Hospital Week, mostly in pictures

So last week I had to be admitted to the hospital, and stay for six nights and six days. I am not feeling well today, so all the details I'll get to later. For now I have a few pictures to share.

I half don't want to post this one because of how scary pale I look, but I think it is at least a good representation of how drastic the transformation can be after a blood transfusion (or three)!

On the way to my doctor's appointment, knowing I would probably get admitted to the hospital. I was not feeling so good... It is hard to catch me not smiling, but this was one of those rare times I just couldn't. I. Was. Miserable.

Hanging out in the ER. After we arrived to admitting, the triage nurse called an "all staff" to my room over the intercom. Three nurses were already in there when they wheeled me in. They helped me into a gown and then two nurses worked at the same time putting an IV in each arm. Then they started major fluid infusions.

Thursday, Hubs and I took a brief, slowwww walk down the hall of my unit, and noticed there was a certain odor in the air. I started dreaming of the spring hyacinths I smelled outside the clinic the week before, and how delicious they smelled, and wished I had some to put by my bedside.

Not two hours later, a flower arrangement showed up at my room.

They were beautiful and smelled just delightful - particularly the hyacinths. :)

Thank you my dear Sara friend.

Four days and six blood units later...

...my beautiful and faithful friends Traci and Sarah (who live five hours away by car) visited me! They happened to be in town for an event and came by the hospital on their way home. What a BLESSING!

Sunday was a good day. It was sunny outside and so bright in my room because of that. My usually serious and occasionally outright grumpy doctor came by and was chipper and even smiled! I had major relief from the pain in my legs that kept bothering me. A visit from some incredible church family, and my baby girl came to see me!

Here I am Sunday night...

...taking my last dose of Tacrolimus!

I am now taking Cyclosporine for transplant anti-rejection purposes instead. It may put my UC into remission too, according to some new research. Here's hoping!!!

It was hard to be away from my sweet girl and my home for a whole week, under the circumstances. I am praying that the tests and changes we made because of the long stay will be fruitful continually in the next weeks and months. I have two new doctors, and they are amazing, and I was finally able to catch up with my liver doctor while there as well. I have a great team working together to help me the best they can.

If you feel led, pray for my doctors, that they would hear and receive treasures of wisdom and knowledge from above, ideas and answers they never thought of before, for great treatment and even getting me completely well again!

So I have been home since Tuesday night. It has not been an easy transition, and I am not feeling too well, which has been so frustrating. Dealing with pain almost 24/7 is so exhausting, and looking into the mirror seeing a pale, exhausted girl staring back is discouraging. I am so thankful I know how to pinpoint those negative thoughts in my mind and boot them out. It is a constant battle in these shoes, but I am determined to win!

I will try to post again before too much time passes, to update on everything. I have five doctor appointments in four days this week. FIVE! Not looking forward to that, especially because one is going to involve some really serious "real talk" about my options and what may need to happen. But that's really nothing new for me. 

God before me, Jesus within me, Holy Spirit surrounding me, I can do it!

thanks for checking in on me. :)

Update: A New Autoimmune Disease

My platelet count was re-checked today, and they were at 8,000. For a refresher, last Monday they were 10,000 and Friday they were 18,000. Mistakenly, we thought that the 18,000 mark was a sign that they had "doubled," and were on the rise. Turns out that that is also a terribly low number, and once you're that low they bounce around in the neighborhood of eight to twenty thousand, depending on the hour of the day they draw the lab. (Wish I would've known that last Friday, ha!)

