new orleans bound

So I need a bit of help and advice from those of you who have breast feed or are breast feeding. My baby is 20 weeks now nd my milk supply is gone. I had loads of milk in the beginning and now I can barely feed her. SOme days I get a little bit of milk but rarely do I have enough to satisfied. I'm not supplementing more and more with formula. Thw weirs this is this my girlfirend who has a 7 month old has weaned him cause her milk supply has diminished and he's eating solids. She said her boobs were really engorged during the weaning -me I have nothing. Soft big boobs with no milk. Does anyone know if this is normal. I'm seeing my doctor on Tuesday cause that's the earliest appointment I could get. I'm going to ask if I can get some Reglan to help increase my supply. I wasn't ready to wean my baby. And pumping my breats isn't bringinbg in my milk either. I'm luckly if I got an ounce out. This might be too much TFI but menses came back too? Is that normal? Looking for any information. Calling the LaLeche legaue in my area too. Thanks.

I have/had the same problem. I was desperate, because I am 100% committed to breastfeeding, and suddenly, my milk production took a nose dive. It broke my heart to see my son crying when he was done nursing because he wanted more milk and I didn't have enough. He wasn't ready to wean, and I wasn't ready to give up or provide formula. So when all the herbal remedies didn't work, I went to my doctor and got Reglan. It works wonderfully! I've been using it for several months, although the doctor thinks I shouldn't need it anymore. But if I run out, immediately my productions drops dramatically. So I begged for refills, and they gave them to me.

I wish I didn't need medication to successfully breastfeed my baby, but I want what's best for him and he really still wants/needs to nurse. So I do what I have to do. Hopefully, this will work for you, too. Keep me posted!

Me too. I tried the herbal stuff, but no success. I had a really good double electric breast pump and not much there. So I'm hoping to get Reglan and praying that jump starts my milk production.

I'm back again with another question for those of you ladies who are traveling via air for the holidays. I'm flying back to Canada on Monday. I'm bringing one suitcase for me, suitcase for baby, diaper bag, Stroller, and car seat. Will the airlines charge me for all my stuff- meaning the car seat and stroller? Also what are they doing about formulas, are you allowed to check it through?

So I need a bit of help and advice from those of you who have breast feed or are breast feeding. My baby is 20 weeks now nd my milk supply is gone. I had loads of milk in the beginning and now I can barely feed her. SOme days I get a little bit of milk but rarely do I have enough to satisfied. I'm not supplementing more and more with formula. Thw weirs this is this my girlfirend who has a 7 month old has weaned him cause her milk supply has diminished and he's eating solids. She said her boobs were really engorged during the weaning -me I have nothing. Soft big boobs with no milk. Does anyone know if this is normal. I'm seeing my doctor on Tuesday cause that's the earliest appointment I could get. I'm going to ask if I can get some Reglan to help increase my supply. I wasn't ready to wean my baby. And pumping my breats isn't bringinbg in my milk either. I'm luckly if I got an ounce out. This might be too much TFI but menses came back too? Is that normal? Looking for any information. Calling the LaLeche legaue in my area too. Thanks.

OMG, that is even better! I want to have my next child there!!!

You don't even have to have your child there, all you need to do is work in Canada for about a year before applying for the benefits. I had my daughter here in the States but still qualified for the benefits because I worked in Canada. Even your husband could get paternal benefits. What I mean by that is there are some women who go back to work before the year is up and the husband is able to stay home with the baby and get unemployment insurance for the remainder of the year. It's a wonderful system. Now it would be better if the cost of living wasn't so expensive.

If I could do this all over again, I would have moved to Canada before becoming pregnant. Hubby was telling me maternity leave is 6 months at full pay or a year at half pay. Here, I took 3 months unpaid. BOOOOO!!!!

Actually maternity leave in Canada has changed. It's a full year now and depending on your job and your employer's benefits you get 6 months at full pay and than unemployment insurance pays for the last 6 months at a rate of 55% of your full time salary.

NOB: Congratulations on your little babygirl. Sorry you are also fighting with colic. I have tried supplementing iwth formula but found that it didn't really help at all. Today is a good day, she didn't really throw a fit yet but it is not 5pm.

