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How I weaned my 16 month old -- Cold Turkey

So, it was the day after Christmas 2015 and I'd had enough of nursing my second son.  He's 16 months and consumes solids and milk like a champion eater.  He will fall asleep when anyone else holds him or the car rocks him to sleep... but around me? He comfort nurses.  And by comfort nursing, I mean multiple times a night, giving me restless amounts of sleep and keeping a barrier between my Husband and I.  Not healthy for us, we wanted our spark & magic back after 7 years of marriage and two healthy little boys.

I tried weaning him in August when he turned 1 then again around Halloween, both times Hubby wasn't on board to assist with the night time routine.  Then, Christmas came around where he would have a full week and a half off.  Bingo! We had to get to work.

Here are the supplies I kept on hand and that I would recommend for ANY woman who is weaning -- either cold turkey or gradually and for whatever reason.  I can't believe how many naysayers I had approach me on social media about MY choice for MY son and MY body.  I am a full supporter for women to do what they feel is best for THEM.

I used: cabbage leaves (every 2 hours or until wilted -- they left a nice impression on my inflated breasts!!) then after 24 hours I realized, lavender oil helps with engorgement.  I used Young Living Lavender Oil with my plugged ducts and it provided almost instantaneous relief!!! Not to mention it smells WAY better than cabbage.  Doused a few drops right onto my skin, no other oil needed to dilute.  Then, I wrapped myself for the first 48 hours with an ace bandage only removing for SLEEP and SHOWER.  I also used frozen peas toward the end when all the milk seemed to be sitting right at my nipples -- yowch!!

Today it's now been 3 days since I last nursed and my breast swelling has decreased significantly.  I can touch them with ease (bra changing is no longer painful!) though they are still full

One Month

Corbin 1 month with Larry the Lion

36 + 6 makes baby!

Well I did it... He's here!!! Born at 6:38pm, 7lb 7oz and 19" @ 36wk + 6d in Madison, AL on Aug 5, 2014

it was a monger journey and I will gladly share it all, but its 230am and I will just share a snippet...

8/5
-1am awoke to severe back pain radiating from shoulders to lower back.
-2am nausea enters. Take zofran and tylenol. Able to nap til 5am.
-5am get up to turn off kitchen lights and go pee. Use toilet and a gush comes out. I think to myself my water broke, walk around a little and continue to leak.
-510am call nurse line, they tell me to leave right away
-630am arrive at hospital as a family. Get admitted.
-7am admitted to triage, broken water. Only 3cm, 70% effaced. Get IVs started, paperwork, blood drawn.
-10am get transferred to labor & delivery (they were swamped!)
-1030am get started on Pitocin,  IV fluids, etc. Only about 4cm
-Noon get medicine before epidural
-1pm get epidural, pain unbearable. Start to drop blood pressure. Several nurses rush in, I get very sleepy, nauseated and oxygen mask put on. After rolling me/baby our blood pressure goes to normal. Very scary!!!
-3pm get checked again, 7cm
-530pm complain of pressure. Checked and a 10... lets go!
-6pm started pushing. He was VERY high up and a slow mover. Took about 15 sets of pushes (3each), his shoulder was getting stuck. But then he came out, the push was a huge relief. I forgot how painful that all is. I don't ever want to do it again. Lol

36 Weeks

{WARNING: TMI, GRAPHIC POST}

Tomorrow marks the date I made it with Keaton. 36wk + 2. Lordy... I sure hope we can make it to 37wks. I mean that as far as physical pain. The past 4 or 5 days have been extreme constipation, I mean so painful I'd rather have been in labor -- seriously. Now I can really sympathize with my friend going through Kidney Stones. I feel like I have stones up me. I have been eating, in my opinion, a lot of fibrous foods. Just in case though, I picked up some raspberries yesterday and a bottle of Colace stool softener. I popped the max dose and some raspberries at dinner hour... feeling a bit better now, but it sure was a struggle to pass three stools. Especially a surprise one at 11pm that had me so blocked and swollen I could barely urinate!! I've felt fine since, but who knows what the day brings.

