Bacon & Milk

I've now been back to work for a little over a full week and slowly but surely I'm adjusting. It's not easy what-so-ever but it's not unbearable like I thought it might be. I miss being home with my baby, I feel like I'm going to miss a lot of firsts since I'll be at work but so far all of her firsts have been with me and J. She laughed for the first time this weekend and praise the Lord we were able to get it on video, I've watched it about 20 times since it happened #dontjudgeme.

I've had to develop a pumping and feeding schedule now that I'm back to work. My goal has been to be able to breastfeed her more times than she's getting a bottle each day and so far that has happened. Let me tell you, I feel like the bag lady when I go to and from work as I have my purse, my computer bag, my lunch bag, plastic baggy full of pump parts (I actually popped this into my computer bag or purse depending on the day) and my handy dandy milk cooler.

Pump & Feeding Schedule

• I get up at 5am and pump which ever side Cree isn't going to feed on that morning, I've been getting about 4.5 oz. I was freezing this but now I'm keeping it for one of her bottles during the day that I send with her to her Grandma's each day, this prevents me from having to thaw much from my stock pile.
• Feed Cree either after I pump if she's waking up or get ready and feed her at 6am.
• I pump at 8am, 11am and 2pm both sides and get about 5 oz each pump session. 
• Feed Cree as soon as I get home from work which is around 5pm, then again around 7pm and then once more at 9pm. The 9pm feeding is shorter than all of her other feedings as she's just topping herself off before she goes to sleep. This I think has been a huge help in her sleeping through the night but I have a hunch she'll soon be cutting out this feeding.
• If I go to bed right after she goes down at 9:30, I don't need to pump before bed. If I go to bed later, I will pump before I go to bed and freeze whatever I get out, usually about 2-3 oz.

 As you can tell, my child doesn't miss any meals, have you seen her cheeks? 

 She makes the best faces, hands down. 

Keeping Up My Supply

I started  back to work on a Thursday and by Friday afternoon my supply had dipped down which was absolutely terrifying since I need to get at least 15oz. out at work each day during my sessions and I only got 10 oz. that day. After much research, I decided that on Monday I would start literally chugging as much water as I could and that I would start taking Fenugreek as this was recommended literally everywhere I looked on Pinterest. I drank over 100 oz. of water on Monday and got 15 oz. out like I needed to on Monday. We went grocery shopping on Monday night and I bought the Fenugreek (it was $6 at WalMart) and took two capsules and on Tuesday I got almost 17 oz. during my sessions. I kept up the water drinking and Fenugreek the rest of the week and I was at or slightly above 15 oz. for all three sessions combined--- coincidence? I really don't think so. Other things I'm doing to help increase/maintain my current supply: 

• I eat oatmeal and yogurt every morning for breakfast. 
• Drink tons of beverages, whether it's water or something else I down it with a quickness to stay hydrated. When I'm at work my goal is 100 oz. or more, this makes me have to pee like I'm pregnant still but I don't care. I got a 50 oz. container to keep water in at my desk from the $1 store, so I need to drink at least two of these a day if not more.
• I eat snacks in between meals, specifically granola bars or wheat thins with Laughing Cow Cheese. 
• Prenatal vitamins are a must to make sure she and I are getting enough DHA, etc. (Bonus: We also add Tri-Vi-Sol or Poly-Vi-Sol to one bottle a day per our pediatricians recommendation.)
• I eat a lot of protein and veggies for lunch and dinners- I've started making Chef salads for lunch each day. (More on meal planning in upcoming posts).

Bringing home the bacon and the milk takes a lot of work and dedication, but it's worth it. 

First 6 Week Essentials

Sorry I've been an absentee blogger, my life for the past 6 weeks has been all about Cree and C-Section recovery. Here are a few of my favorite things that have gotten us thru so far.

1.) AngelCare Sound and Movement Monitor  We moved Cree into her room this week, it was super hard for me but this definitely has put my mind at ease since it monitors movement including breathing movement. We opted for this instead of a video monitor since it will sound an alarm if no movement is sensed for 20 seconds, plus I knew I'd stare at the video monitor instead of sleep.  This monitor is available at Wal-Mart for under $100, the cheapest I've seen it.

