Breast vs Bottle - To Each Their Own.

After reading a couple of blog posts on the subject (here and here) I was inspired to write a post on the subject myself.  I don't know many other child rearing subjects that causes more debate then breastfeeding vs bottle/formula feeding. 
I am a bottle/formula feeding Mom and I am not the least bit ashamed of this.  I don't judge breastfeeding Moms because of their choice and it would be really wonderful if it were the same the other way around.  Think what you want about bottle/formula feeding but for real, shut the fuck up there is no reason for you to judge anyone else about choices they make for them and their families.
I will probably open up a can of worms here but I don't 100% agree with "breast is best".  I know I'm not a doctor or any kind of medical professional but my thoughts are strictly based on my experience of having 3 kids.
Here are my counter arguments to some of the reasons why breast is best.

Nursing provides a time of close personal and physical bonding between Mom and baby.
Guess what?  I have bonded perfectly with my children.  Even though it's a bottle in their mouth and not by boob, feeding time is still a time of close personal and physical bonding.  Guess what else?  For Daddy too.

Medical evidence is clear: breast milk results in healthier babies and stronger immune system.
I disagree with this one.  As I said earlier, I know I am not a medical professional but this is based on my experience of having 3 kids.  My kids are very healthy.  Aside from the common cold, they very rarely, if ever get sick.  Jack is almost 6 and has been on an antibiotic once and this was back in May for tonsillitis.  Oliver has never been on an antibiotic.  Neither of my kids have ever had an ear infection or any other illness.
Of course, all I can do is compare their health to the health of my friends babies/kids who were/are breastfed.

Babies who are breastfed go to sleep faster, and are more easily soothed than bottle babies.
Ha.  Again, I disagree.  Jack and Oliver were both sleeping through the night by 13 weeks.  Ask me about my friends breastfed babies who weren't sleeping through the night until they were almost 6 months old or older!!!  Oy. 

Breastfeeding is easier and less work.
Easier and less work?  This is supposed to be a deterrent?  I didn't realize washing bottles (which takes like 3 minutes) was a lot of work.  So I need to warm my kids bottle before feeding it to him.  This is a big deal?  This too is a lot of work?
From what my breastfeeding friends tell me, breastfeeding wasn't all that fun and easy for the first weeks.  Dreadful and painful infact.  Yes it did become easier with time but I still don't find bottle feeding to me hard or a lot of work.


These are just a few examples I often read and/or hear.  I'm not saying that one is better than the other.  My point is, they both have their pros and cons.  Like parenting isn't hard enough on it's own, and there aren't a million things you can debate and worry about, nobody should ever make anyone else feel bad about a choice they have made.  Because some of you Moms out there breastfeed, it doesn't mean that you are a better parent or care more about your children than us bottle/formula feeding Moms.  All I ask is that we all be respectful of each others choices. 

Nervous - Addendum

Reed's appointment yesterday went well. He will be referred to see a pediatric urologist. The general surgeon with met with yesterday said this would be their area
of expertise so they will know what is the best course of action to take.
They were concerned about the mass being attached to the adrenal glad but this is not the case. It is more acting as a hat to the kidney which they say may potentially still have some slight function or it will not function at all. They also noted his right kidney is bigger than average (it mesasure in the 95 percentile) and he said this is because it is overcompensating for the left one and will probably get bigger. Now it's just waiting for the Urology Clinic to get a hold of us and meet with them and see what they have to say. They did try to get us into the clinic while we were there yesterday but our appointment was later in the day (we met with the general surgeon around 4pm) and the clinic was closed for the day. It would have been nice to see them all in the same day but c'est la vie!

