Jelly Bean's Thoughts

My sister was really grossed out by the different terms I used for breast milk when String Bean was a baby. Mommy milk, yummies, milky treats...String Bean has decided breast milk is "Mommy juice" and whenever Jelly Bean starts crying, String Bean pipes up, "Jelly Bean needs Mommy juice!"

If Mr. Bean is changing Jelly Bean's diaper and begins to wail, String Bean will announce what she assumes is Jelly Bean's thoughts on getting her diaper changed: "Daddy, it's cold!"

Apparently, those are Jelly Bean's only thoughts in life so far. Says String Bean.

Sideshow Attraction

It was 1 am the morning of May 5, 2010. Mr. Bean was sleeping on the couch/bed in the room and I was breastfeeding Jelly Bean by the glow of the television with the reading lights on overhead. I glanced down at my child who was a mere 42 hours old when I noticed a weird shadow across her face. I moved her position but the shadow line did not move. I started to laugh because the line down her entire face was so odd that it struck me as funny. (Side note: It is interesting how as a second-time mom things don't freak you out like they would have if the same thing happened to your first baby.)

I kept staring at the line down Jelly Bean's face and finally decided I was either going crazy or something weird was happening with her body and either way I needed a second opinion. Mr. Bean hadn't moved despite my audible laughter, so I paged a nurse. She came in and said, "Oh my! That is weird. I have never seen a baby do that before." After some discussion and convincing her that I was not freaking out over the odd coloring, the nurse took a walk down to the nursery to talk to the newborn nurses to ask them if they needed to see Jelly Bean.

A couple of minutes later, the same nurse burst into the room and hurriedly took Jelly Bean to the nursery while yelling over her shoulder for us to join her as soon as we were able. Mr. Bean was stumbling to wake up from deep sleep, and I was just fresh from a Cesarean Section.

Upon arrival at the nursery, I was asked all sorts of questions about the weird coloration on Jelly Bean. By the time she had arrived in the nursery, her coloring was normal. They had her under the warming lights and stripped down to just her diaper. Another nurse was on the phone with the on-call doctor who insisted she be monitored for the duration of the night.

I returned to my room and consulted with Dr. Google. His diagnosis was that Jelly Bean had a rare condition called harlequin effect. It is a benign condition where the immature vessels over dilate when a baby is placed on her side. It can take several minutes or just a few seconds. Whichever side the baby is lying on turns red and the top side goes pale. A sharp line forms between the two from the forehead down the entire length of the body.

Several times throughout the night I was able to get Jelly Bean to change colors when I nursed her. The nurses insisted I let them know when she did it so they could chart the symptoms. Based on their reactions when I alerted them to the harlequin effect, I think they really wanted to know so they could call every nurse within yelling distance to check out the sideshow act going on in the nursery. Of the approximately 30 nurses on staff in the Maternity ward of the hospital, only one had ever seen this before.

For your viewing pleasure, we took a photo for you to see and enjoy this sideshow attraction for yourselves. Please excuse Jelly Bean's jaundice which seems severe next to my pale skin which apparently has not seen the sun in several years.

Photo taken May 5, 2010 in the wee hours of the morning in the nursery of the hospital where Jelly Bean was delivered. Jelly Bean is a few hours shy of two days old.
Photo by Mr. Bean

I am told it takes up to 3 weeks for the harlequin effect to disappear when the newborn's system matures. Jelly Bean is 2 weeks old today and we have not seen her "go harlequin" on us in a few days, so she has apparently grown out of it!

Liquid Gold

Many of you moms have heard the term "Liquid Gold" to describe breast milk. Of course, I agree that breast milk has all sorts of benefits for babies and is the natural/organic way to feed them. It is the way God intended. String Bean is 16 months old and still breastfed.

I'm not here to argue with you about the merits of breast milk or to open up the breast milk versus formula debate. The "Liquid Gold" I am drinking today is the free Starbucks drink I got for doing a survey. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to drink Starbucks over breast milk any day!

Cheers!

Motherhood Milestones

Do I still count as a "new mom"? My String Bean is 13 months old. All new moms have to brag about their babies, so I'm going to assume for a minute that I'm still a new mom. Bear with me.

