Postpartum with Ruth

very sleepy... zzzz

Ruth, 3 days old

I'm pretty sure I have one of the best husband's EVER! He's been so incredibly supportive and helping so much with nighttime chaos of a newborn. I swear every newborn's fussy time is between midnight and 4am! ugh!! But, with some tag-teaming, we are getting the job done so far and every night is one little tiny step closer to getting a more content infant and getting a little bit more sleep.

I've already hit some "woes" to my nursing her. Everything was going great and I got through the engorgement phase and just like last time, my milk took a plummet in supply once the engorgement phase was done. So quickly, I was on "cloud 9" with her nursing so well and me having milk, and then all of the sudden... almost nothing. Hungry baby. Fussy baby. Dehydrated baby... and then... the supplements start. So I've been nursing AND giving a bottle with each feeding, so I make sure she's getting all that she needs.

There's my nice version of that scenario.... er... the less raw version...

Raw version? oh, alright.. well I spent Sunday and Monday is tears all day long, pitying myself, once again that my body hates me and is stupid. I began the grieving process of trying to accept that I may not be able to keep nursing this one too. You wouldn't think that I nursed all 3 of my first babies... 4th was out of my control, but 5th AND 6th??? All of the sudden... Kailan can't nurse? Seriously? I don't want to die, but I want to kill my body... that's how mad I am at my body... or should I say that's how mad I am at my boobs! Frustration is not even a strong enough word.

Anyway... with the help of family and friends reminding me what truly matters, I was able to get a grip on myself a little. I need to remember that even if I can't nurse, I am thankful there's other ways to get her nutrition. That even if I can't nurse, it doesn't mean I'm a bad mom or that this is reflection on my mothering. I tried and am trying! But I can't die on this hill, when the more important part about being a mom is making sure that my babies get fed; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

So... needless to say.. I've come a long way in 3 days. I got depressed, but I'm trying to rise above it and know that everything is going to be alright.

So Ruth is about a week and a half old. And I need to remember my own advice to moms and say, "The first month sucks!" So... I'm going to keep up the good fight, but remember that the goal is to get this baby fat!

Ruth, 6 days old

Ruth, 12 days old. Eve, 6 years old. :) 

 

You Did What With Your Placenta???

That's right... I did something with that lovely piece of gold. As soon as that placenta was out of me, I went ahead and took a big huge bite at that sweet gushy-ness and ate it.

Just kidding..... ew. I had my placenta encapsulated.

Why? Because... well... I didn't want to cook it up and eat it... so to save myself the gore of said dinner, I decided that encapsulation was my best option to reap the wonderful hormone benefits of getting that placenta consumed.

Why consume it? What are the benefits, you ask? Let me quote Pleasant Postpartums site information: (www.pleasantpostpartums.com)
"Placenta consumption allows you to have a pleasant postpartum by: 
-Gently weaning off your pregnancy hormones
-Avoiding the "baby blues" and postpartum depression
-Increasing energy
-Replenishing depleted iron levels
-Boosting milk production
-Speeding up healing
-Decreasing pain
-Reducing post-natal bleeding
-Helping your uterus more quickly return to pre-pregnancy size "

I actually had my placenta encapsulated with my last 2 babies now and I'm grieving the fact that I let the hospital just throw away the first 4. :( Not only do they work, but I even took a pill, as needed, during my crazy contraction nights during bedrest, just to help calm things down and it would work. The proof that the hormones are present in these pills, for me, is that if I take too much of it, I will get almost instant headaches. So for me, I have to take them a little slower than others, and I still reap the benefits listed above.

Wanna know/see how it's done?? :D Let's begin!

First, you play with it!

Laura, from Pleasant Postpartums, comes to my home and in my kitchen plays with my placenta. :) It's actually very neat when she spreads it out and examines it. She's able to tell me things about my placenta, like the bright red spot on it is actually an area where there is an interruption of blood supply causing it's cells to die. She said, small infarctions are normal, but that mine was a bigger-sized one.

Did you know that the placenta's nickname is "Tree of Life" ? It's no wonder. It looks like a tree. And for the life that it gives, making it the most essential part of an infant's survival, Tree of Life is very appropriate.

Next: You steam it!  (sorry, these next couple photos are not for the faint of heart... er stomach)

Yummo!!!....

......

Next: You dehydrate it! 

She slices all that goodness into little pieces and lays them in a dehydrator, concluding her efforts for the day. She leaves this in my kitchen, and comes back in 24 hours to finish the process. This is extremely fun when we have visitors at this time the dehydrator is running... little do they know they are standing next to my placenta! :)               ((insert evil laugh here))

And Finally: You crush it and encapsulate!

She used some kind of grinder thingy, making into powder form. Then used this encapsulation tool to actually put the powder into either tasteless capsules or berry flavored capsules... You get to pick! :) I had the berry flavored ones the first time, then wanted to do the tasteless ones this second time. It's a toss up.

tasteless vs. berried

Of course, to cap it off, Laura had a little helper that wanted to get his hands on the process, so she let him dust the capsules off with napkins and place them into the container. :) Eve joined in later. 

 And for you umbilical cord keepers.... why keep that yucky dried up little stub that falls off your babies belly button, when you can have something like this? :) A dehydrated umbilical cord shaped like a heart!

So if you've ever considered doing this or have never even heard of something like this being done, I would strongly recommend it. If you live in the Des Moines area (or surrounding) then Laura at Pleasant Postpartums would love to be of service! (www.pleasantpostpartums.com) Or if you don't live in Iowa, search it out and see if there's someone in your area that does this. 

Meanwhile.... Bon Appetit!  hahaha

My postpartum healing has been very pleasant, indeed! :D

Ruth's HBAC Story: in Pictures "From An Eight Year Old's Perspective" :)

All these pictures (except for this first one, of course) were taken by my 8 yr. old son Isaiah. I let him take pictures of anything he wanted to during this process. So enjoy these pictures, from an 8 yr old's perspective. 

Isaiah and I adopted the My Little Pony phrase, "nervouscited!"