How many college-educated new moms does it take to screw on the top of an AVENT bottle? Only one but apparently it can take up to five tries before you actually get it on right.
I believe there is some 'secret' way to screw on the cap and nipple of an AVENT baby bottle - what exactly is that secret? I have yet to figure that out. All I know is that when I screw on the top and shake it, to mix the formula, droplets spray all over the place, leading me to have to uncap and recap the top and shake it again, just to make sure that no formula will leak out. I have come to 'test' each bottle to see if anything will leak out but even that's not guaranteed to work because I have found that I have done the topsy turvy test with no leakage but once I start to feed one of the boys their formula, it starts leaking while it's angled, onto their bib, causing me to lose about five mL of liquid.
It's a waste and it's frustrating. Formula is expensive AND sticky. I only went with AVENT bottles because it was the same brand my sister used. Little did I know what issues it would have.
I try to line up the grooves of the bottle and the cap. I try to make sure that the top turns at least twice (cause sometimes it only turns half way) but nothing is a guarantee to make it stop leaking. My husband has even taken to screwing the top on so tight that I have to get a grippy thing just to get it off - it's a struggle.
So if anyone out there knows the secret to getting the top onto an AVENT baby bottle without leakage, let me know - I'm dying to know and want to stop wasting formula.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Water Weight My Foot.....
I was one of the "lucky" ones that got to experience swollen feet towards the end of my pregnancy. It started out gradual in about the 30th week but as time drew closer to delivery, I had 'moon boot feet' with a side of 'sausage toes.' It was not pleasant. I actually went to work in flip flops because it was the only thing my feet could fit into that wasn't constricting. I was so horrified and fascinated by the swelling that I actually took phone pictures and sent them to family and friends - hey, look at these babies!
But I kept telling myself - 'Things will go back to normal after delivery....things will go back to normal after delivery.' What I forgot to append to that saying was 'Thing will go back to normal after delivery...days to weeks after.' I didn't think it was possible but yes, after delivering my babies, my feet and legs swelled up to twice what they were prior to delivery. We were beyond moon boots and sausage analogies. I imagined I had the legs and feet of an obese person. It hurt to slide my feet into flip flops. It hurt to walk. Any time a nurse would come in to check on me, I would ask, 'Is this normal?' And the response would always be 'yes.'
My OB finally told me to keep drinking water to help the swelling go down. This did not make sense to me as I thought the cause of the swelling was water. If I drink more, won't that make it worse? But I did what they told me because let's face it, I've never been pregnant before. So when I got home, I kept drinking water, kept sighing at my feet, and then drank some more water and refused to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. Walking was such a trial as I felt like I had blisters on my feet with each step I took.
After about 1.5 weeks at home, the swelling finally did go down. It seemed instantaneous. One day they were beyond recognition, the next, they're back to normal. I was so excited by it that I went immediately to my shoe closet to throw on some heels, also hoping that the swelling didn't mess with the sizing of my foot (as I stayed the same shoe size throughout the pregnancy). My heels were a tad tight but I coughed that up to left-over swelling. We're going to try it again later this week in hopes that my heels will fit a-okay.
Another symptom that I had after I got home from the hospital, that lasted for about a week...the sweats. Night sweats. I didn't experience it at the hospital and when I got home, I was talking to my sister and she happened to mention how she had the night sweats for a couple of nights after her c-section. Again, I ask, where is this information when you need it? Sure enough, two days later, I get the night sweats - for about 1.5 weeks. The first night, the sweats were accompanied by chills - I'm talking teeth chattering chills. On the second night, my cornflower blue PJ top turned into a dark navy blue due to all the sweating I was doing. That was pretty gross. And so it continued to the point where I had two hand towels with me during the night - one for my pillow and one to wipe myself with during the night. I found that most of the sweat accumulated between my boobs.
I was able to read that the night sweats were just a way for your body to rid itself of excess toxins and water from the trials of pregnancy. I'm just sayin' - it would've been nice to know ahead of time.
I will recommend the following book for those of you that have just had babies - 'What to Expect When You're Expecting - the First Year.' That book has answers to ALL QUESTIONS you have rummaging through your brain. I will be the first to tell you that I do not recommend the 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' book for pregnancy cause that will scare the bejezus out of any pregnant woman. But the 'First Year' book is quite helpful and informative and I keep it handy, next to the glider in the nursery.