So after speaking with my doc, the good news to share is that still and again, my bone marrow looks very healthy (woohoo!). There are no problems and no issues with it, my body is making it just like it should, and that is all well and dandy. The bad news is that this low platelet thing is not because of anything else (bone marrow issue, lingering virus), but a new autoimmune disease: ITP. Idiopathic or Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. As my doc explained, it used to be called "idiopathic," as in, "We don't know the cause." Nowadays it is considered an autoimmune disease - the body attacking itself. When I asked if it was indeed ITP that I have, and he explained that history, I laughed and said, "Well at least they blame it on the body now, instead of saying, 'it's all in your head!'" That's good I guess :)

I explained that possibility in my last post. Not much more to say about it, other than I am going to investigate around my Paleo sphere and see if anyone out there doing Paleo AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) has this too!

I will get a call from the infusion center tomorrow, about starting the treatment for this: a weekly shot of Romiplostim. It will stimulate my body to make more platelets, so that even with my spleen destroying a bunch through confusion in my immune system, there will be enough platelets to have a healthy, clotting blood and not at risk for hemorrhaging and such. That's a good thing!
They would not normally proceed to this step right away, because the traditional treatment is to remove the spleen. But they do not like to do that in people with liver disease (such as myself). The spleen's function is so important, especially with a compromised liver, so I appreciate and understand that. I have been such a pincushion lately, I am grateful I do not have to undergo a major surgery right now :)

I'm certainly not looking forward to these shots, and haven't even begun to consider how we'll afford the bills - ah, patented Rx drugs, how expensive you are... and just when Hubs and I are starting to plan our first vacation ever.
But I am looking at this as a temporary set back. It is so important to keep that mindset in the tough times of life - battles are temporary, rough patches are just seasons. We must never forget that we have the victory through Christ, and God always has our best in mind. This is just a chapter; this is not the end of my story!

Jesus has a purpose for me, and for this chapter - just like all the chapters each one of us walks through in life.


So many of you are praying and believing with me - thank you for that! Here is the most specific thing you cam agree with me on: that my immune system will be healed, and begin to function the perfect way it was created to function - fighting off the bad, and leaving my body (the good!) alone! It is amazing that the confusion and "misfiring" in my immune system is the root of ALL (yep - ALL!) my health issues. My immune system set up attack on my colon (ulcerative colitis), my bile ducts in my liver (primary sclerosing cholangitis), my joints (polyenthesitis), food and other things in my blood (leaky gut, allergies, intolerances, asthma). When my immune system in healthy and whole again, I will be a new woman!

Thank You God for abundant life, no matter what the situation looks like - John 10:10.
Thank You for giving me the power to choose my response, and the grace to choose JOY today  :)


And thank you to my beautiful friend Emily, for reminding me of this truth:

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
-2 Corinthians 4:17

Post-Bone Marrow Biopsy Check-In, and Humbled Gratitude

Hello! I wanted to check in and let you all know how I am doing post-bone marrow biopsy. As of right now, I'm feeling well! The biopsy was kind of interesting... I got all ready and my IV in upstairs, then they wheeled me down a floor to the area where they do lung scopes, because they have the means to use sedation in that area. Once we were in the procedure room, the nurse got me ready - sticky things onto my chest for the heart and respiration monitor, getting me onto my stomach and keeping the cords untangled, etc. They let Hubs walk me down there, and he ended up staying the whole time. I told them he could wait in the corner (ha) but they let him stay right up by me and hold my hand throughout the procedure. It was pretty mild as procedures go: clean the area, stick some needles in to "numb" it, make a little incision for the bigger needles, stick in the bigger needles, get syringes of fluid, and again needles in, bottle up the samples and send them off to the lab. (This is the run-down that Hubs gave me.) The process was simple. What wasn't so simple was the fact that the doctor was going into my bone - my pelvic bone in my back, to be exact, in between my left hip and spine. Hubs said that at one point the doctor was tapping, tapping, tapping (kind of like hammering) to get into the bone for the samples. ::Shudder much?::