To make things worse, I have a plugged milk duct on my right side and it hurts so much. I try to nurse her on that side but all the stimulation jsut makes my ####### get even bigger and hurt more...argh. Hope it will resolve soon and not develop into a nice mastitis.

Eveline, I feel your pain. I hope your plugged milk ducts clears soon. I can just imagine how painful that is. I haven't had a problem with my milk ducts, but my problem is my nipples. Every time Sophia attaches on it feels like she's ripping my nipples off. At times it feels like I'm getting "purple nipples" with some feedings. Sophia just settled now and it's 2130. I have her sleeping on her stomach on my lap. It's the only way she settle.

Eveline, your Allie sounds like my Sophia. My daughter is a month older but she does the same thing. I know your solely breastfeeding as I was but I had to start supplementing Sophia with a non-allerginic formula just so she'd get some relief. I spend three/fourths of my time with her in my snuggle carrier. It does make doing stuff difficult. Evey time i try to pull her our she wakes up and startsd crying. Sophia's colic is worst at night. She wails using between 4-23. I also find that most days she doesn't nap at all during the day. She fights sleep so much. Like yesterday she might have napped twice for 30 minutes. She's playing catchup but in my arms. It makes doing things hard, so I can only imagine what it's like in your house with a toddler and a new colicy baby. How do you do it?

let me start off saying congrats to those of you who a pregnant.

Ok, this post has been a long time coming-if that makes sense. For a while my computer was acting up which made it difficult to post, than I got a virus and had to get the computer fixed. After that the baby came. I had a baby girl Sophia Izabella on August 4th. She arrived without me being induced. I was scheduled for an induction on August 6th due to my gestional diabeties. On SUnday afternoon my mother and I went to Walmart to get the last minute baby stuff, we had our nails(pedicure)done and bought groceries. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at Walmart between all the walking and pedicure. I got home around 3ish and my braxton hicks contraction hadn't gone away. Did some research and figured out I was in early labour. Finished packing my hospital bag, packed hubby's and mom packed her own. Than we sat around and watched TV and waited for the contraction to get more regular.

At 9pm contraction were getting more regular around 5 minutes apart and lasting for about a minute. I showered, woke the hubby and we all packed into the car. Arrived at the hospital at 1030pm. Connected to all the equipment, they do the exam and I'm only 1cm dilated and still 100% effaced. I knew it was going to be a long night. Contractions were getting worst but I wasn't making any progress down there. I had an angel for a nurse and when I hit 3cm I got an epidural. It was a beautiful thing and I went to sleep. At 3 am they started piticon as I wasn't progressing. I got stuck at 5cm. Once they start the pit, the contractions got more intense but I didn't feel a thing. by 4 am the piticon started to effect the baby, she'd drop her heart rate so they had to stop it, wait for her to recover and than start it back up. this happened till 7 am and by that point they decided they were going to do a c-section. at 936 am my precious darling was born. 7 ponds 4 ounces and 20 inches long. she had to go to nicu for a few hours at 2 i think because she had a very low blood sugar. 2 days later post c-section we were home.

Breast feeding was/is still a challenge. my milk didn't come in very quickly. it was a struggle to feed her. I cried a lot and she cried a lot, but eventually my milk came in. Breast feeding has gotten slightly easier but now she's colicy.

Sophia is now 6 weeks old. She's 22inches long and 11 lbs. She loves her breastmilk but I made her colic worst. I was drinking a lot of cow's milk and until I gave uo diary and gave her some NUTRAMIGEN formula and now I have a new child. Thank you KS for the suggestion. This formula is wonderful. I only give her the Nutramigen when she's really fussy on breast and by fussy I mean her face is beet red and she's screaming at the top of her lungs and wont take my breast. The formula seems to settle her stomach and than she can have breast milk. Our pediatrician saw her yesterday and feels that the baby might also be lactose intolerant like me. The pediatrician gave me a prescription for some meds to help her and they seem to be working. A co-worker of mine used gripe water for her daughter to help with colic so I bought some of that too. Today seems to have been an ok day. No major screaming fits and the baby actually had two naps during the day.