My vag walls are swollen, I have a clear mucus discharge and a yellow one... not sure if its parts of my plug or just vag discharge. It will be interesting to see how dialated I am this time due to all my pains. I definitely think she will say I am a 4... but I'll update this later when I visit her at 1030. Lets also hope its not another 2hr visit... that was miserable.

I have actually been able to sleep more.... only waking up 2-3x a night versus the previous 4-5x. But I feel a strong pulling sensation right now on the front of my pelvis and inside me. I hope his head is engaged and that we are just waiting for contractions. I walked 4hrs yesterday and got nothing.

Potty Training, School & a Baby!

Oh my goodness, school starts a week from this Tuesday, my little boy is not little anymore! I can't believe he is already going to be learning all about his ABC's, 123's and coming home with fun crafts and singing songs I won't know the words to!  I know how everyone says "it feels like yesterday..." and that saying couldn't be any more true.

I am excited to start making him little lunches, though.  I get so inspired by the ideas on Pinterest and now I can put those to use!  I just found this great website Bento USA and I have to say, if you're into the Bento Box craze like I am -- you'll love this store!  They have a flat rate shipping of $6.00 (though, this time I upgraded to the $14.99 delivery to *hopefully* get it before school starts).  Their store is very overwhelming, I recommend having at least a good half hour to browse it all.  I ended up buying 12 items for a total of $45.49 + my $14.99 upgraded shipping cost.  I can't complain!! The most expensive item was Keaton's bento boxes -- which were only $6.75/each! I tried to find them cheaper on Amazon and in fact they were about $4 more per box.  Below is a photo of a lot of the goodies I got, including sandwich/cheese cutters, food decorating picks (for grapes, strawberries, cheese), a cold pack, food dividers, and even little silicone cups for dividing food.  Many of the items were under $2.99.  We've been lucky that he hasn't been in the "my food is touching" phase, but I'm sure that is to come.

So long pull ups, you've been haunting me for the past year and I'm so glad to say good-bye to you!  We're on day 3 of no accidents with big boy underwear.  We've gone out to run errands to Home Depot, Lowe's, Dinner out and even Publix... I think our longest stretch was 3 hours out of the house, he stayed dry and peed when we got home.  He stays dry all night, too.  I am SO incredibly proud of him -- it took less than (or about) two months, he was ready awhile ago but I wanted to be 100% sure.  

HOW WE DID IT (I know I'll need to reference back to this with Corbin): We got his favorite potty seat which is available from Amazon and in Target stores on each of the toilets (powder room downstairs & his bathroom upstairs).  We have the Blue one upstairs with a matching blue step stool from Bumbo, the green one is downstairs.  He actually refers to them as "blue potty" and "green potty", too.  Downstairs he uses his old Cars potty system as a step stool --  we received this potty to test out from House Party in February and used for the early stages of training since he was toilet shy -- I don't recommend this method and would skip it in the future.  It's no fun to clean poop out of a potty seat, especially pregnant, so revolting to smell in the first place!  At first we bribed him with candy and later marshmallows (the boy loves his "mar-mellows") but we quickly developed him having tantrums when he couldn't comfortable with going.  What we started to do was PRAISE every single time he used the toilet, even if it was just a little drip drop of urine.  We taught him to flush the toilet when he's done and kept playing the Daniel Tiger episode about using the potty.  When we would be home (90% of the time) I'd keep him naked or in "big boy underwear" -- our favorite is from Carters.  He loved this underwear because the colors were similar to Daddy's underwear, so he liked to match his Daddy and be a Big Boy! (Whatever works, right??) Anyway, whenever he'd pee in his underwear we'd explain to him about it, get him clean and put him in a new pair -- NOT in diapers.  It helped that we have baby Corbin due in August who will be wearing diapers, so we even pushed the "Babies wear diapers, you're a big boy, you have underwear".  He's also starting preschool and we explained how when he goes to school full-time he'll want to wear underwear, not diapers.  He started to get the idea that babies do wear diapers and big kids are cool, they wear underwear like their daddy's.  In time I decided to just go cold turkey... we went to Home Depot on a Friday night and I told him no more diapers, he had to wear his underwear and if he needed to go pee he needs to let us know.  No problem, he stayed dry the entire time even after we got home. He slept in underwear all night, stayed dry. Peed first thing in the AM. The next day we went to Lowe's, then dinner at Steak 'n Shake and got home about 3 hours after we had left.  He was dry, didn't have to go for awhile, went on his own.  Slept dry all night.  Today we're on day 3, I'm not putting that boy in diapers ever again.  He clearly has it DOWN.  The best part is during the day he will go on his own (but not before telling us he has to go).  He lifts the lid, puts his potty seat on, scoots his stool, climbs up and goes.  Sometimes he even shuts the door for privacy before hand, a few minutes later you hear a flush and the pitter patter of feet running out.  We continue to PRAISE.  "Yay Keaton, you did it!" and he responds "Thank You" :) Such a sweet boy.  I will admit though, I don't know the last time he went poop... that has been a hurdle for us, but without diapers he eventually will need to go.  He used to go on the potty but then one day he told us it's too scary.  We'll get there, but for now I'm happy as can be!

