Medela Pump-In-Style Advanced Breast Pump

While nursing the Pickle, I used a Medela Pump-In-Style Advanced breast pump.  I pumped in varying degrees during the entire two years that she nursed, so I became very familiar with it.

The PISA is sort of known as one of the main workhorse pumps.  It's a dual pump, so if you're more coordinated than I am (this shouldn't be tough), you can pump both sides at the same time.  It has two speed settings - when you first begin pumping, it is a faster/harder suction to accommodate the initial letdown.  Then, after about two minutes, it slows down.  I ended up needing to press the button to go back to the first setting usually just to work with my particular needs, so I sort of wished at the time that it didn't automatically change the suction setting, but I think that would be a bonus to people with more standard needs.

With the pump, you get the following items (or at least you did 3.5 years ago) - cooler bag with ice pack, standard-sized flanges and connectors, tubing, an AC adapter unit for mobile use, and four Medela bottles.  Mine also came with a little sample of a few milk bags, and some Medela lanolin.  We didn't want to have to completely wash all bottles every single evening - since I was pumping multiple times a day at work and even more at home, this meant that we needed about 8 extra bottles.  The bottles have come down in price since then; at the time, this meant about $15 for three extra bottles.  I also needed a different sized flange.  Once I figured out the best system, it worked great.  Our daughter had a small mouth, so we pumped around the clock for the first few months - other than the fact that I felt like the pump was talking to me during the middle of the night pumping sessions on zero sleep, it worked really well despite all of the rigorous use I put it through with round-the-clock pumping.

I got my pump in July of 2010 - it worked great for about a year, and then the motor burnt out.  This was part of a big group of pumps that had this issue during that time frame, so I was able to contact Medela and get a new one sent out immediately.  Their customer service was great - they express sent me the new one and prepaid shipping packaging, so all I had to do was box up the old pump and send it back.  

I'll be using the same pump with our upcoming arrival.  I don't see any reason to change - the only reason I might have considered changing would be to get a hospital-grade pump, but I think those are much more expensive.  This one works great for the cost.

Black Breeze Baby K'Tan - a first peek

This pregnant lady is very happy.  I was lucky enough that Baby K’tan sent me a Black Breeze Baby K’tan carrier to try out (LINK)!  We’ve still got about 4.5 months left to bake our little one, so I can’t give you a full review yet, but wanted to share my first impressions.

I’ve mentioned before that I have short little T-rex arms, and couldn’t quite get the hang of wrapping the Pickle in a Moby.  I would either need my husband’s help, or I wouldn’t get it quite loose enough.  As such, I wasn’t as effective at it as I wanted to be.

What’s great about the K’Tan Breeze is that it’s easy to use for even the wrap-challenged.  It is essentially two hoops hooked in the back.  I couldn’t get a good enough picture of this, so this is available on Baby K’Tan’s website:

The two loops are crossed over your body and brought under your arms.  There are much more thorough instructions on their website, and it can be used in a variety of positions as baby grows.  I’m really excited about that, because it’s not limiting in its use like some carriers are.  Much the same as how you can get wraps in different sizes, the K’Tan has sizing that is appropriate based off of your dress and bra sizes to ensure that it fits comfortably.

The Breeze is especially exciting to me since Little is due in August – the Breeze is 50% mesh and 50% cotton, so it’s cooler and more breathable if I want to take a walk around the neighborhood while babywearing.  We can essentially use this from birth until toddlerhood, since it supports children from 8 to 35 lbs.

In short, I’m really, really excited to use this on something other than a pregnant belly.  There are a bunch of colors available, and you can even purchase carriers gently-used on their website.  I’ve been coveting the K’Tans since long before we were pregnant, so I’m pumped!  Keep an eye out here in late August/early September for a full report on how it works.

My First Crayola Safety Scissors

In preschool, the Pickle does a ton of crafts that involve cutting and pasting.  We do some at home, but I hadn’t been able to find any scissors that I really felt okay with her using even with supervision, so we had mostly focused on painting and other fine-motor skills at home.

A couple of months ago, I was at a store that rhymes with Schmarget, and found Crayola’s “My First Crayola Safety Scissors” – I couldn’t find them on their website, so here’s a link from Amazon:  LINK

The premise of these (and you get a pretty good deal for it, three pair for about $5) is that these scissors should only cut paper and cardstock – not clothes, lampshades, eyelids, or any of the numerous things that small children attempt to cut on a regular basis.  They’re made of plastic, no metal, and they’ve got rounded edges.  Hence, even stabbing motions to, say, a leather couch should theoretically not meet with any destruction.  (I should qualify that nobody in our house has actually attempted this, but I can’t see it being possible.)