Now that the baby is older I'm finding her a bit more interactive. She's now starting to enjoy her fisher price chair/rocker. I haven't been able to coax her to stay in the swing though. She stays in for about 5 minutes and than starts screaming. I can't believe she actually let me sit long enough to type this. I'm happy that Sophia is now calmer and a much happier baby. I also wanted to thank all you ladies for you input wheter it's direct (when I ask question) or indirect(when others ask). This discussion group has been a life saver. Joanna

I know I read somewhere that Zaid was on a forumla for Colic, what the name of the forumla? my daughter has colic and the forumla I have is milk based and making her colic worst. I'll take suggestions from any really on a forumla to use. we don't go to see the pedi till end of next week and I'm dying here with her crying. I need something to help her will all this discomfort. thanks

I know it's kind of late but have you tried talking to an operator at the VSC about this. I'm not a hundred percent sure about this but I believe that you cannot drop things off at the Vermont service center. I would really hate to give you the wrong info so try calling them and seeing what they say. Good luck.

hey preggers girls: here is my liefesaver tip- stick one or two Binkies in the hospital bag. I know I know, some might say, that they don't want it, but do yourself a favor and have one at the ready (just in case)

i very much agree with this!! the hospital i was at doesn't hand out binkies anymore...so thank goodness i brought a pack with me they saved my sleep...

Ok silly question but what is a binky?

It's hard to believe that I have 40 days left before this baby arrives. I just bought my stroller today. I have a list of things I still need to get. The change table is last on my list with diapers. I'm still trying to decide if I want to get the wipe warmer and the diaper genie. I've heard pros and cons for the genie. Tomorrow I pick up the baby swing and nursing pillow from one of my coworkers. I still need to get some more receiving blankets and I'm also trying to decide if I want to get the Fisher Price infant-toddler rocker. I picked up my breast pump last week. Speaking of Breast pump, I'm still having excruciating nipple pain. My OB says that it's a build up of prolactin. I'm still here typing with hot packs on my boobs! I hope the pain goes away when I give birth. I finish work July 5th and will have a month to rest hopefully. The baby is due August 4th but I pray every day that she comes much, much earlier, like the end of July. And that's it for my update.

Such cute babies everywhere! I can't wait for my turn now!

The round ligament pain is getting progressivly worse and on top of that, I had morning sickness today! Has anyone else experianced morning sickness in the 3rd trimester? Being pregnant is not fun!

I'm still having morning sickness in my third trimester and round ligament pain. Luckly my doctor gave me pills for my morning sickness and they've been a big relief. I belief that the nausea is common and there's really not much we can do.

my girlfriend overstayed her tn visa,we tried to renew it, was denied she was erd and given a five year ban.since then we have been married and i have filed her i-130 with vermont svc ctr.only reply so far,is an eac #.looking for any advise or info.from anyone with a similar experience.

My over stay was because I didn't properly renew my TN visa either. INS classifed me with an overstay of 180 days and I got a three ban on a TN visa that had not expired. What I did wrong was switch jobs without switching TN visa's. I don't mean to sound negative but this waiver process is going to be a long road. It took my husband and I a long time to get out approval. I had to stay on top of our case every step of the way. What you and your girlfriend/wife need to do is research waivers. There's not many posted here but there are a lot on immigrate to us. Check them out. Get prepared, have your paperwork ready for the interview in Montreal. Be prepared for the long backlog in Montreal/Vermont when it comes to waiver processing. I can try to help you guys, but all of my paperwork is with my husband presently. Did borderservices give you guys a slip of paper when your girlfriend was turned away at the border- they should have given you a reason for the ban.

I'm back in Canada for another 4 weeks so I can't really call the triage OB nurse, we don't have one. (I have to finish work in order to get my maternity benefits). I tried going to the on call OB this afternoon but I waited in the office for an hour and a half and left as she was really behind and I had another appointment to go to and I was late for it. I tried calling the clinic back as they have an on call doctor, but mostly for emergencies and this does not classify as an emergency. So I than called the birthing unit at the local Maternity hospital, they were busy, kind of rude and told me to call my OB. So I'm at home thinking a glass of something strong would help and two hot packs on my boobs waiting for my 9 am appointment with just a regular on call doctor tomorrow. If this is nature's way of preparing me for breast feeding I'd like to hand it back to mother nature and say next.

