Dom Perignon – Adventures in Lactation

By L.J. on January 25, 2012

One of the difficult things of my new motherhood has been trying to get this whole fabled breastfeeding down. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated than anyone would have you believe. It’s dependent on the mother, her breastmilk production and her patience/skills getting the kid to feed, as well as dependent on the child and their ability to suck properly, be awake and stay interested.

There are a lot of things that possibly didn’t go right with my breastfeeding. It’s too complex to tease out what went awry first and when. At any rate, I’ve gone to a lactation consultant (using hospital grade breast pump, using various supplementing tools), followed the recommendations of the pediatrician to keep the kid fed (he’s on a supplement of formula), and now I’m going to a naturopath who has prescribed me domperidone, which is not FDA approved (though approved in Canada, and available there), and isn’t even for lactation, but for Crohn’s disease with the side effect of increasing lactation. In America, you can be prescribed Reglan (also for digestive issues) off-label for lactation, but it has a host of nasty side-effects, including tardive dyskinesia and increased incidence of depression (which is not good if you’re already at risk for post-partum depression!)

I was instructed to take my prescription to a specific compounding pharmacy, which was a bit out of the way for me. I was told not to say anything, not to talk about it, just to hand over the slip of paper. I was also told that other mom’s had said that this pharmacy was good – and that the quality of the substance beat what they got in Canada. It makes me wonder what other kind of not-exactly-legal-yet-legal substances I could get from this pharmacy.

I titled this Dom Parignon just because the name of the drug sounds like the champagne. It’s not like I haven’t been recommended a host of things to increase lacation. The list, so far:

Avocado
Oatmeal
Almonds
Goat’s Rue
Fenugreek
Guinness
whisky
domperidone
Reglan
meditation/looking at my child’s picture

Seriously.

It’s quite an adventure so far. Now, hand me some bourbon.

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2012: Fitness

By L.J. on January 25, 2012

I’m coming to the end of the first month of motherhood, and realizing that I have a long way to go to return to my pre-pregnancy shape. At first, I was sure I would just pick up some inexpensive clothes at a thrift store to tide me over for the (hopefully) brief period of being too large for even my largest clothing. I hatched this idea about a week ago, and haven’t managed to get into the store to execute this plan. I also started tracking my food using Weight Watcher’s eTools – though I can’t say I’ve done well following the plan until this week, which so far I’ve made a noble attempt.

What this has gotten me, though, is about one pound up and a bit down. I’m still wearing maternity clothes (when I happen to get out of my jammies), and I’m feeling a bit dumpy and down. I know this is par for the course for a new mama, and I’m not sure how to break out. I’ve done my body measurements to see what size I am, and it’s hard to get a grip that I can shop at plus-sized shops (in the smaller sizes). This, oddly enough, makes me relieved more than sad. When I was at my largest (which was 60+ lbs from where I am now) I would occasionally have that blissful experience of trying something on at a plus sized store, looking in the mirror, and saying, hey, this looks good on me! This wouldn’t even be at a time where I was experiencing weight loss. Size doesn’t tell you if you look or feel beautiful. It’s hard to remember that.

Fitness is something else – that’s about how I feel and less about how I look. At my most fit, I was bothered by being able to see all the sinews in my neck, or how narrow my face would appear. Also, my wrinkles were more prominent! While I think I looked good (and was, frankly, stillthe fashion industry’s “plus size” 8), I wasn’t so keen on my face. What I really liked was being able to run and feeling strong and fit. That felt pretty awesome.

I’m not sure how or when I’m going to be able to get back into shape. Today may be the first step. It’s not that I can’t afford new clothes, as to thankfully my job pays me enough that I *can* – I just didn’t want to spend money on what was going to be a short-term solution. Realistically, though – it took 9 months to put on this weight (45 lbs!), so it will take time to take it off.

