Pumperstar

I feel I really need to post a few blog entries about pumping because I have so many suggestions and tips for people, but no one ever really talks about pumping out loud!

First of all, for those of you getting ready to pump, I recommend the Medela products. They're the only ones I considered. I bought and use the Medela Pump In Style Metro with the shoulder bag. The motor, instead of being built into the bag, actually comes out, so you can take it out and carry it around with you if using the battery pack, rather than having to carry the whole bag.

The bag itself is spacious enough to carry the little cooler (which fits up to six bottles and an ice pack),

the motor box,

the loose pieces (flanges, membranes, valves, etc.), and a tube of Clorox wipes (we'll get to that in a minute). I complain that the bag is too big, but I'm afraid that if it were smaller, I would complain that I couldn't fit everything into it that I need, so that complaint is kind of a washout.

Which pump to buy?

When I was pregnant, my husband's company set me up with a lactation consultant, and I asked her recommendation about what pump to buy. She recommended the Metro to me. She said that the only advantage of the Freestyle was that it was hands-free, but she said that wasn't really a plus considering you can buy bras that make the Metro hands-free, as well. She also told me that the Freestyle is a lot louder than the Metro.

Now I have not heard the Freestyle, so I can't vouch for how loud it is, but I can tell you that the Metro isn't quiet. If I'm pumping in bed watching television with my husband, I have to place a pillow over the motor because it's so loud. I'm guessing that the Freestyle is only slightly louder.

My main complaint with the Metro is that it's not hands-free! Yes, I bought the hands-free bra, and it works great for me, but I would much prefer not to have to wear it. It gets dirty quickly because despite all efforts I usually tend to leak a bit onto it, then washing it is a pain the ass because no matter when I do it, I usually always need it again before it's finished drying.

Another advantage of the Freestyle is that it uses rechargeable batteries (I think). I can tell you that the Metro sucks up the energy from eight AA batteries quite quickly, and rather then use up my paychecks buying batteries, I use the plug option whenever possible, which means that I’m bound to one spot while pumping.

All in all, if I were to do it again, I would hands-down (pun intended) buy the Medela Pump In Style Freestyle, and honestly, I would probably go with the backpack option. I would imagine that would be pretty convenient to walk around while pumping using the rechargeable battery pack.

Hands-free bras

If you go with the Metro, I recommend you buy two hands-free bras so that you can wash one while using the other. I also recommend that you buy a larger size than you need. This is a tip I came across by accident! Bryleigh was crying in the baby store when I bought mine, so I grabbed the first one I saw and never even thought to look at the size. When I got home, I realised I had bought a large when I needed a small. Unfortunately I bought it when I was out of town and couldn’t exchange it in the near future, so I just started using it. However, I tend to put it on over my clothing, so the large really works well for that! The room in which I pump at work is freezing, so if I'm wearing a sweater, I can lift up the front of the sweater and pull the large hands-free bra down over it, and because it's too big, it works, and I get to stay relatively warm!

Back from the dead

So I'm back and plan to make a conscious effort to update this! My little Bryleigh Boo was born and started sleeping through the night at one month old. Now she's four months and was up all night last night! Luckily, A wasn't working today, so he go up with her most of the night. She's started rolling over, though I have yet to see her do it, and she's intrigued by her feet, but I don't quite think she's figured out that they're hers, yet...

The classes

One of the women in my neighbourhood actually said that she was thinking of hiring a nanny and asked me if I would want to go in with her and split the cost. Her baby is due in March, but her mom is moving in with them until September, so we'd need care at the same time. She was saying we could split the cost, and the nanny could rotate weekly between our houses. I thought it was a good idea, but because we're only going to be in this house until December, we said no.
We've begun our pre-natal classes; we've only had one so far, and we both felt like it was pretty pointless! Both Andrew and I have been reading the books, and the teacher didn't really go over anything that we didn't already know. We're hoping the later classes will be more helpful, though.

