To Breastfeed or not to breastfeed?

In society today, this seems to be a common question. Or maybe not so much now-a-days. Working in mother-baby has opened up my eyes in different ways and has made me very opinionated even though I have not yet experienced this for myself.

Hospitals are supposed to be pushing breastfeeding. While on the unit, the assistant nurse manager was talking about how this push is coming from the White House. Well, I'm not sure what that means exactly, because it seems like it would be better publicized if this were the case. However, I don't understand how the government expects this "push" to be effective while they continue to offer allow people to get free formula.

I found an article entitled Breastmilk is a Human Right. Here are some points I found:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months
• Artificial baby milk does not have adequate nutrients that are required for normal growth & brain development
• Artificial baby milk can be contaminated from hormone & antibiotic residues, phyto-oestrogens, heavy metals, bacteria or toxic chemicals; outweighing the risk of breastmilk contamination
• Breastmilk contains immunological & anti-infective properties and can be considered a first vaccination

There you have it, the best is the breast.

i am sick

yes i have been sick, but this post is what i have ben sick of...

1. people telling me "you look like you've lost weight." thanks. i have lost weight. i am well aware of how dreadful i look and i am doing the best i can to deal with it.
2. people offering suggestions. that's great if i haven't already tried it, but chances are i have tried it. ginger. yuck. makes me want to throw up. i've tried different teas. i try to eat every couple hours. i've tried a homeopathic nux vomica. i've tried b6. it's not my vitamin making me sick, because i can't even swallow it. yes i am on chewable vitamins right now. i am currently trying sea-bands (thanks heidi). zofran & phenergan aren't even reliable, but they do help a little. saltines & soda don't do a thing for me in my sickest part of the day. preggie pops, queasy drops, jolly ranchers, mints, gum... yikes these things are tearing up my mouth and ruining my teeth i'm sure. i'm trying to stay hydrated with popsicles, vitamin water, and juice (and water when i feel like i can drink it).
3. how i feel during the day. one day left of school...THIS WEDNESDAY!!! wooohooo! if i can sleep through the day, life is good. there is one time of the day i can eat - the evening. ask me to eat before 3 or 4pm? good luck. last wednesday i ate a total of 3 lousy saltine crackers the whole time i was at school. and yes i had a lunchbox full of food with me.
4. how i can't sleep at night now. since i've been sleeping through the oh-so-awful daytime, i have a hard time falling asleep at night (hence the late night post). but really this isn't such a big deal after wednesday since i will have no morning commitments to come :D
5. my sedentary lifestyle. i want to workout. however, i have a problem even standing for more than a couple of minutes. so i don't anticipate this changing anytime too soon.
6. commercials with food, scenes in movies with people eating, smells of good food that i know i wouldn't be able to eat (so yes when morgan eats, i am usually in my room with the door closed).

Today I had my first appointment at my birth center with the midwife. I was annoyed because she kept offering advice of things I had already tried (hence my rant of what I am sick of). She also said that we need to work on my appetite... Yes. Great idea. How the heck do I work on having a better appetite when I can barely eat 3 saltines during the day? Believe me, if I could have eaten more, I would have. I know, she's trying to help and wants to see me doing better. I'm just ready to stop beating a dead horse, because I'm doing what I can. Ok, time for the good news, Baby's heart rate sounds good. It was about 160 today.

The truth is I am dying to start making more things for the little one, but I want to know the gender first. 8 more weeks to go!!!

First Trimester, Part 1

It's been said the nurses are Type A Personalities. They are planners. Not sure everything that is involved in the definition of Type A, but for sure I am a planner. With nursing school coming to an end, what a perfect time to start a family. Besides, most people don't get sick in pregnancy until around 8 wks, right? Well apparently, there are some really lucky people that get sick as early as 5 wks. Guess I'm really lucky. Actually I started feeling it at 4 wks. Morgan and I went to Girls Camp (we found out right before :D). Man, I was so tired that whole week and all I wanted to do was sleep. Then 5 wks hit and to the day I felt so crummy, but I was still able to eat come afternoon and evening time. 5 1/2 - 8 wks is the worst I've ever felt in my whole life. I felt like the movie Groundhog's Day where you wake up and it's the same thing all over again. The morning was the worst, but the day didn't seem to get too much better as it went on. It was frustrating because I was looking for new tips and tricks and couldn't seem to find any that worked. I could hardly eat anything, let alone keep it down. I was already taking additional B6 supplements, trying to eat frequently, saltines & soda weren't really doing it for me. I tried peppermint & ginger tea. Ewe. Never doing that again, so if anyone wants either of those - I have a box of each. The one thing I could eat - oranges. Morgan actually bought me a huge box of oranges from Costco. It made my day :D If I could stay in bed, I was pretty safe. I was getting good at keeping things down if I wasn't moving around too much and just stayed relaxed. But still, I wasn't eating very much. My midwife suggested Nux Vomica - homeopathic medicine. Not sure it really helped me, but I do think it somewhat calmed down my stomach somewhat. At 7 1/2 wks my midwife told me to schedule an appointment with my back-up OB. So glad I did. She gave me prescriptions for Zofran, Phenergan, and Medrol. I had lost weight and really looked terrible, so the steroid pack was supposed to help with that. It really has been helping, it has increased my appetite and I've been eating, really eating this week. Yesterday was the ultrasound - the absolute highlight of my week. Being in nursing school, we learn about how pregnancy should be and all the complications that go along with it. It was so exciting to see that the baby is doing good. The tech pointed out the fluttering heart. So amazing! I was smiling the whole drive home. I had just seen my little 1.66cm baby :D

I am just about done with my practicum. Night shift was definitely a blessing - I don't know if I would have finished in time if I had been on days and had to wake up in the early morning. In Mother Baby I have been learning so much and I feel like it's preparing me for my journey to be a Mother.

Countdown for school:

Practicum: About 3 shifts left to go

Class: 3 weeks left

I'm on the homestretch!!!

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Today I had my first UltraSound. The baby's heart rate is 158. WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! :D