I am told that I was dozing for just the first minute or so. As soon as the needle for lidocaine went in, I cringed and said, "Ouch!" They had to keep going with that, and I repeated my cringing, flinching and "ouch"-ing. Then when the real needles started, I really yelped and was saying, "That hurts!" and crying. That all went on until they finished. :(
I'm glad I don't really remember that, although I have a weird dream-like deja-vu memory of it, and I woke up in recovery crying. (SO strange to me that I have no recollection of getting off the table and into the stretcher to be wheeled back upstairs - but Hubs said I was 'awake' and did it myself. Trippy!)
My poor doctor, he called me twice -later that evening and the next afternoon- to see if I remembered and how I was doing. I think he felt really bad. He is really compassionate; the nurse told me that most of the hematologists don't give their patients anything for this procedure. I have to give that a big, "OMG - are they crazy?! I wonder how they get any samples?!"

Recovery was simple, except it took me a long time to get the drugs out of my system. We got to go home within the hour after the procedure, but I took almost a two hour nap once I was at home, and stayed groggy all night. I was bummed that they gave me more sleepy juice when I was yelping, because it clearly didn't work quickly enough to inhibit the pain or my reactions, but it stayed with me all night. Icky stuff, but a blessing to have, too.

My doctor called that evening to say that a quick look at the bone marrow show it looks "quite healthy" (yahoo!!) and so in that case, he's going ahead with his hunch (after putting all the pieces of my recent and past health history together, which he did quite thoroughly in our pre-biopsy consult), that it is my immune system destroying platelets, something like the condition ITP. So he prescribed me a four day Rx of Dexamethasone, which is like a super-Prednisone steroid drug, to hopefully get my immune system to calm down. It was very interesting learning that this condition affects a lot of young women that he sees in his Hematology practice, and that often it can happen after a viral infection - your immune system is working hard to fight the virus, and it can "misfire" and start destroying platelets along with viral cells. Fascinating, and totally fits with Emily's immune health nonsense, right? (Haha.) Have I mentioned I would like a new immune system for Christmas? :)
On the positive, of course, there are too many things to list, but one huge one is that I'm grateful for an immune system that works overtime, instead of not enough!

So I'm on day three of the Dexamethasone, almost done, and it's not bad. I even get to continue breastfeeding for most of the day, I just pump in the mid-day when the dose is highest in my body and feed Vicky at bedtime and in the morning. She is so in love with nursing, still, it is so sweet, and I'm grateful I didn't have to take something that would have been incompatible with nursing. Weaning her abruptly would be traumatic. Another thing to thank God about! (By the way, I did check with my friend who is a brilliant pharmacist, and also with Vicky's pediatrician. Always good to make sure about these things rather than not informing yourself of any risks.)

One more thing about the biopsy:
My doctor is awesome - I asked him at the end of the consult if we could not do the biopsy if my platelets had gone back up to normal (they would draw a sample to test once I got my IV in), and he said sure, without even looking at me funny. I think he sees people with some faith occasionally :)  The gals from the lab came in to the procedure room right after my doctor, with their special sample-gathering equipment, and delivered the news on my platelets: they were down to 10,000 - that or below that is considered "critical." Yikes! My doctor looked at me and said, "It's good we're doing this then, just in case," and I agreed.

Tomorrow we re-check my platelet count. I am believing it will be back to normal! The exciting thing about this condition is that after this short treatment, it can disappear (or go into remission) FOREVER. Please agree with me in prayer for that outcome!

Speaking of prayer: Wow, I have been so humbled by the prayers of my Christ-following friends and my church family - my strongest teammates in life! They (some of you reading this!) are lifting me up to the Lord in mighty prayers, and I want to say thank you again! I really felt it yesterday in my body! Yesterday I woke up with NO MORE PAIN at the biopsy sight. It didn't hurt all day, until I was running through a parking lot pushing Vicky in her stroller and it just ached like a little bruise for a second (yes, I was running and pushing the stroller, and we were both laughing our heads off! It was the best!)
But back to what I was saying - I'm so thankful for a church that is family; just like God designed it to be. I am grateful for so many believing with us that my healing is on its way. I'm so thankful that God placed Hubs and I in our city four years ago this month, where we knew no one, and drew us into an incredible church where we knew not one person but each other, but knew right away that it was HOME.
I would be a messy mess without my church, without the wisdom, encouragement, and sense of belonging and purpose I receive from being a part of that house. And I am so, so grateful that somehow, although I feel like I don't contribute a thing compared to what I'd love to contribute since my health really took a turn, somehow our little family has been endeared to so many special people, and somehow it seems God makes our hearts and love and commitment to our church shine through even if we're absent more than we'd like, and not able to serve as much as we want to serve.

