Knickers and Milk Sippers

Let's get a little personal shall we?

Yes, I am going to talk about all things down below and in between.

Hence the title;

Knickers and Milk Sippers

Full disclosure if you don't want to read about breastfeeding and after birth

STOP NOW

but thanks for coming to see me :)

If you want to know the honest and real truth get a bowl of popcorn, wine, and a blanket;

things are about to get real up in here.

Where to begin with all of this information overload?

Hospital mesh panties

Ice packs

Cracked nipples

Hemorrhoids

Swollen body parts

First the less scary part of it all, swollen body parts, everything is swollen.

Face, hands, feet, stomach, boobs.

Nothing is safe from the every loving swelling that will be right after and the weeks to follow.

This is one thing that not one person that has gone before me mentioned would happen.

When I had Genevieve, yes things were "angry" not unexpected, but why take that out on my feet.

I wore shoes that tied, what I really needed were flip-flops two sizes bigger than what I wore before.

Rings didn't fit for almost six weeks after.

My face thankful returned to its "sunken" state after a week.

However, my chest grew to three times the size from the start of pregnancy.

 
This brings me to the next item on my list.  If you can't stand the word nipple, this talk isn't for you.
There are few things in this world that I can say bother me more than the word "moist," and one of those other words is "engorgement."
I really didn't understand this, until it happened.
Amongst all of your lady bits being swollen you get to have your nipples chewed and sucked until they are cracked and numb.
I became so engorged that I would have to pump or my daughters head would bounce off like a Ping-Pong ball during a tournament.
This continued until recently when I did what they call, regulate.
Yeah, that only took 15 weeks to do.
I was able to pump quite a bit before going back to work, 100 oz.
This is quite a good amount for still breastfeeding and pumping at the same time.
Going back to work full time was more stressful that what I thought it would be.
Not for the fact that I was leaving her, yes that was hard to do, but not what this post is about;
for the fact that I work in a small office and have to take my pump with me to work.
I hated the fact that not only were my breast three times the size that they were, but now I have to pump at work and hope that I can get that half hour in so I don't hurt.
Also, no one told me that if you talk about your child, hear a child cry, relax, or drink more water; that you are going to get a let down (milk comes in) or leak.
I only leaked twice and thankfully that was it.
However, the let downs happened and still happen all the time.
It can be at random times, but when you pump with cracked nipples; it hurts.
The best thing that you can do is get a good nipple cream and just slather all of that buttery-goodness all over.
For me when I get those let downs it's normally every hour and a half and then a half hour until either I feed her or pump.
If neither of these things happen, I become, yes you guessed it; Engorged.
It is painful and could cause damage if ignored.
Since going part time I pump twice a day so my daughter can have food for when I am gone.
I still pump enough to feed her and still freeze some also!

All of those things brings me to my next topic ice packs and mesh panties.
Panties is right up there with the last two words that everyone is so fond of.
However, this needs to be talked about too.
Ice packs are an absolute necessity.
Those first few hours I couldn't get enough of those things.
Numb me up.
(See what I did there, instead of Beam me up...no? ok.)
They will give you, wait for it, Motrin for pain.
Yes you read that correctly.
So when it comes to anything that makes the "angry" bits better, do it.
The mesh panties are something you are going to either love or hate.
I HATE them.
Chrissy Teigen embraced them.
You be your own judge.
I can't stress the word hate enough with them.
They were WAY to big for my size and as much as they tell you they are one size fits all they lie.
When you put the ice pack, tucks, and swollen angry bits in one place, they may fit.
I went and bought the biggest "granny-undies" one could find and went that direction.
This was the best thing that I could have done.
I felt like I was being held together by their higher waist band and didn't feel like my insides were going to fall out like I did with those other underwear.
These are something that I wore for weeks and believe it or not still love them.

Overall, the actual birth was smooth and a pretty surreal experience.
There are days that I still look at her and think "is she really mine?"
Then I sneeze and I'm quickly reminded that yes she is.
The picture is me at two days after having her, I'm swollen, with my granny-undies on with ice packs tucks and a pad, hair pulled up, and that new baby bliss smile on my face.
I can say honestly that I never felt better than in that moment.



   

Welcome to the World

On March 9th, 2018 our lives changed forever.

After 13 hours of labor our little girl, 

Genevieve Rae Magoto 

joined our family.

This is her story.
 

 

I'm going to bypass most of the story since it is just waiting around.

We got to the hospital at 5 am and by 6 am was hooked up to IV's and monitors.

I decided by noon to get some pain medicine to help, but wanted to hold off on the epidural.

I changed my mind pretty quick and by 2pm was getting my epidural.

This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but still wasn't a wonderful experience.

I always thought that your support person was going to be in the room, meaning my husband was going to be able to help me out; nope, not the case.

They made him step out into the hallway and then we would be able to come back in after it was done.

The whole procedure took 10 minuets and the only thing that hurt was the first shot that was to numb the area.

They try and place this between contractions, but when they are every 2 minuets apart, your going to get one in there.

Once the epidural was placed, I thought I was going to be pain free and happy until delivery.

This also was not the case.

The epidural decided to only work on my right side and not my left,
all of the pain stayed in my left hip.

They tried to move me to my right side, use a peanut ball, and then move me back to my left side.

Nothing worked and in the end they had to call the anesthesiologist back in to see what he could do.

