Freedom

I realize that there are a couple of improvements in my life that I haven't written about yet. The more recent, is my freedom from motrin. I haven't taken any in several days. I'm not totally pain free, but I only feel significant twinges now and then. And this is the news even though I've mostly been too busy to stretch over the past week. I was noticably sore after my day long marathon of meetings in Bradford, PA on Monday, but I think (hope) this painful post-partum chapter is over.

The other bit of freedom is my diet. I've slowly added back into my diet the foods that I thought might be bothering Heather early on. Nothing seems to be bothering her anymore, so I'm no longer factoring that into my diet. I even had my first glass of wine a couple of weeks ago. The ability to order whatever I want to eat, and not have to consider my nausea, the baby inside me or Heather's stomach is quite the weight that has been lifted!

It's been a busy week. My trip for work went well, but I don't think it helped my supply any to go longer stretches without pumping or pump so irregularly. But I managed to pump some extra today (and plan to tomorrow), and I'm sure that will get me back on track.

It's possible that I've stated this before, but it bears repeating. The fact that I'm still nursing makes being back at work harder. There is the obvious time needed for pumping, but it is also the fact that I nurse her before I leave and want to get home in time to nurse her for her fifth feeding of the day (assuming she eats all three bottles at daycare). So whenever I need to go in late (like Friday because of Heather's pediatrician appointment), I still want to leave on time and then I have hours to make up. Not that I want to go to work on the weekend... Luckily, at the moment, I have some reading I can do at home, but this isn't always the case. I'm not trying to complain, really. I'm glad that I'm still able to breastfeed Heather. It's just one more layer of stress and trying to keep everyone happy. :-)

Lastly, about Heather's 4 month appointment. Everything looked good. She weighed in at 12 lb, 14 oz and her length is 24", with 40 cm head circumference. Her weight is 25th percentile and her height is 35th percentile. She seems to have met all of the milestones that he was concerned about. And he recommended waiting on starting cereal and solids until 6 months. She doesn't need the extra food, especially since she is still pretty small. Frankly, I'm relieved. I really don't want to add anything else to our plates right now. :-)