What a gift to know I am loved and not looked down upon one bit, and that so many of my teammates just want to see me whole and well again - BETTER than before. That reminds me of the heart of Jesus. I love you, my Champions Centre family!

A Little Surgery and a Lot of Faith

So, I had a little surgery on Friday. It was ambulatory surgery, which meant I got to go home about an hour or so after the doctor stitched me up. I had a lymph node on my neck swell to a noticeable size a few weeks ago, and when I was in for my annual liver check up last week, my ARNP thought it would be wise to have it looked at and biopsied by an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT). A "biopsy" turned into an "excision" (by the way, before this week I never knew that word existed, and I hate it!) in which they removed the whole thing so there would be more for pathology to study.

The medical experts looking after me are taking precautionary measures because a lymph node sticking around without any recent obvious infection or sickness is concerning, especially in transplant patients, who can have a higher rate of developing lymphomas because of the years of suppressing the immune system with medication to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted organ.

The surgery was fine, I didn't even go to sleep (my choice), I just got a little bit of relaxation juice and they numbed the area locally. There was an exciting moment in which my surgeon (ENT specialist) had to move my nerve connecting my neck to my back shoulder muscles out of the way to remove the lymph node. He'd brought up that scenario as a rare possibility/risk of the surgery during our consult, and it was interesting that I ended up being one of the few people having that interesting (and challenging, for him) quirk in my anatomy! He got my attention when that happened, reminded me what he'd said in the consultation, and then let me know within that same minute when he'd moved my nerve out of the way. Riveting, right?!
I enjoy being semi-involved in the medical procedures I go through; it's fun to be able to speak to the team and ask questions, and also answer questions, and learn about what they are doing. I suppose not everyone feels that way about surgery, however, so thank God for general anesthesia for those who want it :)

The surgery took less than an hour in the OR. They stitched me up and sent off the lymph node to the lab where they will test it not just for lymphomas but also bacteria and fungus. What an interesting job that guy has that came to pick it up - transporting specimens. I wonder if he knows what he is transporting each day??
Anyway, then I went to recovery, and after I took a little snooze I asked my nurse for ice water and got a little cup of it. (Not eating for twelve plus hours gets easier with time - not drinking ANYTHING, especially when nursing and being a thirsty person anyway, is no fun!) When Hubs finally got to come back to the recovery area, he brought me my treat of choice, and possibly my new favorite thing: Ginger Root Beer Zevia and a nurse filled my water bottle with ice and I got to sip on Zevia and eat a pear.

Here I am in recovery, feeling less groggy and ready for my beverage and snack:

We stopped at Chipotle on the way home, where Hubs picked up a steak bowl for me - gluten free with extra rice, no beans, no salsa (boo nightshades!) and of course no cheese or sour cream.
Once we got home, per the information given me by anesthesiologist and the nurse anesthetist, I fed Victory as soon as she was hungry. The meds they gave me for the surgery were not concerning or requiring me to pump and dump, and we never saw any effects in Victory to show they got through the breastmilk.