I need a little bit of help with a big problem. I know this might be a little to much info, but I am dying here. Over the last three to four days I've started experiencing terrible nipple pain. Pain to the point of tears. I'm putting all the nipple creams on that I can find for sore cracked nipples. But my nipples aren't cracked, therefor I'm not getting much relief. I still have another 7 weeks to go before the baby's due and if the pain continues I'm going to go crazy. Last night at work I put hot packs on my breasts' and it helped but as soon as I take the heat off the pain comes back. I can't get in to see my OB till next Thursday as she's away. Anyone have an idea on what could be causing this pain and any way I can make it go away? If this pain and discomfort continue I don't think I'll be able to breast feed. I checked my nipple and there's no discharge and my breasts aren't hard so I don't think I have mastitis? I just need a quick fix. Any ideas, suggestions please.

Thank you so much. I was reading that they are trying to have the I-601 apps approved the same day as the interview. I read the best thing to do is as soon as I find out my first interview date to call and schedule my waiver interview but it cant be any closer than 3 days after my first interview.

Where did you read that? The part where they might one day have the wavier I-601 applications approved when the visa interview is taking place. That would rock! I so plan on my I-601 prepared for the day I have my interview.

Good luck to us all - after all, Love makes the world go around!

The processing they are talking about is a pilot program they are doing only in Mexico. No other country processes in that way.

We only wish that they had this process in Canada too.

New Orleans Bound -

I wish I was in Canada too!!! Hubby and I like to moan about how much better maternity leave is there. Here, I was allowed to take 3 months, but it is all unpaid.

Finding a daycare provider has been tricky too, as we also live in a small town. There is an agency here called the Child Care Referral that gave me a list of providers. Many were not accepting infants. I did phone interviews and then site visits too. Hubby and I chose a daycare center in the town I work. We felt okay about that choice, but then, last week, the center called and said they were discontinuing the infant program. I started calling other providers and they were all full. We did end up finding a center that is a town away. It is a quality place, but is the most expensive in the area, plus further away, plus we have to do several fundraisers a year and have to pay $200 if we don't sell the quota of the fundraiser. Argh! We have no other options though.

Enjoy the benefits of being in Canada now, at least for the maternity leave.

Autumnchik,

I haven't started to look to closely for a day care. My husband says we'll figure it out when the time comes but... I know that his place of employment has a daycare but they don't take infants. So I'm still looking. It looks like my mother is going to be staying with us for a while if we don't find something. What we really need is a sitter from time to time but there are no kids babysitting age by us. I can't believe they're gonna charge you $200 if you don't sell the quota. What are you gonna have to sell?

I have to say, not that I'm rubbing this in, but my maternity leave from Canada will allow me to stay home with my baby for a little over a year. My Maternity benefits will pay my salary at a 100% for 6 months and the last 6 months are at 55% of my salary. I think it will be nice to be home with the baby for the first 6 months and than slowly ease my way back into the work force. I've worked here in Canada for 4 years while waiting for my paperwork to come through and got pregnant by accident. But it's a good accident and now I get the benefits of working here in Canada. I know I'm going to be sadly disappointed when we have baby number two and my maternity leave is so much shorter in the States. I do notice a difference with the cost of health insurance. With every test I do in the States we get a bill for what ever the insurance doesn't cover while here in Canada it's all covered. It's quite the eye opening experience. It makes me wonder how women do who don't have insurance have kids. How does one afford to have a child? And looking for a day care/child provider is hard too. There's nothing in my area. Not even a babysitter, but we do live in a small towm. I think I might be flying my mother down a lot more to babysit.

Ah yes, the joys of the third trimester! I think I jinxed myself--everyone kept asking me, "how are you feeling?" and I would say "great!"

Now, just this week, I feel like my body is revolting against me: cankles (better today, thank you), acid reflux, numb hands (pregnancy-related carpal tunnel?) and possibly an unmentionable infection. Ugh.

On the bright side, I don't have to deal with students any more (I'm a teacher and school got out on Friday). I can just be uncomfortable in peace (only 2 more weeks of work--yeah!).

chnst--thanks for the idea of the watermelon! Mmm...