2.) Circo Receiving Blankets from Target Cree is a super hot baby as well as a Houdini when it came to swaddling, so by week 2 we were no longer swaddling her and these came in handy. They are a great size and kept her warm while sleeping at night, during naps, in her car seat as a cover when it was still cold out, etc. LOVE THEM! These are available at Target for $7.99.

3.) Lansinoh Lanolin This was an absolute lifesaver when I was first breastfeeding, it's like chap stick for your nips and heals them when they're sore. We found out the hard way that Cree was only used to this lanolin when I randomly decided to change to the Medela brand lanolin one day (I was being lazy and didn't want to walk upstairs to grab the Lansinoh) and she wouldn't nurse all afternoon which had me in tears. You can get Lansinoh brand at Target for under $10. 

4.) Belly Bandt- I knew I wasn't going to be back to my prepregnancy size immediately but I didn't expect to be so bloated or to still not be able to see my downstairs region. Some friends of mine stopped in and one of them had had a C-Section and said that I needed to get a Belly Bandt as it would make me feel so much better about life, boy was she right. I felt a lot better about how I looked in addition to feeling better because I wasn't having extra weight on my incision. The binding from the Belly Bandt has actually helped decrease the size of my stomach since I haven't been able to work out. I actually got an off brand Belly Bandt from Amazon since the name brand Belly Bandt was out of my price range, again with the thriftyness but the off brand one was $18-20 vs. the brand name for $45-$50. I ordered a medium and by 4 weeks postpartum I was too small (yay!) for it so I ordered a small. High Recommend having/getting one of these if you're pregnant or just gave birth! 

5.) Boppy Nursing Pillow I tried the Breastfriend Nursing Pillow while we were still in the hospital and once we got home but unfortunately Cree and I decided that the Boppy worked so much better for us. I'm very thankful that one of my Mother in Law's friends gave us the Boppy (who doesn't love free stuff?). Right now buy a Boppy Pillow at Target and get a FREE Slip Cover.

6.) Palmer's Stretch Mark Cream- I used this my entire pregnancy twice a day and I'm still using it now to help smooth out the little marks I did get (sighhhhh, she's worth the marks but I do miss my mark free body). I think the marks would be worse if I hadn't been using throughout my pregnancy. I get the Palmer's All Over Stretch Mark Lotion from Wal-Mart for $5.50. 

7.) Philips Avent Soothie Pacifiers Although, our hospital discouraged paci use for breastfeed babies, we found that these really help to sooth her during very fussy times and hasn't affected her feeding whatsoever. Praise the Lord for Paci's I say! She just got a Wubbanub today with one of these attached and I'd venture to say this will be on my next essential list, standby though. These are also currently on sale at Target for $3.86 for a two pack. 

8.) Skip Hop Duo Diaper Bag Literally one of my favorite things we got that was on our registry and J picked it out as it was a diaper bag he would carry! It's a bit pricy (my friends call me cheap, hence the 'thrifty' in my blog title) but it's totally worth the extra $$ in my opinion. The bag straps onto your stroller handle so it doesn't take up vital space needed to store other things- super clutch when I'm shopping and don't have Cree in a buggy (yes, I call shopping carts buggy's- it's a southern thing). There are pockets for everything and it had magnets that keep it closed in all the right places. I'm so pleased that this is the one we chose and got! Skip Hop as a brand is great too, we've also purchased their Wet/Dry bag that matches the Duo Bag and the Wipe case. Right now, Diapers.com has it on sale for $52. 

9.) Vitamin E Oil- I've been using this during my postpartum recovery once my doctor gave me the green light last week to help with my incision scar twice a day and I'm already seeing a difference. Wal-Mart carries it for under $4. 

10.) Jammies with zippers- I do not know how we would have gotten through the last few weeks without these for Cree to sleep in. During my pregnancy the doctors convinced us that she was a 'big' baby, close to 9 pounds is what they told us. My goodness were they wrong as she was only 6 pounds AND almost a week late! What does this mean you ask? Well, we only had three or four newborn size outfits. The Sunday after we came home from the hospital my mother in law went and bought 6 Jammies with zippers from Wal-Mart in newborn size and those got us through the next three(ish) weeks. I love the zipper, it's crucial during those middle of the night diaper changes. J and I swear those outfits with buttons are from hell. Right now the Wal-Mart brand Faded Glory has a two pack for $9.98, I found these really fit true to size as well.