This whole string of events happened very quickly, starting with my liver appointment on Tuesday, seeing an ENT that afternoon, having a CT scan of my neck Thursday and the surgery by another ENT on Friday.
It was a bit surreal to experience it all, to be sent from one appointment to the next, and have that concerned look from doctors and the word "lymphoma" keep getting thrown around.
But I got my bearings and "put my big-girl panties on" as my pastor's wife would say, and realized I just have to do what I have to do. I'm definitely growing in my faith, because I haven't fallen apart into hysterics or a blubbering puddle once! (No shame in that of course, I've done plenty of that over the years!)  I have had a peace that surpasses my understanding this whole week, and I thank God for providing me with that. It's truly been a Philippians 4 peace. I love the way The Message describes it:

"Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

I have been speaking health and wholeness over my body and trusting that Jesus' work on the cross has already provided for my healing of anything that would try to take root in my body. It is more faith testing and more character building for me, and that is exciting in a way because I know that means God has greater purposes for me ahead.

Speaking the Word over my body and my life is not something I always knew about, and practicing it the past few years has changed my life. I highly recommend it for every day, but especially when you are sick or getting medical testing done or walking through a fire of another sort. Nothing happens to you that God doesn't know about, so trust Him and keep your confidence in His promises, and speak and repeat them over yourself. There is power and life in our words (Proverbs 18:21)!

• By His wounds I am healed!  (Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24)
• NO weapon formed against me or my body will prosper! (Isaiah 54:17)
• God has good plans and a secure hope for me (Jeremiah 29:11)
• I have a hope that is an anchor to my soul (Hebrews 6:19)
• "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:2)
• "For I WILL restore health to you, and your wounds I WILL heal!" (Jeremiah 30:17)

I am still sore around the incision, and OH SO itchy! I did not remember from my transplant so long ago that stitches itch like mad!!! My stitches have Steri-strips on top of them as well, so the corners of those poke the soft skin on my neck and it is just one irritating good time, haha! Thankfully the pain is better each day, I hardly had to ice my incision today. And I got the OK to shower tonight!

That reminds me, not being able to bathe for three days I ventured into the world of "dry shampoo" this weekend. I found a gem in the most affordable one out there: Suave Dry Shampoo Spray. I bought a can of it on Sunday morning before church and Hubs helped me spray it into my hair and I rubbed it in. It worked so well, my hair looked smooth and healthy but not too shiny, and it even made my natural color look prettier than usual. That was a great find.

The testing on my lymph node is expected to take until at least Wednesday to come back. It sounds weird to say but, in this context, we are obviously rooting for something like an infection to be the root cause here, because it's simple and treatable with antibiotics. We are praying and hoping for the best, and I am so grateful to say I'm not even playing the terrible "what if" game anymore.

I will update when we hear more.

I'll wrap up this post with this from Matthew 6. I have it written on my wall to read often:

"First, be concerned about your Father's kingdom and what has His approval. Then, all the things you need will be provided for you. So don't ever worry about tomorrow - after all, tomorrow will worry about itself."

"Diet" Labels, What's Up with Me, and the Bottom Line Goal: Health!

Truth be told, the longer I follow this "Paleo" way of eating, the more I think about my blog, recipes, and life being stuck with a label. And that bugs me. I don't want to be labelled or stuck in a box - by myself or by anyone else. As my profile says, I am on a journey to reclaim my health by eating the foods I'm truly meant to eat. Whatever label popular culture may choose for how I eat, my simple aim remains: to cook and eat real, nourishing, healing food. I think the tendency to need to label everything is a sign of our society's food insecurities and the confusion surrounding what is truly good for us. For instance, as children, most of my generation was taught, "MILK- It does a body good," and these days whole wheat breads and pastas are touted as full of nutritious wonders and the key to a flat belly.
But I bet you know at least one person in your world who has discovered that they are gluten intolerant, or feeling better not eating dairy, or encountered some other food lightbulb experience, and this puts the FDA guidelines - that tendency to push a "one size fits all" diet on every American - to suspicion.


