12 Weeks of Wild

My little Peeka is getting SO big! She's 12 weeks old today and can just about sit up by herself and is getting very close to standing!! I can't believe she is growing up so fast.  I love this drooly girl more than anything else in the world. I am so happy I get to be her mama.

Eating her hands is very fun.

Watching the kitties while she sits like a big girl on the couch with me.

She is flicking off the camera and sticking out her tongue. My winner.

"Mom. Just let me stand up by myself please."

"Mom! Look! I can eat my hands AND stand up at the same time."

The Bottle Wars

I am a nursing mama. I've exclusively breastfed Peeka since she was born and I plan to nurse her until she is at least a year old. I feel very lucky to have a baby who took to breastfeeding like a fish to water. She has latched on like a piranha since day one. We have never had any problems except for overproduction which was easily fixed with a change in feeding. Breastfeeding has been a breeze.

Little did I know that not all bottles are alike and not all bottles work like they claim. We went through FIVE different brands until Peeka found one she wasn't completely offended by.

Knowing I would have to return to work after my 12 weeks of maternity leave we decided to introduce Peeka to a bottle at around 3 weeks since she had been feeding wonderfully. Being a first time mom I had done so much research on which bottle was best for my baby. I found the tommee tippee Closer to Nature bottle and instantly fell in love with its fancy parts and wonderful claims. I had my heart set on this bottle and that was that.

Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature 5oz Bottle 2-Pack

So we prepared a bottle and made sure it was exactly 91F, the temperature my milk was when it was freshly expressed. I left the room like and let them have their bonding time my husband so desperately wanted. From the other room I heard Peeka screamed and screamed. My poor husband was so frazzled by this experience. She was so upset. She wanted nothing to do with a bottle and nothing to do with my husband. I decided to wait a few weeks and try again.

One day while out grabbing a few groceries I took a trip down the baby aisle and saw a bottle that made me excited.  The MAM Anti-Colic bottle.

MAM Anti-Colic Bottle Single, White, 0-6 Months

Peeka had been using the MAM pacifiers since she was in the hospital. She took to them right away. I loved them because they were cute and easy to clean. I knew this was the bottle she would use. The nipple was made from the same material as the pacifiers and was a similar shape. So when my husband came home from work we tried the bottle. She took it instantly. We were so excited. Finally, I could go out on the town with her and not have to worry about finding a place to breastfeed her. I was a new breastfeeder and still very self conscious. Now after three months I will put on my cute diy nursing poncho and feed Henly pretty much anywhere.

Life was great until Peeka wouldn't nurse anymore. She had taken two bottles of expressed milk in her lovely MAM bottle that day and that was enough for her to become a lazy eater. She didn't want to work for the letdown and screamed. Of course this was terrifying for me. My own baby didn't want to nurse. After two days of fighting her at every feed she finally began to nurse. It was a nightmare.

As my maternity leave was dwindling I started doing more research. I came across a feeding system designed for breastfed babies. Being into gadgets I had to give this a try.

Twist Breastfeeding Starter Kit

This funny looking thing is the Kiinde Twist. Shown above is the Kiinde Nipple, Feeding bag and "bottle". The feeding bags came with adapters so they hooked up to almost any pump. You pump directly into the bags, put the cap on and you were good to go! The bags even have places to write dates and ounces on. The system comes with a awesome freezer shelf system to keep your bags of milk. The nipple is really great too. Your baby has to "work" for the milk and create a vacuum to get milk out so there was very little chance of nipple confusion. The bags snap into the "bottle" and you put the nipple on and you are ready to go. I loved how easy this was for me. No bottles to wash just the nipple that comes with a great little case. I thought this was a perfect bottle to have Peeka take to daycare.

Peeka didn't share my enthusiasm. I began working two days a week so Henly wouldn't need to go to daycare. On my first day back to work my husband calls me telling me Henly wouldn't eat. I had to come home and nurse her after her 4 hour food strike. She would be okay feeding from the bottle for a little while but then she grew tired of working so hard to get any milk. It would take her a half an hour to drink 3oz. I decided to try the medium flow nipple and she still had a hard time drinking from it.  I am currently still using the Kiinde Twist Bags because they are so stinking easy to use. Baby number two is going to start to use this bottle from the beginning. Kiinde Twist is such an amazing system.

So, there goes another awesome bottle. I was running out of ideas. She had to eat from a bottle when I was at work. I didn't know what else to do. So the next day I researched my butt off and found parents who raved about the Medela Calma and the Lansinoh mOmma. The parents said these bottles where the only bottles their breastfed child would take. So, I grabbed my Babies R' Us coupons bundled up Peeka and went out in search of these "miracle" bottles.

Medela Calma Breastmilk Feeding Set, 5 Ounce

I had read about the Medela Calma and loved how the babies could choose the flow of the nipple by how hard they sucked. I also thought the shape of the nipple was great because of the way mom's nipples elongate while babies are feeding. What I loved the most was that the Calma could be used on all of my Medela bottles that came with my Medela Pump In Style pump. How could Medela go wrong with a bottle for breastfed babies? They were the masters of everything breastfeeding right?