I have a few personal obstacles right now. The first ones are lack of sleep and being caffeine-free, which drive my hunger for carbs. Then there’s the intense feeding schedule for the newborn, which makes me feel like I have no time for “me” – either for a workout video or going for a walk. Then there’s the weather, which is typical Seattle unpredictable, with miserable chilling rain making me rather stay inside.

There are a lot of things I need to figure out to adjust to this new life. Here’s to the beginning.

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2012 Beginnings: An Update

By L.J. on January 19, 2012

It’s been a crazy few weeks. A little over three weeks ago, I gave birth to my son – all natural! It was a thankfully short labor, but extremely intense. I don’t remember who told me it was like throwing up backwards, but let me tell you, it’s like the most powerful vomiting experience you can imagine – just through the other end. That being said, I wouldn’t have changed my decision to go without pain medication. Had it been a protracted labor, that may have been a different story. We’ll see what I do next time. :)

The first few weeks have been rather brutal, which is expected, though perhaps more so as that my son didn’t put back on his birth weight as fast as the pediatrician recommended. I’ve been on an intense schedule of feeding every 2-3 hours, supplementing breastfeeding with formula and pumping after daytime feedings. He’s healthy, which is what is important, but this is no easy task, let me tell you. He’s adorable, and worth it. I just wish I didn’t require sleep for sanity. I also wish I could drink caffeinated coffee, because man, I could use that in lieu of sleep.

I’ve started up again on Weight Watchers online, and hope to re-join my old group in the coming weeks. I have about 45 lbs to lose, which is more than I had hoped I would have to lose, but due to issues with my SI joint towards the end of my 2nd trimester, I stopped my regular exercise routine. I’m not sure what my schedule will look like, but I’m looking forward to trying out some Pilates DVDs at home, and then maybe hitting up one of the local gyms should time allow. Then there’s running, which I look forward to starting again. Most of the schedule will depend on when I return to work.

I’m still in a bit of a fog, and definitely homebound during the Snowpocalypse. I would love to hear from friends – and will do my best to get back to you. Phones are always tricky for me, so please text, email or IM.

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Coffee.

By L.J. on December 20, 2011

I’ve been pregnant for 9 months. Well, 40 weeks. In other words, this is my due date.

One of the things I’ve had to give up during this time is caffeine, specifically, caffeinated coffee. This is not because anyone told me to, but because I realized about 4-5 months in (after finally getting over coffee smelling disgusting) that coffee seriously increased my anxiety level to the point where panic attacks were sometimes an issue. I’ve never been fond of medication to counter uncomfortable emotional states, and over the years, I’ve found that if you can cut something out, and make your life better (or add something, like exercise and sleep), then I’m much better off in the end. Pregnancy seriously limits your medication options (even with pain relief) so decaf was the option.

There is a shortage of quality, delicious, freshly roasted decaf available. I like Stumptown Coffee, for instance, but the bag of beans last purchased from a local business was stale before I brewed them. I have a history of working at Starbucks a decade ago, and while their decaf options are more limited now, I picked up a bag of Decaf Verona (a guilty favorite of the Starbucks blends). This was about 5-6 weeks ago, and I still have some beans left.

Here’s the miracle – they really don’t taste that stale, though they definitely are old (and definitely a bit on the stale side). They’re drinkable in the way the Stumptown stale decaf was not.

I don’t know much about coffee. I leave that expertise to Tonx and his coffee roasting genius. If memory serves, the reason that the Starbucks beans have miraculously stayed drinkable (yet stale, and who knows when they were originally roasted) is due to their over-roasting for consistency.

Meanwhile, my husband has been receiving his 2x/month shipments of Tonx Coffee, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a smell and a sip when it first comes to my house. We’ve given away a few extra bags (since he can’t drink it all himself) and friends have come back saying it’s the best coffee they’ve ever had. One friend said she and her husband couldn’t stop smelling the bag.

There was a great write-up of what Tonx is doing in LA Weekly (seen here). I’m hoping one day I’ll get a bag of decaf from Tonx OR that my tolerance for caffeine will come back. Either way, Tonx Coffee is the coffee I want to drink.