He decided the best thing would be to pull out the catheter in my back position it differently and then give me a top off.

This still took about 15 minuets to work and that was the longest 15 minuets of my life.

Those contractions are no joke!

Once I did get relief they checked my cervix again and I was only at 5cm :( 

How sad is that!

However, what you see and read is very true; once that epidural works you can sleep and talk during those contractions.

I decided to take a small nap for two hours and rest up for what I thought was going to be a long night.
However, after that short nap I woke up and felt like I needed to be put on my back to be more comfortable.
Well, the nice nurse knew something was up, flipped me to my back and did a check...
she asked if I felt the need to push at all, which I laughed and said nope, but why?
Come to find out Genevieve was pretty much right there!
After calling the doctor, getting everything set up, a conversation about how cold it was outside,
 five pushes later she was here.

She was born at 6:55pm
6 pounds 11.6 ounces
20 inches long

All of those years of trying, all of the shots, blood work, needles, ultrasounds, and tears.
She was here just that fast.
After the tears faded and kisses had been given there were three questions that I asked.
1.  Did I really just birth a baby?
2. How bad was the tear?
3. Can you believe that you are a dad?

That was pretty much all of what was going on in my mind at that time.
I would do this all over again and hope that anyone that is still dealing with this, just stick with it.
It really is worth everything when they put that baby on your chest.
There is nothing like it.

I finally now know how everyone feels about their kids.
That bond that when you first look into their eyes that you would do anything for them.
That if someone hurt them, you would make sure to "take care of it."
 
Genevieve has not only changed my husband and I's lives, but everyone that she meets.
She is a happy and healthy little girl.
We want to thank everyone for the calls, texts, and well wishes.
 

Long Awaited News

I have been wanting to update everyone on what is going on, but nothing is really happening.

 

My due date is quickly approaching and there have been some contractions for the last few weeks.

Other than that, nothing is happening.

I have hit that point where I just want to see her and hold her...you know in my arms.

The last two weeks I have been sitting at 2cm 80% and at a 0 station.

This I have found means absolutely nothing other than she could or couldn't come soon.

Oh so helpful doctors are.

I did end up in Labor and Delivery last week with contractions 3-6 min. apart, but they needed to be at 5 min with having a change.

Which I did not have any change so they sent me home even with them being that close.

Oh well.

 

I'm starting to feel like I will never have her, but people do tell me that I will.

(Insert major eye roll here)

 

When you do IVF you have been on a roller coaster for months before being pregnant and then when you do get pregnant the rest of the fun beings.

 

I have had a rather "easy" pregnancy which I am very thankful for.

However, the last few weeks my ankles have disappeared, my back is killing me, and I feel like I blowfish.

There have been times where I want to throw in the towel and just cry.

Which crying is a new thing in my life that I have found happens at anytime.

I could be in a store, bathroom, in the house, anywhere and then BAM crying and have no idea why.

 

I do have another doctor appointment on March 7th so I will update everyone with what may or may not be happening after that.

 

Right now it is like the cookies in the oven just need an extra minute when they have already hit their time limit so you just keep checking on them to make sure you don't burn them.

 

So, keep checking back and I will post when I have her if that is before Wednesday or what they say after my appointment.

 

Thank you to everyone who is waiting with me and following our journey to get "Evie" here.



How Big?

The past few weeks have been a ones of up and downs again.

I have found myself saying more times than I honestly care to share,

"When will she be here?"

The only reason I keep asking this is due to the fact that she has found solace in my left hip.

We were told that I was measuring small and that in order to really find out what was going on to do a growth scan to make sure that we was in fact growing the way that she should be.

I'm not going to turn down a chance to see our daughter, but at this point they had me worried.

Off to the doctor we go.

I find that the more anxious you are about an appointment the longer they make you wait.

My appointment was at 3:30 and we didn't go back to the ultrasound until 4:30 and by the time we left it was 5:15.

Anyway, no really good pictures of her face like everyone else, nope she had literally tucked herself all the way into my hip and refused to move for the whole ultrasound.

They found nothing worrisome and said she was in the 74th percentile for how far along I am.

The estimate of her weight was 3.6 lbs.

She also has some peach fuzz for hair.  This will only keep growing until she gets here.

There was still plenty of fluid around her and everything measured as it should.

She is always moving and I can say that I am going to miss all of these small moments with just us.

I have been asked many times to share a belly shot so I guess I will do that.

This is just two days ago at 31 weeks. 

Since the start of my pregnancy I have gained 30 lbs.

Before you get all worried that I am gaining too much weight, my doctor told me that I should gain between 40 and 50 lbs due to my start weight, which was 92.

However, I do wonder how much bigger I can get.

What do you think?

The good part of pregnancy is that I feel good and can eat pretty much all the time.

The "bad" part is that I have varicose veins, heartburn, restless leg syndrome, and hemorrhoids.

I know the last one is gross, but I'm not here to sugar coat pregnancy.

Even with the "bad" I am still enjoying every second of being pregnant.

The doctors are saying that I only have around 7-9ish weeks left and that they highly doubt that I will go until my due date of March 16th.

We will have to see!

Leave a comment with the day you will think she will be here!

I will put up a picture of her and hopefully you can make it out!

I have another appointment on Jan 17th so make sure you come back to see how that went next Friday when I post an update!