Eveline--looks like we might be due the same week--what's your official due date? I'm due on August 14th...

I'm due somewhere between the 10th and the 14th of August. That is going to be one heck of a week for us, huh?

I'm sorry you have to put up with all the pregnancy problems. The only real 'problem' I have is my preggo brain. It's driving me nuts. I locked my car keys in the car today, on a supermarket parking lot...how stupid is that? I had to call my mother in law to get my husband to give her the keys and then drop them off at the supermarket so I could get into the car again. Holy moly, I always have to quadruplecheck everything.

Other than that, I'm good (knockonwood). No cankles, water, heartburn (anymore), sickness, cramping etc. I feel great. Yes the heat is exhausting and so is Adam but it's alright. Gotta go watch soccer now.

Oh my gosh you're lucky Eveline. I think most pregnant women have placenta brain. I know I do. I have cankles, heart burn ( I eat 600mg of Zantac a day), nausea, my hip hurts, I'm short of breath and sugars are high again. I can't wait till she comes out. 8 weeks and counting, but I have a feeling she's going to be late. Baby is still really high, but I am hoping that due to my diabeties the doctor will induce me early. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's a little video of my babygirl moving, taken the day before yesterday: http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x244/Ev...nt=MOV04282.flv

Eveline, that was awesome. Mine doesn't move that much. Only when I try to sleep sometimes. All I feel is a hard lump here and there. I watched your video twice. Thanks for sharing.

Hey everyone! Hope all the new moms and moms-to-be are doing good. I realized that I never posted about my birth experience, so here goes. Better late than never!!!

On May 7, I saw my doctor in the morning for my 37 week check, had the Group B strep test then. Doc said my cervix was still closed and he would see me the next week. So, I went to work and had THE worst day ever. I was majorly hormonal, even more than usual. My clients all kept telling me that they thought I would have the baby soon. Of course, I told them, no way, not for another 3 weeks. Went home and hubby encouraged me to relax and watch tv in bed. So, at 8 pm, I was watching tv (I think maybe American Idol that I had tivo'ed) and all of a sudden, I felt a gush of warm water. I KNEW my water had broken, but was in disbelief since the doc kept talking about first time moms going over their due date. Went and told hubby (who was frantically trying to finish our construction project of a new bedroom BEFORE the baby came). Called my doc, who told me to come to the hospital to be checked, that it might just be my mucus plug that I felt. I knew in my heart that it was my water breaking. Had not packed for the hospital yet (actually had planned on doing it that night). So, I frantically ran around packing and hubby went and installed the carseat! Arrived at the hospital and doc did an internal exam and conclused that, yup it was my water. No contractions had started, so the doc and nurses encouraged me to try to sleep a bit. At 1 am, the contractions began. They weren't regular though. I would have 3 strong contractions in a row and then nothing for 15 minutes or so. So, the next morning, since I wasn't progressing and since my water had broken so there was a risk of infection, the doc decided to start Pitocin. BEFORE the Pitocin, I had it in my mind that I wanted to have a natural birth ... and was using all the techniques that we learned in my prenatal class ... the birthing tub (lovely, I wish I had one at home!), deep breathing, the birthing ball. AFTER the Pitocin began, my contractions became hellish. I still had the groups of 3 contractions in a row, but this time, they were much more severe in pain and lasting longer, and the group of 3 were coming very frequently. Hubby was timing them and the actual contraction was 3 minutes or so of solid pain before decreasing. So, I decided then to ask for an epidural. I am very glad that I did. I still felt the contractions (they said it takes away 70 % of the pain), but they weren't excruciating anymore. The doc placed a scalp electrode on the baby to monitor his heart rate and also placed something inside me to monitor my contractions (they were having a hard time monitoring those things externally). They did increase the Pitocin mid afternoon and apparently turned down the epidural so I would have more feeling at the end. I began pushing around 5 at night and Declan was born at 7:17 pm that night, on May 8. I had a nurse on either side of me holding my legs and pulling them back whenever it was my turn to push. At the end, I had to wear an oxygen mask. The doc said I could take it off between contractions because I was having a hard time breathing with it on, but everytime I did, one nurse yelled at me and put it back on! And I was so tired, I couldn't summon the words to tell her that the doc okayed it!!! My mom and husband were in the room with me and really encouraging me at the end. Everyone kept telling me, one more push and the baby will be here! This happened for many many pushes, but finally my amazing little boy was born. It was all worth it to have him, and the most wonderful feeling in the world when the doc placed him on my chest.