Overall, these work awesome.  We did have one accidental mishap where Pickle was trying to cut something while holding it up in the air and accidentally got a tiny bit of hair (so they do cut hair), but overall they’ve been working really well.  I don’t feel like I’m abandoning her to a deathtrap if I have to turn away for five seconds to get her a new piece of construction paper. 

Additionally, they’re really a pretty great price.  For $5, you get three pairs.  This is nice if you’re having a playdate or if you have multiple children.  I figured safety scissors like this would be more expensive than normal scissors, but they’re not at all.  They haven’t broken yet despite some pretty heavy use, so they seem durable.

 

Value:  About $5 for three pair.  This, in my opinion, is a pretty great deal when a single pair of metal children’s scissors usually runs about $3.  10/10.

Child entertainment level:  This was very high for us.  The Pickle loves to cut paper into teeny little pieces more than I can even fathom.  9/10.

Practicality:  In my opinion, this was very practical.  Safe, economic, and worked well.  10/10.

BFFL Co Mommy/Delivery BFFLBag

I was lucky enough recently to get the chance to review the BFFL Co Mommy/Delivery BFFLBag (LINK).  The company has recently been covered in Time magazine, on FOXNews, Huffington Post, and more, so I was really intrigued by their product line.  There is a reason they’ve been covered – co-founder Elizabeth Chabner Thompson, MD, MPH, has a pretty remarkable story.   She completed her residency in Radiation Oncology and has a Master’s in Public Health.  She devoted her career to helping those with cancer after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer – and has even been through a prophylactic double mastectomy and breast reconstruction because of that family history of cancer (think of what Angelina Jolie recently did, and why).  Her brave decisions and personal history, combined with her medical education, have given her a unique perspective on what’s needed during a hospital stay.  Using this wealth of information and experience, BFFL Co has an entire line of recovery products for different surgeries and medical conditions – including this innovative bag for new mothers to take to the hospital.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned in my previous posts that I’m currently pregnant, and am always going to be a high-risk pregnancy.  Our first daughter was born still at just 21.5 weeks, and I was on bedrest from 13.5 weeks on with our second daughter.  I have to have a hospital bag ready to go pretty much from the start of the second trimester on forward.  However, with a precocious 3.5-year-old tearing around the house, a full-time job, and trying to make time for my wonderful husband, I don’t have a ton of time to sit down and write out lists for months on end of what needs to go into my hospital bag.  Even if I did, I’d miss something, even having been through all of this before.

So, it’s safe to say I was really excited to see this bag.  I’m sort of a natural skeptic, however, so I was positive that I’d find something that was missing or needed adding.  I can’t think of a single thing missing from this bag.  I literally think you can just put your phone charger in here and head to the hospital.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves with uncharacteristic gushing from me, I’ll explain myself.

First things first – BFFL Co includes a designer bag to hold all of the goodies inside.  Much to my delight, this is an adorable bag.  It’s a bag you would actually want to use as a gym bag or an overnight bag after you’ve recovered from emitting a baby from your body by one method or another.  Then, inside, there’s just a TON of stuff.  There’s a heart-shaped Axilla Pilla comfort pillow (good for hugging when you’re trying to ride out a contraction, or for nursing support), flip flops (so you don’t have to pick up a foot fungus along with a newborn), a skin care gift set, Bio-Oil moisturing scar and stretch mark treatment oil, some nursing pads, perineal ice packs and disposable sleeves (if you don’t know why these are included, I don’t think I should be the one to explain it), a collapsible water bottle, some nursing pads (GENIUS, because everyone forgets these and then panic when their milk comes in), and then several separated packets.  These are organized ingeniously – one is for toiletries (including dry shampoo which is especially awesome for those post-op, lip balm, nail care set, tooth care, and more), a wound care/incision pack for if you had a C-section, a packet of fun entertainment stuff (playing cards, notebook, pen, slipper socks, cards, etc.), and a pack that is filled with mesh underwear, pads, and all of that fun stuff.  I skipped over a lot of little individual items in here (ear plugs, etc.) because it literally would take an entire paragraph just to list everything, it’s so chock-full (but packed into a convenient-sized bag).  I had assumed I’d need to add some of that little stuff like lip balm (to which I’m addicted) and nail clippers, but they’re all just right there.  I guess you could add a gown if you didn’t want to wear the hospital garb, but that’s really not a necessity, and those hospital gowns have snaps specifically useful for if you plan to breastfeed.