But I kept telling myself - 'Things will go back to normal after delivery....things will go back to normal after delivery.' What I forgot to append to that saying was 'Thing will go back to normal after delivery...days to weeks after.' I didn't think it was possible but yes, after delivering my babies, my feet and legs swelled up to twice what they were prior to delivery. We were beyond moon boots and sausage analogies. I imagined I had the legs and feet of an obese person. It hurt to slide my feet into flip flops. It hurt to walk. Any time a nurse would come in to check on me, I would ask, 'Is this normal?' And the response would always be 'yes.'
My OB finally told me to keep drinking water to help the swelling go down. This did not make sense to me as I thought the cause of the swelling was water. If I drink more, won't that make it worse? But I did what they told me because let's face it, I've never been pregnant before. So when I got home, I kept drinking water, kept sighing at my feet, and then drank some more water and refused to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. Walking was such a trial as I felt like I had blisters on my feet with each step I took.
After about 1.5 weeks at home, the swelling finally did go down. It seemed instantaneous. One day they were beyond recognition, the next, they're back to normal. I was so excited by it that I went immediately to my shoe closet to throw on some heels, also hoping that the swelling didn't mess with the sizing of my foot (as I stayed the same shoe size throughout the pregnancy). My heels were a tad tight but I coughed that up to left-over swelling. We're going to try it again later this week in hopes that my heels will fit a-okay.
Another symptom that I had after I got home from the hospital, that lasted for about a week...the sweats. Night sweats. I didn't experience it at the hospital and when I got home, I was talking to my sister and she happened to mention how she had the night sweats for a couple of nights after her c-section. Again, I ask, where is this information when you need it? Sure enough, two days later, I get the night sweats - for about 1.5 weeks. The first night, the sweats were accompanied by chills - I'm talking teeth chattering chills. On the second night, my cornflower blue PJ top turned into a dark navy blue due to all the sweating I was doing. That was pretty gross. And so it continued to the point where I had two hand towels with me during the night - one for my pillow and one to wipe myself with during the night. I found that most of the sweat accumulated between my boobs.
I was able to read that the night sweats were just a way for your body to rid itself of excess toxins and water from the trials of pregnancy. I'm just sayin' - it would've been nice to know ahead of time.
I will recommend the following book for those of you that have just had babies - 'What to Expect When You're Expecting - the First Year.' That book has answers to ALL QUESTIONS you have rummaging through your brain. I will be the first to tell you that I do not recommend the 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' book for pregnancy cause that will scare the bejezus out of any pregnant woman. But the 'First Year' book is quite helpful and informative and I keep it handy, next to the glider in the nursery.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Phantom Baby
The struggles of being a new parent hits just about everyone. I don't know one person that says it wasn't hard at first and if there are people out there that says it's not, they're lying! (Just kidding)
The exhaustion, alone, is enough to do anyone in. For the first time since we've been together, I have never seen my husband so exhausted - how exhausted was he? He was so exhausted that in our first two days back from the hospital, he was sent into a fit of laughter. He couldn't stop laughing trying to get some shut eye. He said he it was all he could muster up - laughing. Hey, at least he wasn't crying.
The worst part of the exhaustion has to be when you're sleeping and you think you're holding a baby but you're not...I call this the 'Phantom Baby.' I don't know if it has happened to others but it happened to both me and my husband. We were both sleeping one night, last week, and I was getting ready to wake up for an overnight feeding. I was so careful getting out of bed, I think the whole time I had my arms in a 'cradle' position cause I thought I was holding a baby! When I got up and started walking around the bedroom, I WOKE UP and was like 'Holy cow, where's the baby?' Only to realize that the babies were safely in their cribs, in their rooms. I only thought I was holding a baby because I had been holding them so much lately and I guess it was so new to me.
Later, that same night, after getting back from an overnight feeding, my husband turned over in the bed when I settled myself back in and asked if the feedings went okay. I told him they did and not two minutes later did he kind of shoot up in bed and start patting himself on the chest saying, 'Where's the baby? Where did he go?' He thought he had been holding the baby against his chest and lost him. I told him, 'The babies are in their crib!' He sorta woke up and said, 'Okay, I believe you' and went back to sleep.