Personally, I tend to go to extremes with things, specifically when I hear about diets that have 'cured' people of their autoimmune disease. I get so excited! About the possibility of being well without medications, and empowered by the information and personal stories of recovery. But (after living and learning a bit) I recognize that extremism is not a healthy way of living. For one thing, it puts the entire burden of failure or success solely on your own shoulders when you are your own coach and critic. Especially with dietary changes, I am learning that everything is not black and white. I am learning that we have to listen to our bodies and consider that we each have our own unique sets of genetic material wired just so, to make us who we are. So what works for your BFF/trainer/blogging idol may not work for you. And... that is okay.

Wouldn't it be easier if I could just follow a black and white plan straight from the pages of a book? Heck yes, and I daily wish that would work for me! (For the record, I'd choose this book or this book.) I believe that food changes alone work for many people, to bring about needed weight loss, relief of joint pain, slow aging, recover energy, and so on. There are testimonies like that all over the net. But throw the factors of a leaky gut, autoimmune disease, food intolerances and chronically damaged and inflamed tissue into the mix (yeah, that's me), and it becomes quite a large Clydesdale horse of a different color...


I am very passionate about making dietary changes before turning to drug treatments that have potential adverse consequences. So when I see someone struggling with disease, I usually think, "I wonder if they've tried changing their diet... if they've tried 'going Paleo'... if they've tried..." This is because changing my own diet has helped me - specifically eliminating gluten, dairy, eggs and soy because my body is intolerant to them, and recently grains and legumes as well, because I have learned by trial and error that my guts do immensely better without them. Once I read about the damage that grains, legumes and dairy do to your guts, it was easy for me to let them go. This is the main reason our family has "gone Paleo." The two special people I live with have great health, and we want it to stay that way!  :)


On the other end of that, however, I have still not reclaimed my health. I am still waiting to find my own personal "perfect diet." I would like to say that kicking the SAD (Standard American Diet) to the curb has cured my Ulcerative Colitis and other junk. But it has not [yet...?]. In fact, this week has been so tough that I'm considering calling my GI doc and giving Prednisone another try if he thinks it will help. Because feeling like garbage is no way to live, and there are times when modern medicine needs to embraced as a gift of modern life, just like cell phones and the internet. [About the internet: Where would all of us blogging about special diets and diseases be without it?! Much more isolated and hopeless, I propose.] I really like my new GI doctor and it wouldn't be a negative experience to go see him. I'm trying to teach myself that even if I don't want to go on new meds, if something changes in my condition I should keep my doctors filled in on how I'm doing and at least see what my options are.


I'm also re-reading Breaking the Vicious Cycle and trying to muster the drive to re-try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). I tried it  two years ago, and it helped to some degree. I stopped it before I knew that I was intolerant to dairy and eggs, so odds are it will go much better this time around, knowing that! I don't ever choose drugs first off; I always try to find another route.

Speaking of helping ourselves by making lifestyle and dietary changes, I came across this piece today, by Kurt Harris MD. I highly suggest you read it! I love his gentle but encouraging suggestion for his twelve steps: "Go as far down the list as you can in whatever time frame you can manage. The further along the list you stop, the healthier you are likely to be. Earlier steps, in my clinical experience, will give more bang for the buck."
Personally I am working on the very first step - SLEEP. Easier said than done for anyone, whether you've got a new baby at home or just love a busy life or get stuck on your to-do list so much that sleep takes a back seat!


If you've read this far without moving on to something else, thank you! I'll wrap it up. So all the aforementioned rambling to say, I don't want to hang onto a Paleo label at the expense of reaching someone with the potential of real, nutritious food. I don't want to come across as 'another diet extremist' and scare people off. I want to keep blogging because I hope - like so many blogs I've come across in my journey - that my sharing is encouraging and helping someone out there.
But just know, whoever you are my readers, that when I say "I love eating Paleo"  it's not to belong to some superior food-obsessed clique.  I think that the heart of the Paleo/Primal/Ancestral/Nourishing Traditions food movement is to embrace life at its fullest by embracing the foods that God put on the earth and meant for us to eat. Real, whole, unprocessed, unrefined, colorful, rich, nourishing, hope-filled foods.
On that note, I am going to keep my "Paleo" label for recipes because it simplifies things for my own organization. I know that when I've labelled a recipe "Paleo," it does not have gluten, grains, dairy, casein, soy... the big ones. But it is not an exclusive or inclusive label, because there are several interpretations of what constitutes "Paleo."