I know I don’t usually glow this much about a product, but I just really was impressed by how complete it is.  On top of all of that, 15% of the net profits from the purchase are donated to the Harvard School of Public Health Women’s and Health Initiative.  With all of this, not only am I glad that this is going to be going to the hospital with me, but I believe this will start being my go-to shower gift.  I can’t think of a single mom or type of delivery that wouldn’t benefit from this – and there’s even some room in it to take home the diapers that you paid 5x cost for from the hospital room!

Cartoon Band-Aids

I have a love-hate relationship with cartoon characters on clothes and other items.  I don't really love them, especially on clothes that go out of the house, but they make Pickle SO happy that I will sometimes give up and just allow them.  If I can mitigate the saturation into something specific or small (a pair of snow boots, pajamas, etc.), I feel less like I'm parenting a walking Disney billboard.

I figured one fairly innocuous way to do this was to get character Band-Aids to keep around the house.  Everyone had the same idea with stocking stuffers, so we've got Band-Aids coming out our ears.  Princesses, Tinkerbell, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Monsters University, Mickey Mouse, and others - they're all living in our house.  I've tried to keep them in one spot in the house, a specific spot where all Band-Aids go that requires Mama or Daddy's help in order to access.  Not that Band-Aids are dangerous or anything, but it just seemed like a good thing to regulate.

We have literally four out of six of these boxes.

This started off great.  Band-Aids only went on valid boo-boos.  Over time, Pickle started embellishing certain injuries a little bit to try and score a sweet Band-Aid, so I'd play along on some of that.  I tried to keep the premise that these were just for when we get hurt, however.

...Until Christmas.  With all of the packages we got for Christmas, some of them got tucked around the house into hiding places.  Suddenly, all of the many, many of the toys that live in our house started getting into horrible accidents.  Luckily, these accidents didn't require stitches or anything - just five to ten Band-Aids for each animal.  This wasn't such a big deal for some of the toys, like dolls with hard faces/hands, or toys wearing clothes.  You just pull the Band-Aid off, and life is good. 

Some of the animals proved a little more problematic, however.  There were several stuffed animals with sort of fuzzy fur.  It wasn't even necessarily long fur, just fur.  Pickle didn't really discern onto what type of surface she was putting a Band-Aid, so we have about 10 stuffed animals with Hello Kitty Band-Aids stuck to them, possibly permanently.  Why, you ask?  It's almost like the Band-Aids decomposed, and so the sticky stuff is incredibly attached to the fur.  It's akin to the texture of rubber cement or sticky tack/gum.  This means that the Band-Aid rips into pieces when you try to remove it, and that you are then stuck trying to use forks, ice cubes, hair spray, and items from various other old wives' tales to try and remove the remaining Band-Aid.  In the end, the only trick that worked was extreme patience.

So, I guess the moral of this story is - Band-Aids are good for the one thing for which they are advertised.  If you have an inquisitive child, keep them locked up with the medicine and knives, or you're going to have a big mess on your hands.

Book Review - Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

So, there’s a very cool cat on the preschool circuit these days. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him – Pete the Cat. You know from the way he casually uses his nickname that he’s already oozing awesomeness – no Peter, no Pedro, no surname, just Pete. Sort of like the Madonna of cats. Or maybe Madonna is too old of a reference now, I don’t know – I guess Pete is like the Pitbull of cats.

Anyway. Pete gets in all kinds of adventures. He goes to school, he likes buttons. All activities that are very relatable to preschoolers. The story that has received a premium of attention at our house, however, is Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.

We picked this book up at Borders for about $12. With the book comes a free download of the song that is sung multiple times within the book. I highly suggest downloading the song before even endeavoring to sing the song to your preschooler, because they will immediately call you out if you sing it incorrectly. Here’s the link to the downloads: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/

After we familiarized ourselves with the song, we jumped into reading the book. The story starts with our cat friend strutting down the street wearing some awesome white tennis shoes. I think you have to just suspend your disbelief that any cat on earth would allow hard-soled shoes on their feet, but I digress. Pete walks along in these shoes, just singing about how much he loves them, when he steps in a large pile of discarded fruit. I think it’s blueberries first. The book doesn’t really clarify if the fruit is rotting, or why it’s in a pile the size of a city dump on the sidewalk, but that’s not even the really weird part. Cats are sort of fastidious and quick on their feet – I have trouble believing that a cat would not see a pile of blueberries several times bigger than he is sitting in the middle of a sidewalk. Regardless, he steps directly into the middle of this pile.

Does this anger Pete, or disturb him in the slightest that his beloved white shoes are now the color of discarded blueberries? Goodness, no! Pete is so zen that he just changes his song, now singing about how much he loves his blue shoes. I sort of picture Pete as the Dalai Lama and Johnny Depp, all rolled into one package of laid-back black cat.

