It seems that I’m on leave from this blog, as well as work. I’m busy wallowing in mommy-homemaker stuff and actually really enjoying it. Is it because Boyo is an easy babe? Because I probably won’t experience this kind of break until retirement? Because it’s a beautiful summer? I don’t know what it is, but I like it.

I may post bits here and there, but I will probably not resume regular posting until I return to work in late July. Those pumping breaks will give me plenty of time for blogging, I’m sure!

I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Drink water, check for ticks, use a good sunscreen, enjoy your families. Later!

Lanolin, air drying, moist heat, blah, blah, blah… ouch. It still hurts. Despite the absence of lumps or flu symptoms, my Midwife suggested I try an herbal mastitis treatment, so I have just taken six doses each of goldenseal, Echinacea, and bee propolis. We’ll follow that in 4 hours by four doses of each. I have also started taking lecithin, as I remember taking that last time and getting some relief.

Despite the ouchies on the right, breastfeeding is going extremely well. My engorgement lasted less than ten days (as opposed to a good six weeks), and I am not nearly as leaky as I was with Girlie. I’m sure this is because I know better now. For example, I started block feeding right off the bat and only used hand expression to relieve things… Last time I religiously switched breasts during nursing sessions and used a pump to take off 3-4 ounces at a time. Holy wrong choices in the face of oversupply, Batman! Also, Boyo handles my crazy firehose let down a lot better than she did. It totally helps when your baby just widens his eyes and swallows faster instead of pulling off and screaming while milk sprays across the room.

Another thing that I know now is that breastfeeding gets easy. It gets sooooo easy. Thinking of those days when I will be able to tuck up my shirt and satisfy my baby with no muss or fuss really, really helps. A few (or many) errant dribbles now will really pay off later.

But, we managed to plant some herbs and veggies in the back yard, keep up with the laundry, and teach Girlie the word “vulva.” We hadn’t been avoiding it, per se, it just never really came up. Then she started looking at her “butt” all the time. Now, instead, she looks at her “mull-pa.” Did you know that Mommy has one too?

But then we had some crap visitors yesterday. A couple we met while we were both pregnant with our first children, she was also planning an unmedicated birth with the same Midwife practice. She ended up with a coerced (and most likely unnecessary) c-section  for a “large baby” and has done everything short of pursuing legal action against the Midwives for referring her to their back-up OBs. Which they were required to do. By law. So it was crappy, and the “blame” is on a whole lot of people. No, I’ve never pointed out that she consented and showed up for the surgery even though the Midwives and OBs said that they would attend her TOL at the hospital instead of the Birth Center, and I never will. But, almost every conversation we’ve had since has addressed her unfortunate c-section.

Then she got pregnant again and got a new job at my company (with my recommendations) and had a successful hospital VBAC. Yay! So she and her family wanted to meet the baby and I put it off for a couple weeks (they can be difficult to talk to, and like to stay forever) and finally invited them over this weekend. She was excited to hear all about my birth and I was excited about sharing. I asked them to come just for an hour.

So they stayed for two and a half hours. She asked what room I ended up delivering in, admired the baby, and spent the next two hours talking about how unsatisfied she is at work. At least the husbands and kids seemed to have a decent time. But me, in my more-fragile-than-usual state, not so much. I burst into tear as soon as they left, I was so disappointed and bothered.

Gah.

But Baby Boyo and I went shopping this morning and got groceries and a child safety door lock to keep Girlie out of the basement and he just gets cuter every day. And we’re having tacos for dinner. So that’s good!

But then Girlie puked all over her room about an hour after bedtime on Friday. Awesome. Gross. Terrible. Baby Boyo is fine, as are Hubby and I, but she was sick all weekend. Lots of TV. Lots of not sleeping. Lots of me feeling like a terrible mother because I needed to sleep with my little nursling while Hubby slept with Girlie. It was terrible to know that I couldn’t comfort her in the ways she needed with a baby strapped to me. But we did get some cuddle time in on Sunday. So that was nice.

In other news, I have been super moody and mood swingy, so the Midwife picked up my frozen placenta on Friday and will return it all encapsulated sometime this week. We had planned to bury it in the yard, along with Girlie’s long-frozen placenta, under a pretty bush or tree, but I guess I’ll just be tossing a few capsules into the hole when the time comes. A bit of a bummer, but not a big deal.

So I’m feeling decent today. Boyo and I went to Target where I bought some stretchy tops and a new nursing tank. Hubby is back at work and Girlie was well enough to go to daycare. So I’m a bit lonely, but the quiet is nice. It’s been a wild few weeks around here.

Birth story is coming. Just know that while everything turned out great, it did not happen at all like I expected it to. I’m still mulling it all over in my head. Still, a very good experience. One I will not be repeating. I know now FOR SURE that two kids are more than enough for us.