Prenatal Series Classes – A series of four prenatal classes titled "A Special Time" will help make your pregnancy, labor and delivery joyful and healthy, while preparing you to care for your new baby. We recommend taking prenatal courses as early in your pregnancy as possible, since much of the information impacts the entire nine months of your pregnancy.

Classes are held every Monday night at 8 p.m. in the Richard H. Rich Auditorium in the 77 Building at Piedmont Hospital. (Classes are not held during the month of December, on any major holiday falling on Monday, or on the fifth Monday of any month.)

Each series includes four sessions on the following topics:

Session 1: A Time for Changes

• Your emotional changes
• Changes in your body
• Sexuality during pregnancy
• How the baby develops

Session 2: A Time for Care

• Information on maintaining a healthy diet
• Considerations for a safe pregnancy (including exercise, drugs, environmental exposures, etc.)

Session 3: A Time for Birth

• The signs of labor
• Anesthesia options and the hows and whys of medication
• The delivery: A film on childbirth and Cesarean delivery

Session 4: A Time for Baby

• The healthy baby
• Nursing your baby
• Deciding about circumcision
• Caring for your newborn

So I think that Classes 3 and 4 will be very helpful, but Class 1 was useless, and Class 2 probably will be, too. Also, I've signed up to take a Prenatal Toning, Fitness and Yoga class from March through May.

We’ve also signed up to take the breastfeeding class in June, which I now hear is useless. That really stinks, because ours is supposed to be a full Saturday (9am-5pm!!!!).

The congestion feels like the worst cold I’ve ever had -- I can't breathe through my nose at all. It's really just in the nose and head. Last night, I got in bed at 8:30 and made myself stay awake until 9:30, when I could take it no more. I woke up at 6:30 and was so glad to have actually slept through the night this time. This morning, some of the girls here at work told me to stop drinking milk until I clear up. I have never heard this before, but they said that milk and dairy products create mucous; well, I drink a gallon of skim milk every TWO days!!! I'm going to lay off it for the next week and see if that helps.

I keep hearing that not having morning sickness or nausea means I'm having a boy.

The unbearable congestion

I feel absolutely clueless! I'm almost right at 16 weeks right now. He or she is the size of avocado!

The daycare situation is still coming along. At least we have plenty of options, some close to home and others closer to work. Our commute from home to work is only 10-15 minutes, though, so neither option will be bad at all. My firm partners with a daycare in Midtown and not only pays half the tuition, but also keeps a space reserved for us. So we already know, if all else fails, we have a space there. We just liked the one by our house better. I'm actually going to view one more, today, too. When A started looking into it, he found out that PwC will pay for part of it, too, no matter where we go. These are things they don't normally tell you about unless you specifically ask!

On another note, the pregnancy congestion is KILLING me. Apparently the mucous membranes of the nose start to swell from all the pregnancy hormones circulating in the body, and the stuffiness may only get worse as the pregnancy progresses! I swear to heaven if mine gets any worse my nose might actually fall off. I was up at 4am holding my head over a steamy sink to see if that helped (it didn't). I tried sleeping with a steamy rag over my face (no help there, either). The only decongestant we pregnant ladies are allowed to take is Pseudoephedrine, but I tried that, and it didn't work for me. I'm drinking hot water with lemon, honey and ginger, doing the saline nasal sinus cavity rinse (which really grosses me out), eating chicken noodle soup (for dinner last night and I have more for lunch today) and plenty fruits for extra vitamin C. I even tried sleeping propped up and ended up sleeping with a box of Kleenex last night, literally had my arm around the darn thing! It's a good think A is traveling this week, because I'd have kept him up all night (I think the dogs were annoyed with me)!

I tried calling my doctor about it, but the nurse just told me to call my regular doctor and offered no more help when I told her that I didn't have one, yet, because we just moved here. I asked Miriam about it, and some people here at work, but everything they suggest is stuff I've already tried. It didn't start until this week, right around the exact same time I got the email update from the What to Expect website with the subject line "Feeling Stuffy? Nasal Congestion at 16 Weeks Pregnant". Lovely.

At least I never had morning sickness.