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Nitrogen Narcosis

By L.J. on April 20, 2011

I have been thinking a lot lately about stuff I should post on a blog. You know, those deep thoughts that you think, “I should share that with other people.”

I just got back from vacation in Maui. It was our 5th wedding anniversary, and we spent 4 days diving, and the rest of the time playing in the ocean, eating good food, and taking a lot of walks.

We have only dove together in Kona before, which is a lot of diving just offshore, that stays fairly shallow. Looking at my log book, almost every dive day started with a deep dive at at least 85 ft. We were lucky that we had a great dive crew, and fairly advanced people on the boat with us, which allowed us to even do a deep, drift dive!

I’m definitely more a fan of dives around 60 ft, if only because it means I get more bottom time. However, all of the diving we did was pretty spectacular, even if brief. It’s the end of whale season, so we could hear whale songs under water. They were still a bit far off, as that our bodies weren’t vibrating (a sure sign, I’m told, that they’re near.) From the boat, we saw a whale tail, false killer whales (like giant dolphins!) and dolphins. Under the water, we saw so much! White tipped reef sharks, flame wrasses, tons of turtles (that was one dive), and so many other fish, nudibranchs, morays, garden eels – it was awesome.

Most noteworthy, though, was my experience of what had to be narcosis on our deep drift dive. My dive instructor, GirlDiver knows from my PADI Advanced Open Water dives that I’m a bit stupid when I’m narced. At 95 ft, I realized I didn’t under stand how my computer worked. Rather, it’s not that I didn’t understand, it’s more that I didn’t understand that I didn’t understand. I was completely without self-consciousness, and looked at my tally of bottom time so far, and the timer that tells me how long I can stay at that depth, and was confused. I wasn’t worried – not at all. That little voice that makes sure that I’m doing the right thing, though, was just really quiet. I was looking for it, and it just wasn’t there.

I showed Jon my computer. He was worried I was going to ascend too fast, meanwhile, I was completely unconcerned, but just wanted validation externally because I couldn’t find it within. He tried to explain to me, in crude diver sign, how my computer worked, and that I was OK. I decided, cleverly, that since I knew that the number allowing me to stay under water INCREASED when I ascended, I slowly started ascending. At about 87 ft, I realized – “oh hey, I’m stupid because I’m narced.” I spent the rest of my diving trying to make sure that even if I went below 85 ft, if I started feeling funny, I’d ascend back to 70-85 ft.

For me, narcosis starts around 65 ft, when I start relaxing a little more and get loopy thoughts running through my head. Those thoughts are met with that inner voice that knows I’m narced, and is able to point out to myself that I need to take care of myself.

The key thing I’ve learned here is what narcosis REALLY does to me – which seems to mainly relax me by taking away that ego that sits by and judges my every waking move. I think we all have that bit within us that helps us navigate the world, tells us what the “right thing” is to do, even if we don’t do it. It’s freeing not to have that critical voice, however, the down side is that when you’re diving, you need to have a bit of that critical voice to tell you “hey, if you want to be safe, you need to do/not do x,y,z.” You also need to be able to remember how your dive computer works.

This is why diving with a buddy is a good thing – and also, why diving with other advanced divers and a dive master is good. Then there’s the understanding what happens to you when you’re narced. It’s not something you can truly avoid, except by not diving past your threshold where you experience narcosis.

All in all, we had some great dives. I think I can appreciate deep dives, but prefer shallow ones more. We wouldn’t have seen the flame wrasses in shallower waters, though. The 65 minutes of bottom time I got on our shallower dive (last dive), was awesome. I got that long time, though I was chilly (77 degree water), thanks to a loaned hood coupled with my 5 mm Cressi wetsuit, and a 3 mm Henderson vest.

I hope to post more in the coming weeks. I’ve got a lot of posts percolating, but am also super busy. We’ll see….

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