Six Month BFing Milestone

This post isn't particularly related to food. Well, not adult food...

Yesterday my family reached a special milestone. Yesterday my baby girl turned six months old, and with the celebration of her life and health thus far, we also recognized six months of exclusive breastfeeding.
We did it! We made it to six months! It feels amazing to come this far and look at my daughter and see all the growing she's done, and her adorable chub and rolls, and know that it is from the milk that I have been able to give her!

I am thrilled to be a post liver transplant patient that pushed past the assumption that I couldn't breastfeed because of my anti-rejection meds. I did the research and found that it is a false assumption! For more info on that, read my post Medications & Breastfeeding. Also, check out the LactMed Drug & Lactation Database where you can look up your medications for any contraindications with nursing.

I believe that a key part of our success in breastfeeding has been my attitude about it. I was proactive during my pregnancy, I educated myself, committed to it 110%, surrounded myself with supportive people, and came up with a few back up plans. A healthy dose of prayer went toward this subject during my pregnancy, as well!

If you are a transplant patient or UC/IBD/autoimmune disease gal like me, or simply interested in nursing your baby, please feel free to ask about my experience. I'd love to share and help you any way I can with my (admittedly limited, yet so far successful) experience. As a woman who was embarrassed by seeing mothers nursing in public just a year ago, and being an adopted kiddo that never was breastfed myself, I love that breastfeeding is now one of my biggest passions!  :)

I thought I'd share a few resources that have helped me thus far, and then a list of my favorite nursing accessories:

Great Resources

Kelly Mom - This website is AMAZING for answering questions, looking for specific information, learning about new stages in breastfeeding, and so much more. We looked up a few issues in the first few days at home, and found reassurance and answers.

The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers - I found this at the used book store, and if a bit extreme at times, it is a great source of information to read during your pregnancy. It prepares you well. I felt it wasn't much use to me after our initial stage of learning, because after the basics it moves into covering complications and challenges which didn't apply to us. I also learned some of the material in our breastfeeding class (which I highly recommend taking as another resource!).

LactMed - As I mentioned above, it is a great resource for looking up your medications. If you have to go in for any medical procedures while you're nursing, find out what they plan to give you for anesthesia or pain, and look it up ahead of time. I had to do this a few weeks ago. I learned that I would need to "pump and dump" until the med cleared from my system, so I saved milk for bottles ahead of time

Some of my favorite breastfeeding accessories:

Avent breast pumps - I'm convinced these are the best designed and easiest to clean (and most sanitary!) breast pumps out there. Bonus: They are more affordable than the brands often suggested by hospitals and baby registry consultants. When my milk came in just 24 hours after I had Baby V, my post partum nurse suggested (several times) that we pick up the manual Avent pump on our way home from the hospital. I was fortunate to have the use of my good friend's Avent Double Electric pump for several months, and it was invaluable with my abundant supply. Thanks to this pump I had a rotating month to two month's supply in my freezer for the first three months, and a lot better (drier) sleep at night! Now I own the Avent Manual single pump, and it works great. I used it recently on a road trip and it worked great - super compact and portable with the insulated carrying bag. I highly recommend either one of those pumps to all my mommy friends.

The First Years Breastflow bottles - These bottles were suggested by the lactation educator that taught our breastfeeding class, because of their unique design much closer to actual breastfeeding than other bottles. It makes Baby work harder at getting the milk, more like the real thing, so it reduces the chance of "nipple confusion" and similar problems. We introduced an occasional bottle at six weeks with one of these, and had no problems. We moved up to the Stage 2 nipple after a few months, and that worked well too.