Now, after this first mishap, Pete continues on his way. One would figure he’d probably be more on the lookout for giant piles of fruit. You would be wrong, however. Pete comes across a mountainous pile of strawberries. I honestly have no clue how he could not have seen this, since he would have had to scale this pile, but yet he plows into it again, further ruining his shoes. Now they’re not blue, but red. Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! He still is just the epitome of calm and collected. Once more, he just casually adjusts his song, now indicating how much he adores his red shoes.

Luckily, Pete now seems to be on the lookout for berries and fruit. We do not see him step into anymore for the remainder of the book. However, he’s not aware enough to sidestep mud, which turns his shoes brown. (Again, it’s cool, now he loves those shoes.) Then, he steps in a giant bucket of water. This water washes away all of those fabulous colors Pete had grown to love, and now he’s back to his white shoes. Luckily, Pete still doesn’t care. The moral of the story is that you apparently shouldn’t care what you step in or what life throws at you, it’s all good.

From a metaphorical standpoint, I like this. Don’t sweat the small stuff, etc., etc. These are good life lessons. However, since I’m the one who buys my particular preschooler’s rather expensive shoes, I wish we could illustrate this with another lesson rather than that it’s okay to step in crap constantly. I can’t picture this being a popular lesson at her school, either – I wouldn’t really want a classroom of 3-year-olds with stanky, messy feet because they all decided to try and see if they could turn their shoes brown. Pete’s a cat, couldn’t he just not cry over spilt milk? I mean, I don’t want her dumping out jugs of milk or anything, either, so maybe that’s not a good lesson, either. I’ll probably circle back to this when I’ve had more time to consider it.

Anti-Nausea Cocktail

I again apologize for the lateness of my blogging.  Perhaps the subject will enlighten upon why it’s been a hard winter.  Also, if any of the terms for “vomit” make you uncomfortable or queasy, you should probably stop now.

So, we got pregnant.  Which is awesomely cool and all, except that my body hates being pregnant with a fiery vengeance.  Doesn’t like to get pregnant, doesn’t like to stay pregnant, DOES seem to like to get every symptom known to womankind for the past few thousand years of recorded history.  Awesome, right?

Around 5 weeks or so, I started barfing.  At first it was usual-morning-sickness-barfing, then it got a little worse.  And a little worse.  My IVF doctor put me on the 4 mg of Zofran, an anti-emetic.  They worked for a few weeks, and then I hit 8 weeks.  All hell broke loose.  I started puking every five minutes.  On 1/16, I started vomiting around 5:00 at night, and couldn’t hold down water all night long.  By morning on 1/17, I got Pickle ready for school and sent her and my husband on their way, knowing I wasn’t going to work that day (at the very least).  I just lied on the bathroom floor for a while, then called my mom… only to puke in her ear for about five minutes because another wave of nausea hit right as soon as she picked up the phone.  I was too weak to drive myself to the doctor, so she rushed right over and got me to the doctor.

The view of a woman with hyperemesis gravidarum for several months.

The doctor spent a few minutes examining me, and decided to send me to the hospital without even taking the time to test my blood, as it had been hours and hours since I had last peed or been able to hold anything down (dehydration was pretty obvious).  The OB unit was full, so they got me checked in on the Peds unit.  I was so dehydrated that they had trouble getting that first IV in, but there I stayed for the next six days with hyperemesis gravidarum.  They first got me rehydrated, then hung IV bags with multivitamins, then got me on a fluids + IV Dramamine mixture, also taking Reglan half an hour before every meal, 8 mg of Zofran twice a day, Prilosec, Benadryl, and a few other things.  Minus the IV form of the Dramamine (still taking it orally), that is the cocktail they still have me on to try and keep the puke level at least controlled (not gone, but controlled).  All of the meds are safe for pregnancy, which is a huge relief, and are able to get me through the day.  We were also doing the regular B6, B12, Seabands, ½ of a Unisom, etc., but those things aren’t doing anything to help, so they have been discontinued.

So, what’s the point of this review?  My review of anti-nausea meds is that they are a godsend if you really need them (so, sort of a public service announcement).  So many people will cast judgment on those who have uncontrolled vomiting as “just some morning sickness,” and will preach that meds shouldn’t be used at all in pregnancy.  And in ideal circumstances, obviously we would avoid medication – but there is a point at which the mother and the unborn baby are put at risk by severe dehydration, and the rest of the family also suffers.  At that point, all of the preaching about “just eat crackers” and “you’re overreacting” are harmful.  A woman with HG has already tried crackers and everything else natural under the sun, and is at a point of desperation.