Nervous

Reed has his first appointment at Sick Kids today. He is going in to have an ultrasound and then meet with a general surgeon. I'm really feeling nervous about
these said appointments. I really mostly nervous about hearing what exactly is going on in the poor little guys abdomen.
I haven't talked much about it because there really has been much to say but here is a little background info.
When I was pregnant, they found a fibroid on my uterus. Because I was planning a homebirth, I was sent for a follow up ultrasound to make sure it hadn't grown so I could proceed with my homebirth. When I went for my ultrasound they couldnt' see it anymore. I felt a little sketchy about this so asked for a Level 2 ultrasound. My reason for this is fibroids prevent your uterus from contracting as it should and can lead to increased bleeding and I didn't want this to happen to me at home should they had make a mistake.
Fast forward to my Level 2 ultrasound and they find fluid in the baby's left kidney. We meet with a pediatrician. He tells us Reed has a blockage/narrowing of the ureter (it's called UPJ), his kidney is very damaged and not fully developed and what little kidney is there will fade away. End result, he will have one functioning kidney which is not a problem and all should be well. He recommended Reed have his own ultrasound anytime after he is a week old.
At 3 weeks old, Reed went for his ultrasound. Long story about getting the results but I eventually hunted them down and had them at the Dr's office for his 2 month check up.
As it turns out from his ultrasound, he does indeed have a full second kidney however it is being pushed down by a mass that has grown in his abdomen. It's a good size. I don't know the exact dimensions but I can feel it and you can actually kind of see around about where it is because it sticks out ever so slightly.
We have no idea what it is. This is what freaks me out and makes me nervous. I can think all of the worse case scenarios but I don't want to go there. Needless to say, we are consulting with a general surgeon because it's going to have to be removed. Let's all cross our fingers and say a prayer it's benign.

Goals

Do you ever set goals? Do you ever meet them? Sometimes I will make some goals in my head and I've learned that this is not an effective form of goal making because nobody knows about them so I guess I don't really feel obligated to actually work toward meeting them. I do often wonder if I made my goals public if I would feel more enticed to meet them but I don't really think that will make a difference. So, like how I make my goals, I beat myself up the same way for not even trying to meet them.
It's just so easy to get unmotivated.
My current goal is to shed this disgusting baby weight I'm carrying around with me. When I get pregnant, I get all crazy and just eat whatever the hell I want without a care in the world. After my babies are born, I completely regret it because it just isn't easy to lose the weight. You would think I would have learned my lesson this third time around but no.
I do realize my kid is only 2 months old. I know "they" say it took 9 months to gain the weight so I should give myself the same amount of time to lose it. I just can't wait for the summer to be over (gasp) so that it isn't a million degrees both inside and out. I know that is a poor excuse (the heat) but I just can't bring myself to get outside and jog or work up a sweat working out when I'm already sweating. Also, it is not easy finding time in a day with 3 small kids. Perhaps I just need to make it more of a priority and then I will find the time. I do after all find the time to play poker once a week and watch my show for an hour every day. It isn't even like I want to lose a tremendous amount of weight. I just want to be able to wear my old clothes again. That would be nice. I have never gone back down to my pre Jack weight. That would be absolutely superb but I am at least realistic with my goals.

Odd Finding

Was over at Laura's playing cards. She went inside from the garage then came back to tell me Oliver was asleep on the stairs. This is how she found him.
Have you ever found your kids asleep in a bizzare place?

Also, I've decided that drinking Cheryl shouldn't play cards. It never ends well.