Nursing cover - You can pick these up at Target, Babies R Us, Amazon... But I'm old fashioned and prefer the DIY versions of most things, so I asked my mom to sew me one. My cover is made of fabric I picked out for the nursery and never used. It is a heavier weight and better quality than the covers sold in stores, being it was on the "decorator fabric" aisle at JoAnn's. I love it! With a cover I am more comfortable nursing in public because I feel I am respecting other peoples' space and comfort level (and I stay warmer since it's winter!). If you know sewing, see Simplicity pattern #2165. But even a beginning seamstress with the most basic skills can take on a simple nursing cover. Just sew a big rectangle and tack stitch on a ribbon; it will work!


Now that we've reached the six month milestone, it's time to introduce Victory to solids. Stay tuned for occasional posts about our adventures in baby led solids and homemade Paleo baby food. I am enjoying reading about Baby Led Weaning and we're approaching solids from that perspective. It's going to be fun :)
Any Paleo or BLW/BLS or homemade baby food making moms out there, feel free to give me your pointers and tips...

Medications & Breastfeeding

I am getting prepared for our upcoming pediatrician interviews. Our main criteria for a pediatrician was one that limits use of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary (for obvious reasons if you're informed about over-use of antibiotics and the consequences in this generation). We also want a ped that is supportive of our decision to breastfeed. Yep, "our decision;" Hubs is adamant that we breastfeed BG. The benefits of it can't be denied (especially with all the auto-immune junk in my genes), and he's supporting me any way he can. I'm thankful for that! Last week I read that spousal support for breastfeeding makes the difference in whether you'll succeed.

Anyway, today I'm gathering and printing out the little literature on breastfeeding while also taking the medications I am on (tacrolimus and mesalamine), to bring to the interviews and show the peds that it is in fact not determined to be harmful. One of my OB nurses recommended we do this. We hope that by presenting this info to the doctors first off, they will be more likely to fully support our decision to breastfeed BG.

This is a great little article on Breastfeeding and Tacrolimus, which I'm on for life so I don't reject my transplanted liver. I'm going to highlight it like crazy and hand it over to the ped: Tacrolimus use while Breastfeeding. It basically says that the absorption is so low, hardly any Tacro gets passed on to the little one, and when they've done studies on development and immune systems of babies who've had breastmilk from a woman taking Tacro, there weren't any contraindications. {Hurray!!!}

This is an article that focuses more on Tacrolimus' effects on a fetus during pregnancy: Tacrolimus Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Warnings I have to say, I think the worst case scenarios are probably in the pregnancies where they are taking the highest listed 64 mg of Tacro a day - yikes!
I've been on just 5 mg per day for over a year, and they raised it to 6 mg per day in my second trimester. Every growth scan and measurement we've had of BG has shown her to be healthy, growing, gaining weight, and developing perfectly, including and especially her incredible strong little heart! We are blessed and thankful for this, and believe she'll just continue to NOT fit in the box that the medical community would try to put her in because of my health history and the meds I have to take.

I'm very encouraged that in each case of breastfeeding that these two articles mention, things turned out positively; there was not a significant amount of Tacro detected in the babies' bodies, and the children are developing well!

Here is one more article I'm printing out because I also have Ulcerative Colitis, and for that I take Apriso, a mesalamine formulation - it's just like Asacol, a more common med which I used to take, but with Apriso I only take four capsules a day instead of sixteen. Mesalamine use while Breastfeeding. This one is much more "accepted" by the medical community for pregnancy and breastfeeding. I can't say that taking it has helped much during the pregnancy, as I've had active disease the whole time, and increasingly bad flares for the past few weeks :( But, I would never consider stopping it, because that could cause a situation even worse and more difficult to get under control.

Well, we're one step closer to our upcoming journey into parenthood! Next step: Pediatrician interviews :)