String Bean took her first steps last night! Mr. Bean had students from his college class over for dinner. We were sitting in the living room when String Bean saw across the room her new shoes--red velvet mary janes with faux diamonds. (Wouldn't you be excited if you saw those across the room in YOUR size?) She crawled over to the end table where they were, pulled herself up to a standing position and turned herself around to face me. In her excitement about finding her new shoes, rather than sit down, crawl 2 feet, then stand up, she just took 2 steps toward me instead. Of course the whole time I'm yelling at Mr. Bean to watch which in turn makes everyone in the room watch what is going on.

Just in case you don't think I'm telling the truth here, I have several witnesses. 9 people total witnessed this momentous event (including Mr. Bean and myself).

On another note, my friend Leslie had her first baby right after Thanksgiving. When I had String Bean, I called my co-blogger, Amy, all the time asking questions about newborns and breastfeeding. Now I'm able to pass along my vast knowledge on the subjects to Leslie. She's now experiencing all those "firsts" with her son that I enjoyed with my daughter. *wipes tear from eye*

So, the circle of life goes on.

Welcome to the Breastaurant

Don't forget to sign up for our giveaway which ends Monday, December 8 at noon!

String Bean, who is still nursing, discovered this week, that her mother doesn't have one breast. She has two! This has really opened up a whole new world to her. Without a doubt, her life will never be the same again. Nor will mine. A nursing session does not end without incessantly going from one breast to the other for the simple joy of doing so.

Oy vey.

Meeting our Goals

Mr. Bean, my husband, pointed out to me yesterday that I met my breastfeeding goal of 1 year! Of course, this goal is a revised goal as my original goal was 6 weeks. Once I hit that, I extended my goal to 3 months...then 6 months...now 1 year. According to this link, only 17.2% of breastfeeding moms in the U.S. made it to this milestone in 2003. Only 5.7% made it past 18 months (kudos to my co-blogger, Amy, who is in this elite group of women).

I am quite proud of myself for making it this far. As I've mentioned before, I ran into lots of common breastfeeding problems. Here are a few:

• String Bean was a lazy sucker
• String Bean had a recessed jaw (which has now resolved itself)
• I had to exclusively pump for the first 4 weeks of her life until she was strong enough to overcome the lazy sucker and recessed jaw problems
• I had surgery when String Bean was 4 months old (gall bladder removal) which caused me to lose my milk supply all together
• I had to go on drugs to increase the supply since none of the traditional methods of increasing supply worked
• String Bean has her father's metabolism which translates into barely hanging onto the charts those pediatricians give you that say how heavy your baby should be. This meant a lot of stress about getting enough into her to help her maintain and gain weight.

All those concerns are behind us now. I accomplished my goal! I'm not planning on adding a revised goal at this point since I know I've done what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for breastfeeding. I'll continue to breastfeed String Bean as long as she wants to. If she's still breastfeeding at age 2, I may just cut her off though!

What goals are you working toward? What goals have you accomplished? Brag here. Brag away!

On Excuses to Blow the Diet…

I’m breastfeeding. That’s right. I am.

Ever since String Bean was born, I’ve had problems with breastfeeding. I was told when she was born that our problems were all her fault, not mine. We “fixed” her and all was good. Then I had surgery. I was told that all our problems were mine, not hers. I’d lost my milk supply and was having a hard time rebuilding it.

Someone told me oatmeal was a natural galactagogue. (Yes, you do need to look it up.) A wise mom (my co-blogger, Amy) encouraged that I take it in the form of cookies. Yum. What a great idea! After all, I need to increase my milk supply. Why not do it by getting as much oatmeal in my diet as possible? Am I really going to eat multiple bowls of the stuff? No!

In that spirit, here is a recipe for Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake cookies. Why go to all the trouble of baking when you’re blowing the diet as it is? Of course, you’re blowing it for a good cause! I suggest you eat at least 4 (or more) a day. This is, of course, not intended to be any expert medical advice.

Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients except vanilla, peanut butter, and oats and cook over medium heat. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter. When the peanut butter is mixed in add the oats.

Spoon out quickly onto wax paper. Cookies will harden as they set. If it seems too thin, add about more oatmeal before you spoon them out.After they set up, eat them.

If you have leftovers (I never do), put them in a closed container to keep them from getting too dry.