I was awoken ten minutes later to my husband lifting the sheets above me and looking underneath (in the dark) for something. I turned to him and said, 'What are you doing?' He replied, sleepily, 'Is the baby with you?' I said, 'No, he's in his crib.' Another 'phantom baby' moment.
So don't be surprised to feel like you've been holding a baby when you haven't...it happens. I don't know how often it happens to others but it happened to us on the same night.
The exhaustion, alone, is enough to do anyone in. For the first time since we've been together, I have never seen my husband so exhausted - how exhausted was he? He was so exhausted that in our first two days back from the hospital, he was sent into a fit of laughter. He couldn't stop laughing trying to get some shut eye. He said he it was all he could muster up - laughing. Hey, at least he wasn't crying.
The worst part of the exhaustion has to be when you're sleeping and you think you're holding a baby but you're not...I call this the 'Phantom Baby.' I don't know if it has happened to others but it happened to both me and my husband. We were both sleeping one night, last week, and I was getting ready to wake up for an overnight feeding. I was so careful getting out of bed, I think the whole time I had my arms in a 'cradle' position cause I thought I was holding a baby! When I got up and started walking around the bedroom, I WOKE UP and was like 'Holy cow, where's the baby?' Only to realize that the babies were safely in their cribs, in their rooms. I only thought I was holding a baby because I had been holding them so much lately and I guess it was so new to me.
Later, that same night, after getting back from an overnight feeding, my husband turned over in the bed when I settled myself back in and asked if the feedings went okay. I told him they did and not two minutes later did he kind of shoot up in bed and start patting himself on the chest saying, 'Where's the baby? Where did he go?' He thought he had been holding the baby against his chest and lost him. I told him, 'The babies are in their crib!' He sorta woke up and said, 'Okay, I believe you' and went back to sleep.
I was awoken ten minutes later to my husband lifting the sheets above me and looking underneath (in the dark) for something. I turned to him and said, 'What are you doing?' He replied, sleepily, 'Is the baby with you?' I said, 'No, he's in his crib.' Another 'phantom baby' moment.
So don't be surprised to feel like you've been holding a baby when you haven't...it happens. I don't know how often it happens to others but it happened to us on the same night.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Post C-Section Shockers
Okay - maybe not shockers, especially for those that have been through it but there are just so many things they don't tell you about c-sections (they, being authors, doctors, previous patients) that I think I would've liked to know ahead of time....
For instance, while I was being 'zipped up' after "delivering" my twins, I asked the crowd in the operating room, 'So, has anyone ever asked for liposuction directly after their c-section delivery?' The answer? "Yeah." I often joked about it prior to delivery - wouldn't it be nice to just get some of the fat out of the way right off the bat? Apparently, the hospital I delivered in does not do it - but I guess the more common procedure that is asked for after a c-section is a tummy tuck. Still not done in the hospital I delivered at.
No one told me I would have a 'foo-pah' after giving birth. Now I have no idea what I thought was supposed to happen to my ginormous belly after delivering two babies...I guess I was hoping most of it would go away. But after living with my big, hard belly for 3+ months and to all of a sudden go from something's there to a completely deflated pile of fat and skin was pretty shocking to me. I sat in my hospital bed poking at it (cause there's not much you can do when you can't feel your legs for 24 hours) wondering what happened. As the days wore on and I started breast feeding, the foo-pah has definitely gone down but it's still there. Granted it's been less than three weeks since I delivered - supposedly it should be gone (ie - pre-pregnancy state) in 4-6 weeks. We shall see about that.
There's a lot of bleeding....I guess those that deliver the v-way have way more bleeding than c-sectioners (I can't even imagine)....but I felt a little demoralized when the nurse had to come in to change my pad for the bleeding because I couldn't move in the first 24 hours. I guess that's what nurses are paid for - changing the pads and cleaning out your catheter output. But now that I'm back home, I'm still bleeding and again, this will go on for 4-6 weeks after delivery. I'm sensing a 4-6 week theme here....