Peeka HATED this nipple. She really really hated it. We followed Medela's steps to use the Calma to the T. She wanted nothing to do with it. The nipple was very stiff compared to other nipples we had used and I think it made latching on more difficult. When she did latch on she had a hard time figuring out how to get any milk out the this nipple. She got some out once and choked on it. A lot of milk came out very quickly because there is no "flow" to the nipple. So there went $20 down the drain.

Lansinoh mOmma Bottle with NaturalWave Nipple, 5 Ounce

My last hope was the Lansinoh mOmma. I had never thought of Lansinoh for bottles. I knew them by their pretty purple color. I had bought their breast pads before and that was the extent of my Lansinoh knowledge. I was really surprised when I read how much parents loved this bottle. Almost every review was from a parent who had tried every bottle under the Sun and had no luck until they tried the mOmma. The bottle was only $7.99 and you could print out a $2.00 coupon from Lansinoh's website. For five bucks I was going to give this bottle a try.

She chomped on the nipple a few times and started to eat! I was amazed. She drank every last drop. This bottle is amazing. It has 3 parts; the super soft, dual textured, anti-colic nipple, the ring and the bottle. No crazy parts and pieces to put together. Not to mention she would take 4 feedings from this bottle and still get excited to nurse. This bottle is husband friendly and baby approved.

Finally, after 2 months of searching, 5 different bottles, way too much money and lots of baby tears we had found a bottle!

The day(s) our lives changed forever.

My husband Joel and I got married November 1st, 2012. We went to a quaint city on Lake Michigan and got married in the courthouse. Simple. Just how we wanted.

We came back to the apartment we had shared for over a year after a week of shopping and relaxing and went on with our lives. We had discussed having kids. Well, I had told Joel that I wanted to me a mother and he told me how he didn't want kids. I had been off the pill for a few months and we had "avoided" the fertile days. We did a pretty good job. Until... We didn't.

I knew I was pregnant the moment it happened. Of course, I thought "There is no way. People try to have babies for months, even years. There is no way I could be pregnant." A few days before my period I took 2 pregnancy tests. One said "Not Pregnant" and the other one said "Error". Yes, I somehow peed on a stick incorrectly. I stared at the words "Not Pregnant" and tried to make myself believe it. I knew I was pregnant.

The next day Joel and I went out to eat to celebrate a new job and promotion he had got. It was a cold February day so I order a tall Blue Moon to brighten my day. It was the most vile thing I had ever tasted. That moment I knew I was pregnant.

So, when my period didn't come on schedule (it was a Monday) I went to the store and bought more tests. I don't know why I was so self conscious buying pregnancy tests. I was married for heavens sakes. I rushed back home and sat my butt down and peed. Within seconds I got 4 little + signs.

"Holy (bad word)! I'm pregnant!"

Joel was at work when I found out. My heart was beating a thousand times a minute. I was excited and terrified. I didn't want to call Joel while he was at work... So I sent him this very picture. Of course it didn't matter how I told him. He freaked out.

After about two weeks he got over the shock and was excited to be a dad.

I think I slept 15 hours a day until I was 12 weeks along. I also felt like I was going to puke 24/7. I puked twice the whole pregnancy.

The pregnancy was smooth sailing after the first trimester. We named the baby Little Foot so we wouldn't have to call it "It". Our baby was due 10/29/2013 and I could not wait.

We could only think of girls names and thank the goodness because

We were going to have a daughter.

As my due date grew closer and my belly grew bigger we decided to name our baby girl Henly Grace.

My due date came and went. I was hoping for a Halloween baby but Henly wanted her own day.

Maybe she'd come on our first anniversary. I felt contractions but they went away.

Then on November 6th around midnight I began to feel contractions. I thought they would go away like before. It wasn't until around 5am as Joel was getting ready for work did I realize these contractions weren't going anywhere. I let my mom know what was going on. Of course the eager beaver she is wanted me to go to the hospital right away. I wanted to wait as long as possible. I ate and took a shower. Joel and I watched the morning news. It was around 7am when the contractions were becoming very very uncomfortable. So off to the hospital we went.

By now I was 10 days over due and I was going to be induced. I was disappointed but also excited. I knew Pitocin made everything so much worse. Speed up 24 hours after induction began I still wasn't dilating. Henly's heart rate hadn't changed at all. She was content in her cozy home. I wanted to cry. I was so uncomfortable even with the epidural. Then my doctor rushed in. I remember wanting to cry I was so happy to see her. She still had her coat and purse on and told me that the other doctors had done everything they could and that we needed to do a csection.

"A C-Section?!" I thought. I hadn't even thought about having surgery my whole pregnancy. I was so unprepared. I just wanted to meet my baby.

I remember Joel being excited to put scrubs on. We were both so exhausted. Not to mention my mother had been waiting with us the whole time.

Finally at 10am we went in and at 10:23am we got to see the tiny person who had been living in my belly.

Henly Grace Hoffmaster

11/07/2013

7lbs 9oz

21.25in

10:23am

That is the face that changed me forever.