Weaned

And that's a wrap... my baby girl self-weaned from breastfeeding earlier this week.

She's been heading in that direction for a while now, requesting milk less and less but if offered she'd usually be quite willing. Then she would latch on and take two or three sucks make a yucky face and pull off. One of the last time she nursed she squeezed my breast and said "oh no". She knows something isn't working right anymore. I think my milk has now switched over to colostrum for the newborn. It makes me feel a little sad that I can't provide for her anymore.

I've had no engorgement or even tenderness or fullness whatsoever and it's been 4 days. It's funny I always pictured weaning happening so differently. My goal was to get to at least a year and then continue a couple of times a day during the second year so she'd get the immune factors. I figured I'd be driving the bus with the weaning and would have a toddler that wasn't happy about it. My little girl did it all herself at 10.5 months. She's growing up so fast.

I've started giving Anika a cup with cows milk. I figure she's close enough to a year old and why do formula for a month and then have to switch to cow's milk. She eats really well, so gets plenty of fats in her diet.

My boobs will get a reprieve for 5 months. Wow, to think I could wear something other than a nursing bra and a stretchy top! The only trouble is that none of my other bras fit and my limited supply of maternity shirts are all stretchy. I see a shopping trip in my near future perhaps?

Magazine Subscription

I was tidying up the other day and came across my last year's worth of Today's Parent magazines, and made a rather interesting observation. My mom bought me the subscription for last Christmas. The Dec 2011 issue has been thoroughly dog eared for future reference to articles, a couple of the recipes highlighted -and I even remembered making a few of them! By contrast, the January and February issues were hardly even cracked open and if they were I'm sure nothing really was remembered in my sleep deprived newborn days.

The March and April issues had been on long journeys to Europe and back and were marked and scuffed from being tucked into various bags and airplane seat backs. The May, June and July issues were sun-bleached with sand in the spines from the beach. Then Anika began to crawl, and once again the August & September issues looked like they had just come off the news stand with their fresh spines and glossy covers hardly been cracked open.

October and November, however were a complete mess -covers ripped off, pages wrinkled & torn, bites taken out of them.... Many of the articles had only been browsed briefly before some interruption happened and my little girl pulled them off the shelf for some abuse. It's ironic that that same day my mom asked if I would like her to renew my subscription -I instantly said yes, then I began to wonder what next year's collection will look like with two little ones?

OB Visit & Other Upates

I met with my OB last week for the first time for this pregnancy. It was a fairly uneventful visit. He said that he must admit, when I last saw him in February and told him that we would not pursue any further ART, he didn't expect to see me again. But here I am. He reviewed all the information he had and did the usual blood pressure check (100/60) and fetal Doppler heartbeat listen.

All seems to be checking out normally with the little muchkin. I did get a prescription for Ranitidine for my heartburn. Last time I had to take Zantac twice a day through the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, and it gets expensive to buy over the counter. The first thing the pediatrician said when she saw the mop of hair on my baby's head was "wow, you must have had a lot of heartburn". I thought that was an old wives tale, but apparently not... so I thing we have another little hairy guy or gal brewing.

We opted out of doing any of the prenatal testing again, so the next step is my 19 week anatomy ultrasound which is booked for Dec 10th. I see the OB again on the 20th, so we should have the results right before Christmas.

I also told him that this baby was not allowed to come before 38 weeks, so I could get my hours in at work. He chuckled and said thought my chances were good because my first was 41 weeks, but not to hold him to it. He also reviewed my delivery history and warned me that my second labour would likely be shorter than the first time which was only 6 hours from first contraction to delivery... so not to dilly dally getting up to L&D. Hopefully it goes as smoothly this time :)

In other news, I thought Anika might be starting to try to self wean last week when she was hot & cold with the breastfeeding. This week, she's back on again so we are carrying on. It's usually only twice a day now (first thing in the morning and late afternoon).

I've got 6 weeks left of this maternity leave. I think I'm feeling ready to go back to work. It's sure not as difficult knowing it will only be for a short while. Anika has stayed with her gramma and grampa or daddy a couple of times a week while I go and do grocery shopping or other things. Last week I tried the child minding at the pool while I went for a swim and she did wonderfully well. The caregiver invited her back anytime. We've also been trying to make lots of play dates with other kids because she thrives on the social interaction, and it's so rainy and dark we aren't spending as much time outdoors.

It's hard to believe that nearly a year has gone by already. On one hand I know we packed a lot into this year, while on the other sometimes it feels like I just blinked and it passed. I think this pregnancy is going to feel like it is going at warp speed and before I know it we'll be bringing home another little bundle.

A Great Gramma

My Gramma passed away on Thursday. She had been going down hill for a long while after having a stroke in 2010. She was such a caring, giving person and will be sadly missed. We were fortunate to have a visit with her one week ago today in the last hours of being in a conscious state. She held her great granddaughter on her lap and told me that she predicted the baby-to-be is a little boy. Later that day her body began to shut down and was switched over to palliative care but stayed in her own room with familiar caregivers and family beside her in her nursing home. A few days later she left us. I feel so fortunate that Anika got to know her Great-Gramma. Here they are in the summer sharing a little song.

Baby Doll

I'd like to get my daughter a realistic looking baby doll for her first birthday, to help her with the transition of becoming a big sister. The catch is that I don't want something that makes noises, pees, has battery operated movements, or has a scent -just a basic doll. It has to be durable enough to withstand toddler play. I'm willing to spend $30-$50.

Little did I know how difficult it would be to find one that fits this bill. To top it off I'd like to find one the same gender as our baby to be (which we should be able to find out in another month or so). This will be much easier if we are expecting another girl, but if it's a boy then it's much harder to find a boy baby doll that meets all of the above. I also discovered that if you want the doll to be anatomically correct that doubles the price!

All the big chain toy stores and department stores have dozens of dolls, but they all sing or dance. I looked online and there were a few options of dolls without actions, but noticed that most advertized a scent and I'm really sensitive to perfumy scents. I visited our local specialty toy store to do a sniff test and unfortunately most were too strong. There was one brand that had a vanilla scent that I could live with if need be, but I'd really prefer to find one unscented if need be.

The search continues...