Babies usually don't eat in the first 24 hours of delivery. I did not know this. Here we are (my hubby and I) freaking out because I'm not producing any breast milk yet and the nurses are asking us if we want them bottle fed, kept in the nursery (alongside other screaming babies), along with a barrage of questions on feeding the babies....it would've been nice if someone told us off the bat 'Hey, don't worry...babies come out with some 'fat supplies' that allow them to not eat very much in the first 24 hours...' We found that out like 1-2 days LATER.
They won't let you eat anything solid until you pass gas...down there. I was put on a liquid diet following the c-section (which really wasn't bad - broth, jello, juices) and told that I couldn't have anything solid to eat until I was able to pass gas. I, of course, needed clarification on what exactly they mean by pass gas - like was it just via the back way or could I simply toss up a burp and go from there? Unfortunately, it was via the back exit. Fortunately, I was able to pass gas in the middle of the night - I was so excited when a tiny toot came out that when the nurse came in to check on me at like 2am, I excitedly told her, 'Oh hey, I passed gas!' I got a nice pancake breakfast in the morning!
Those are just some of the lovely things that I found out about 'on the job.' Maybe I was so focused on having the babies and how to care of them after they arrived that I didn't pay attention to what exactly happens after a c-section....but I didn't come across any of this stuff and you would think I would....oh well. I hope my experience helps SOMEONE out there so they're better prepared.
For instance, while I was being 'zipped up' after "delivering" my twins, I asked the crowd in the operating room, 'So, has anyone ever asked for liposuction directly after their c-section delivery?' The answer? "Yeah." I often joked about it prior to delivery - wouldn't it be nice to just get some of the fat out of the way right off the bat? Apparently, the hospital I delivered in does not do it - but I guess the more common procedure that is asked for after a c-section is a tummy tuck. Still not done in the hospital I delivered at.
No one told me I would have a 'foo-pah' after giving birth. Now I have no idea what I thought was supposed to happen to my ginormous belly after delivering two babies...I guess I was hoping most of it would go away. But after living with my big, hard belly for 3+ months and to all of a sudden go from something's there to a completely deflated pile of fat and skin was pretty shocking to me. I sat in my hospital bed poking at it (cause there's not much you can do when you can't feel your legs for 24 hours) wondering what happened. As the days wore on and I started breast feeding, the foo-pah has definitely gone down but it's still there. Granted it's been less than three weeks since I delivered - supposedly it should be gone (ie - pre-pregnancy state) in 4-6 weeks. We shall see about that.
There's a lot of bleeding....I guess those that deliver the v-way have way more bleeding than c-sectioners (I can't even imagine)....but I felt a little demoralized when the nurse had to come in to change my pad for the bleeding because I couldn't move in the first 24 hours. I guess that's what nurses are paid for - changing the pads and cleaning out your catheter output. But now that I'm back home, I'm still bleeding and again, this will go on for 4-6 weeks after delivery. I'm sensing a 4-6 week theme here....
Babies usually don't eat in the first 24 hours of delivery. I did not know this. Here we are (my hubby and I) freaking out because I'm not producing any breast milk yet and the nurses are asking us if we want them bottle fed, kept in the nursery (alongside other screaming babies), along with a barrage of questions on feeding the babies....it would've been nice if someone told us off the bat 'Hey, don't worry...babies come out with some 'fat supplies' that allow them to not eat very much in the first 24 hours...' We found that out like 1-2 days LATER.
They won't let you eat anything solid until you pass gas...down there. I was put on a liquid diet following the c-section (which really wasn't bad - broth, jello, juices) and told that I couldn't have anything solid to eat until I was able to pass gas. I, of course, needed clarification on what exactly they mean by pass gas - like was it just via the back way or could I simply toss up a burp and go from there? Unfortunately, it was via the back exit. Fortunately, I was able to pass gas in the middle of the night - I was so excited when a tiny toot came out that when the nurse came in to check on me at like 2am, I excitedly told her, 'Oh hey, I passed gas!' I got a nice pancake breakfast in the morning!
Those are just some of the lovely things that I found out about 'on the job.' Maybe I was so focused on having the babies and how to care of them after they arrived that I didn't pay attention to what exactly happens after a c-section....but I didn't come across any of this stuff and you would think I would....oh well. I hope my experience helps SOMEONE out there so they're better prepared.
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