Reed's Birth Story

It's been 5 days already since Reed was born. I can hardly believe it's been that long already. It makes me sad to think time is going by so quickly. I wish I could freeze him at his cute little size. I can't believe I'm even saying that because normally I'm not a big fan of the infant stage. Maybe it's because I know it's going to be the last time I have a newborn to care for.
I had said I would write about our little birthing adventure so here it is.
Friday we decided to head up to Shawn's parents for the weekend. They live just north of Parry Sound. I figured I wasn't even 38 weeks pregnant so we should be fine. After the 38th week, I wouldn't travel anywhere. On our drive up I started to feel cramping. This wasn't any kind of surprise to me as I had been feeling this cramping from about 26-28 weeks. Braxton Hicks I was told. They just felt like menstrual cramps. They weren't any worse than normal. I didn't think anything of it until I woke up the next morning still feeling these cramps on and off. Never have I woken up in the morning feeling them. There was never a certain time of day I ever did but never when I first woke up in the morning.
Because we were so far away from my midwives and there wouldn't be anything they could do for me from there, I decided that maybe we should go into town and go to the hospital. Here they did a non stress test. The test showed that yes I was having some tightening but there was no regular pattern and when they checked my cervix I wasn't at all dilated. The doctor there suggested we pack up and return home because anything could happen at any time. This is what we did.
The drive home is about 3 hours. During our drive I continued to feel the cramping. I was writing down when they started and they were still very erratic in time, length and strength. When we returned to Durham I called the midwife (the Dr in Parry Sound had already talked to her). Because of the inconsistency of my cramping she thought I was just having Braxton Hicks contractions and suggested I go home and rest and keep myself hydrated. She said when the contractions begin to develop a pattern then to give her a call. This was probably between 630-700pm. When we got home, I had a nice warm bath. At around 7:44pm I decided to time the contractions again using a website (www.contractionmaster.com) After having 6 contractions spaced from 3-7 minutes apart and lasting 48 seconds to over a minute, I decided to call the midwife again. We decided to meet at the hospital. Before we left I went to the washroom. It was here that my water broke. This totally freaked me out. I remember how quickly I delivered Oliver after my water broke. Shawn and I were still waiting for Stephanie (bless her soul) to get here to watch Oliver. In the meantime, waiting downstairs by the van, I began to feel a lot of pressure in my bottom. Oh oh. Not good. This really had me in a panic. I was certain I was going to deliver my baby in my driveway. Shawn asked if I wanted him to call an ambulance. Without thinking twice about it, I said yes.
The original plan was to deliver in Oshawa. The ambulance brought us to the hospital here in Bowmanville. They don't deliver babies at this hospital anymore. I informed them the midwife was meeting us in Oshawa. He said there wasn't enough time to get to Oshawa unless I wanted to have my baby in the back of the ambulance. This I did not want. Shawn followed the ambulance to the hospital. Once we arrived, I don't think more than 5-10 minutes passed before I delivered our baby in a back room which appeared to be a room that housed supplies. I think maybe they did sutures and stuff back here. There was a baby warmer covered by a blanket that didn't look like it had been used in a while.
The delivery went smoothly. I felt bad for the Doctor and Nurses. Although they all remained calm, comforting, and supportive it was quite obvious this was not something they are accustomed to doing. The Doctor told me it had been 8 years since he had delivered a baby, the Nurse, her first. The other nurse told me she had 5 kids so she wasn't the least bit phased by the whole thing. Once the baby and I were quickly looked after, we were transported to the Oshawa Hospital where we met the midwife. From there, we did what needed to be done, spent the night and were released the following day. We were home by 1pm.
Reed is doing well. He had his 5 day check up with the midwife today. He weighs 7lbs 5oz and is sleeping and eating well. Aside from feeling a little tired, I am also doing well. It can get to be a little busy at times but the boys are adjusting well and being very patient and understanding. I love my boys.

34 Weeks

Time is going to so quickly. I can hardly believe that in 6 weeks we will be having our third child.
This pregnancy has had it's ups and downs. Nobody ever told me that each pregnancy becomes more physically draining then the last. I just feel so tired all the time. I get many aches and pains. I feel so whiny and like I complain a lot. I mentioned this to Shawn the other day and he just laughed. He neglected to comment. Good man he is.
On the other hand, this little guy moves a lot. It's nice to feel him moving so much except when he decides to tuck his little foot right under my ribcage and I can hardly breathe.
I'm excited most to see how the boys are once he is born. Jack talks about his being born in June. He knows it is around Daddy's birthday but that we don't know the exact date. I asked him what he thought of my big belly the other day. He replied "It's perfect". Such a sweet boy.
I have no idea what to expect from Oliver. He is either going to be a doting, loving, overbearing brother or he won't bother with him at all. I'm leaning toward the first. I could of course, be in for a surprise. I hate surprises.
Shawn and I are going to try putting bunk beds together tomorrow. We managed today to put together a dresser from Ikea without killing each other (we didn't once argue/disagree on anything), so we shall see how it goes tomorrow. I honestly think it was the first time we put something together and didn't once shout at one another or become frustrated.
I have a prenatal visit this week. I really hate the weight part. Whatever, I know I'm pregnant and all that stuff but it's still depressing seeing the number every couple of weeks. It doesn't help that I never weigh myself normally so to have to do it all the time just kind of sucks. I'm doing well though. I haven't gained a crazy amount of weight. I'm right within what is normal. I just know it wasn't easy to lose all of the weight the last time (I could never lose that last 5 lbs) and I'm going to have far less time to myself. I'm grateful it's going to be the summer so we will be out for lots of walks and trips to the park/zoo.