The hot summer

Our due date is July 24th, and though I am so happy about the pregnancy, being pregnant during a steamy Southern summer is not something I ever wanted to do! I keep telling myself that at least the pregnancy's not interfering with football season at all! Plus, summer clothes are much more flattering to a big ole tummy than bulky winter things! I'm thinking of making Andrew buy a kiddy pool and putting it on the back deck so that I can lounge in that on the weekends!

Andrew doesn't want to know the sex of the baby, but I do. Since we're in a rental house right now and won't be doing a nursery until we buy our own house, I told him that if we're EVER not going to find out, it needs to be for this one. Plus, it makes sense to not find out for the first because then it forces you (and everyone else who buys you stuff) to get all gender-neutral stuff at first, which can then be used for later children. The suspense is just killing me, though!

Unfortunately, I discovered that I have no maternity leave! I haven't been here long enough to qualify for the Family Act, so I'm just praying that when the time comes, I won't get fired! My boss is super nice and seems willing to work with me on it, and Andrew gets three weeks paternity leave that he'll take when I have to go back to work. I just keep thinking that if we hadn't had to move back, I'd have had three to six months paid leave in London and job security for a full year if I didn't wanted to take extra unpaid leave!

We’ve had to start looking into daycares now, and apparently we’re on the slow side! Some of Andrew’s coworkers told us they started calling daycares before they called to schedule their first doctor appointment! Here in Atlanta, the waiting lists are mega-long. We have one place secured through my work, but we weren’t blown away by it, so we're desperately trying to get in with one at a Methodist Church that's less than a block away from our house, and in the mean time I'm interviewing and touring others every week. It's crazy competitive!

A good book I found is Getting ready for baby: The ultimate organizer for the mom-to-be. It's full of checklists covering everything from trimester to trimester to baby proofing the house to healthcare, shopping, etc, etc, etc. It's been a lifesaver for me so far. It even has a checklist of questions to ask when going on tours of daycare centers and forms to keep track of what you're borrowing from whom and who gave you what at baby showers. Apparently, you're supposed to buy all the big purchases, like furniture, strollers, car seats, now in the second trimester. It's all so overwhelming!

The nuchal-fold screening

Baby Brock is doing well! My last ultrasound showed him (or her) just jumping around and doing somersaults like crazy! It was really funny, and the more I laughed, the more she (or he) jumped! Andrew wasn’t able to make it to that appointment, though.

I’m really tired all the time, but I found that eating a piece of fruit, especially bananas, and drinking a glass of ice water around (what my body thought was) nap-time really helps perk me up!

I'm just starting to show, which feels a little weird. Feeling very fat rather than pregnant! I had to go through my closet last weekend and box up everything that no longer fit, and now my closet is depressingly empty, and getting emptier, as I grow out of more stuff. My cousin Beth loaned me all her maternity clothes, but I'm not quite big enough to fit into them, yet. My best friend Miriam is supposed to loan me hers, too, when I can find some time to get to Birmingham! I went to Forever 21 over Christmas and bought several suits in a size large to get me through work for a while. Just simple black/gray things. I'm heading to Target this week, too, to check out their maternity department because I've heard it's really good, and I need some tops! I just can't fathom spending a lot on stuff I'll only wear for a few months! I can't wait until summer when the dress code at work relaxes, and I can start wearing sundresses instead of suits.

The job and house

Atlanta is so far so good. We're renting a house right now (we thought we'd rent the first year while we figured out the neighborhoods where we might want to buy) in Morningside, on the edge of Virginia Highlands. The neighborhood is so great; we hope we can find something in our price range to buy next year in the same area.

I started working with a law firm in a marketing position. I was really lucky to find a job so quickly, especially since we found out about the pregnancy right after my first interview! It's a step down from what I've been doing, but I was afraid that if I didn't accept it, nothing else would come along in this job market -- or lack thereof! Plus it's teaching me how to create websites from scratch (whereas I'd always managed websites using a content management system with fill-in-the-blank templates); the money is descent, and I really love the people with whom I'm working.