Even with the Pitocin contractions, it really was a great childbirth experience. The only difficult thing was (and is) the breastfeeding. Most of the maternity nurses were wonderful as were the lactation consultants. They kept us in the hospital an extra day because Declan wasn't feeding well. There was only one nurse who made it a bit tough. On the last day before we were to leave, we were still struggling with breastfeeding. She told me that she wasn't going to help me because I had to be able to do it on my own at home. Needless to say, I was in tears after she left and hubby absolutely refused to ask any of the nurses for help because he felt they would yell at me again.

We left the hospital on Mother's Day (how sweet that my little boy decided to be born early to give me a special present!!!). Declan did have to be hospitalized the next day for jaundice, but got to leave 2 days later.

So, there's my birth experience. The interesting thing is, when I was born, my mom had just seen her doc, who said, see ya next week, and her water broke the next day. I was 3 weeks early also. My mom had not packed for the hospital either (boy I SHOULD have learned from hearing about her experience). I was born on a Thursday as was my little boy. So, a lot of similarities

Autumnchik, that was a nice birth story. Your labour didn't sound all that bad. I guess with the next baby you'll have to prepare a little bit early. Any idea why Declan prefers one breast over the other?

Oh wow...30. See, I hadn't even looked at the ticker, haha. I'm feeling pretty good. We spend most of our days at the pool or inside. Outside it's just too hot for a pregnant lady. I can't believe that in about eight weeks it might be over already.

Eveline, do you think you'll go early with this baby? Adam was a week late wasn't he? I remember a post way back a few pages in which you said you were having Braxton Hicks contracts a lot-are you still having them? I pray every day that this baby will be born soon and that I don't go over. Are you in Texas? I know the heat bothers me here in Louisiana. It's more the humidity really. I spend all day in doors untill it cools off. I feel like a nuclear reactor with the amount of body heat I produce. Are you the same way? I have nine more weeks until this one is born.

I know I sound like I'm complaining, I love my baby but I can't wait to have my body back. I was going through a book of useless facts at home and came across mammal gestation periods. An elephant carries it's baby for 22 months. Now how crazy is that. I couldn't imagine carring for that long and something that big. I'm thankful we only have 40 weeks. I only have 5 to 6 weeks of work left and than I get to wait for her arrival.

Hello there. Well I finally have acess to a computer and can post. I've been keeping up with you ladies and I have to say congrats to all the moms and your babies. It's amazing how quickly your little ones are growing. The pictures are beautiful. I only wish I was more computer savy, I'd be able to post some pictures too.

I'm just over 30 weeks and have 10 weeks to go. I'm starting to get nervous. Have had a few sleepless nights. Wondering how in the world am I going to cope, am I going to be a good mother. I'm scared crapless that I'm going to have this new born with me and not know what to do. I sometimes wonder how people did it back in the old days. At least I have some resource books to read. Breast feeding also scares me. I guess it will come with time, the breast feeding i mean. Does anyone else have gestational diabeties? I have to go for another glucose tolerance test. If my sugars are more elvated I might have to get started on insulin. I got a little lazy and didn't watch what I was eating and poof my sugars crept up. So I'm back on my diabetic diet. I find that when I do these glucose tolerance test they seem to take so much out of me. I did the one hour fasting one last week and it took me a day and a half to recover. Other wise the pregnancy is going great. I have elephant ankles and I can't wait to get them back. None of my shoes fit any more, so I'm glad I'm pregnant during the summer as Flip flops have become my best friend.

My next question is, has anyone heard of a baby stroller called a BOB? Any experience with this brand. I'm also looking at a car seat by the name of Britax? Those are my two major purchases for the time being. I'm also looking at the breast pump called Medulla? Anyone use this type? What about Dr. Brown's Bottles?