The baby should be due "any day" (over the course of 4 weeks) now.  As long as we get past July 29th I can deliver at Madison Hospital... yay!  That's just TWO days away.  I've been having a ton of pressure 'down there' including inner and outer thighs.  He still wiggles around and gets into the oddest, most uncomfortable, shape shifting positions ever.  I'm supposed to be on a Low Carb/No Sugar diet but let's be honest... it's summer, it's hot as heck (100's today!) and I am 9 months pregnant.  Do you know how hard that is to be on a doctor recommended diet?  I did splurge yesterday, but am making up for it all this week by eating extremely clean.  I will probably try to eat clean the rest of pregnancy and after.  Stocking up on essentials like LaraBar's, Coconut Oil, Chia Seeds, Almonds and more.  Shakeology will be my breakfast staple on the way to pre-school everyday.  I think I am going to try and cut coffee out for awhile, focus on natural foods for energy including fruits, egg's and yogurt. I'm trying to really follow Weight Watchers & Hungry Girl, I need to just buckle down and create a meal plan for at least two weeks for post-partum so Ryan can do the shopping without the added stress.  We both don't know what we're in for, just like when we had Keaton.  But together I know we can do it.  It'll be fun, another adventure that in three years we'll wonder where the time went. 

35 weeks!!

I only have one more week to meet my goal for the hospital of choice. I have been SO thirsty. Sleeping miserably (combined 5hrs tops). I developed a canker sore for the first time in years (I read this is common in pregnancy?) & despite good care, my gums have started swelling, ugh. I have been having SHARP, I mean excruciating stabbing pains in my cervix -- dilation perhaps??

I've noticed my hand swelling around my ring fingers have decreased significantly... perhaps from the lack of sugars I've consumed??? I have also LOST weight, I assume from all the bathroom trips lately. Last night I had to empty a FULL bladder 5 times in 1.5hrs, oh my word. Lol.

Clean eating has been really hard, but I've been following the Weight Watchers point system... I am allowed 34pts a day (41 when I begin breastfeeding). I am also stopping by the store today to replenish some groceries, I've been obsessed hardcore with feta/green grape/grape tomato salads with a splash of balsamic vinegar. So amazing. I added watermelon to it yesterday. A sinfully delicious treat! :)

I've also found comfort in yoplait light yogurt, progresso light canned soups, broccoli slaw salad (steamed with goat cheese tastes like pasta!). I love apples and peanut butter, mozzarella string cheese and blueberries. This reminds me I need to place an order for nuts and dried fruit to make my on the go snacks when nursing. I'm making zuchinni boats tonight as a potato skins swap. And stuffed portobello mushrooms as mock pizza. The boys will get actual pizza though.

I am thankful for knowledge with Hungry Girl and access to all the WW groups and recipes. It's also helpful that I have an amazing support system, though we don't talk daily I know they have my back! :)