can happen, dishes need to be done, so I better get on that. ;)

Just because.

The socks stayed on just through this picture. I think socks/shoes are pointless in newborns. He kicks them off almost immediately. They will only stay on when he's sleeping and even then he sometimes kicks them off. I have a drawer full of socks/shoes that will probably remain in the drawer....

Examining my fertility

When I pushed Riley's shoulders and body out, I made some of the only noise I made during labor and delivery. It was such a relief of pressure that it deserved a good sigh/moan. I made sure to tell my mom that it wasn't that I was in pain, because it didn't hurt (since I had such a good epidural). It just simply seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and helped to release some of the pressure. After they stole him away to be weighed, measured, and cleaned up a bit, I thought to myself: "I could do this again." I was amazed that I felt that way. Sure, the heartburn sucked A LOT. Sure, I really didn't enjoy being a Gestational Diabetic. But all of that didn't matter to me anymore, and I would truly do it all again in a heartbeat.

Logically, I know that I should wait at least a year to allow my uterus and body to heal fully. I also know that the exhaustion I feel now would be dramatically worse with two little ones. But would you believe that I've considered what it would be like to get pregnant again? I'm crazy. I blame the hormones. Financially, we wouldn't be able to do it. I wouldn't be able to have much time off with the second babe, and how sad would that be to have to go back to work within 6 weeks of birth?! Also, if it was less than a year, I wouldn't qualify for any time off because FMLA is only allowed once within a year. (However, I'm sure they make exceptions to that rule for maternity leave.) I can't believe I'm even discussing this...

This all leads me to my two-week postpartum check up. Basically I went in to talk with my midwife, she did no examination. One of the first things she said to me was: "What are you going to do for birth control?"

My gut reaction was: "How dare you ask me that!" I didn't say that out loud of course, but I was actually offended. Me, the pro-choice, lover of medicinal forms of birth control was offended. I shocked myself. I never thought that I would feel this way about birth control. Again, I blame the hormones.

Realistically, I know that if we don't use some form of birth control, I'll have a newborn again in 10 more months. At least there is a huge risk of that happening. It was simply too easy to conceive Riley.

After pausing to get my head straight, I finally told her I didn't know what we would do for birth control. So, she reviewed our options:

Condoms. Since I hate the smell, and they are a bit of an inconvenience, we do not do well with these. Case and point: Riley. We should have used a condom the night he was conceived, I knew there was a chance, but thought there was no way it would happen that night. We all know what came of that decision. (Only the cutest little boy in the world!)

Progesterone-only Birth Control Pills. These are extremely time sensitive. I barely remember when the last time I ate or peed, let alone whether I took a pill or not. I used to set an alarm on my phone, but even then would sometimes take a little bit to take the pill. Sometimes hours.

Arm fat implant. Please excuse my description, I can't remember what this was actually called, but ultimately it is a rod that is inserted under the skin in the upper arm. I am weirded out by having something inserted there, especially since I plan on working out a bit and trying to tone up my upper arms. I don't know how that would feel to have a rod in my arm while doing push ups. It might not feel different, but I don't much care to find out. One perk to this type, however, is the cessation of menstruation. (I think...)

Depo-Provera. Hormonal injections. My midwife wasn't a big fan of this option. She doesn't recommend it for the long term, I forget the exact reason for that. But she said there is a huge risk of gaining 20 pounds in less than a year with this option. But it is a good option if used only while breastfeeding and transitioning to estrogen containing BCPs after weaning. She had some other disadvantages that I can't remember now. The risk of gaining 20 pounds is enough of a turn off for me.

IUD. (Intra-uterine device) This is something I considered using prior to going to this appointment. It is one of the easiest methods of birth control, since it is inserted and can stay in for 5-10 years depending on the brand. It is pretty effective at 99.9%, and one of the brands gets rid of menstruation. Which, let's face it, is kind of a gift! ;) Ultimately I decided on this one.

My logical side knows that I have to use some sort of birth control, and my impulse control is not so good that we can rely on NFP. At least not for the immediate future, only once I'm really ready for another child can we use NFP. Because that is technically what we were using when Riley was conceived. I do realize that at the time, we wanted to get pregnant eventually. And that we had very superficial reasons to prevent pregnancy at the time: I wanted to avoid a December/Holiday birthday. I know that now, our reasons to prevent pregnancy are much weightier: it isn't good for my uterus to go through pregnancy again prior to a year postpartum; financially I won't have benefits to cover my leave; and of course how physically exhausting it would be to be pregnant with an infant in tow. So I do realize that it might be a bit easier for us to prevent pregnancy using condoms and NFP, but I honestly don't trust myself. I want another baby far too much. I know that in the back of my mind I will think how wonderful it would be to have another little one, even though my logical side knows how crazy I'm being.

Do you follow me? Again I blame hormones if you don't. ;)

Well, I went to schedule my appointment to have an IUD inserted. She likes to do it at 8 weeks postpartum when the uterus has hardened up enough that the risk of her puncturing my uterus (!) when the IUD is inserted, is decreased. They wouldn't let me schedule an appointment, because it is something that needs to be pre-approved by insurance. That meant that they would call me to schedule the appointment. But of course, it isn't that easy. The Mirena (the hormonal form of the IUD) costs about $850, and the insertion costs $180, and my insurance will cover it at 85% after I meet my $250 deductible. So, that means it will end up being about $377.50 total. They do accept payment plans, and I do have a flexible spending account for health care, so I would get the money right back after I submit the appropriate paperwork. But it is very upsetting how expensive it will be. I haven't called to schedule my appointment yet. But I think I will on Monday. Logically, $400 is cheaper than getting pregnant again soon.

We are allowed to have sex again at 6 weeks post-partum, that leaves 2 weeks in between insertion where we could get pregnant. I am clinically insane and sort of hope that we do...