Breastfeeding- The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful

Breastfeeding- The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful

This isn't a blog where I am going to shove breastfeeding down your throat. I do strongly suggest if you can breastfeed to do so. It has such amazing benefits for the baby and for moms. I know that breastfeeding isn't always the easy option or even an option at all. Despite my attempts I was unable to breastfeed Little M when he was a baby. He endured some trauma to his scalp that made sucking painful and difficult.

Thankfully I was blessed this time around to establish a great breastfeeding relationship with our little lady.

The Good:

Our daughter has been a champ, she is healthy and beautifully plump. Breastfeeding versus bottle feeding is so much easier to travel with. Whether a longer road trip or just to church on Sunday. No bottle to pack, no formula needed. Even at home, no bottles to make or clean. I have been blessed with the world's most supportive husband. Every evening he would wash my pump parts, and in the morning he would pack my bag to take to work. As of the middle of January I resigned from my job and stay at home with the kids. This has made our breastfeeding relationship even stronger. Overall it has been such a natural process for me this time. Although natural doesn't mean easy....

The Bad:

I am not one of the women who instantly felt breastfeeding was amazing. You know you read stories about women who say they felt such a special connection because they were nursing, well that wasn't me. The nights waking up with soaked shirts annoyed me. Another annoyance- two words CLOGGED DUCTS. And sometimes I just didn't want to be the only one who could feed her. I wanted rest. That might sound selfish, but I spent 9 months pregnant and for just a little bit I wanted my body back and be all mine. I went back to work after 8 weeks and I nursed our little girl when I was home, and pumped when I was at work. Talk about a daunting task, sometimes I would get so busy at work I would miss my pumping time. There were days when I was done with work and I would cry because I didn't pump and didn't know if I would have enough milk for the next day for our daughter at daycare. Aaron would always be there to pick me up and remind me if needed she had formula there, or we had some frozen. There were also the days where our daughter was clearly have a growth spurt and I felt like she was nursing non-stop.

The Beautiful:

In just 6 days it will mark 9 months of breastfeeding for me and our little girl. I have set a goal to make it to at least 12 months, and we are so so so so close! I love our nightly snuggles and feeding her right before bed, we are nice and warm and when she gets full she has that sweet squishy look. Then there are the times when our little lady is eating and she looks up and me and I look down and her and she stops eating just to smile at me. Talk about pure bliss. It literally fills my heart with warmth. Our daughter is healthy, growing, and every once in a while I think about how amazing it is that my body is able to create exactly what she needs. The human body is an incredible thing. And lastly, my husband, my wonderful, wonderful husband. This journey in breastfeeding has been another way of showing me how lucky I am. When I would sit down to feed our daughter he would bring me everything I needed to make me comfortable, when I wanted to quit he was there to remind me why I started in the first place, and for every time I woke up to feed her he was there to change her diaper.

Breastfeeding can be a battle, I strongly encourage people to do the research, be prepared, have a good support system and it will pay off. No doubt there will be bumps in the road, but if you keep on pushing through it does get easier.

9 months on, 9 months off...

I wish this were one of those blog posts where I talked about how my baby weight just fell off.

It's not. 

I am aware that it takes time, and I wish I were more patient. 

I'm not.

Aaron & I welcomed a beautiful baby girl on August 12, 2013. She is a true blessing, and the weight was worth it. 

Every. Single. Pound.

Before getting pregnant I was in the best shape of my life. I weighed less at the age of 22 than I had as a freshman in high school. I worked my tail off to get into the 130s. I suffer from an endocrine that makes it extremely difficult for women to lose weight. I felt amazing, and for the first time since the age of 14 my bloodwork work came back NORMAL. 

I wish this were the point where I told you that I felt amazing during my pregnancy.

I didn't.

I also wish I could say I ate healthy and stayed active.

Nope, didn't happen.

I was sick, daily. I spent a lot of my time in bed during my pregnancy. My experience carrying our sweet little girl was the polar opposite to carrying little M (they remain polar opposites to this day, minus the sassy part). I threw my gluten free diet out the window, ate what I wanted and moved less. 

I gained almost 50 pounds.

Yes, 5-0.

Full term pregnant I weighed close to my starting weight before, that's the part that made me nervous. 

So there I was back at square one. Except now I have a second little human to take care of. 

Our little lady is 8 months, almost 9 months old. I often hear people say, "It took 9 months to put it on, it will take 9 months to take it off". WHAT A JOKE. Little M was born in 2007, I lost my "baby weight" (and then some).....do you know how long it took? 4 1/2 YEARS. 

I have lost some of my baby weight. Eating better, and getting back to being active is an ongoing process. I still have 15 pounds to go. I will get there, but it won't be 9 months. 

Anniversary Poem for my Wife (non-haiku)

Another year has gone by,
By far the best of my life.
I married the woman of my dreams,
I treasure her more than anything.
We have a baby on the way,
I cannot wait for that amazing day.
Each year is better than the last,
Each year goes faster than fast.
Each year my love for you grows,
Without you, where would I be? Nobody knows.
I thank God for giving me you,
I thank God for Myles too!
Thank you for loving me,
When I think of you, I cannot breathe.
Sweetie, it is one year that we have been wed,
I cannot wait for what lies ahead.

All my love,
Aaron Getchius
<3

Haiku Poetry

I love my wife a lot. Our anniversary is coming up on Sunday, July 28th, and I have no idea what to get her, so I wrote some haiku's for her.

I love you so much,
We have been wedded one year,
Anniversary.

How much love is there?
It is endless for you dear,
Anniversary

Married for a year,
Many more to come for years
Anniversaries

We got a dog a while ago, and her name is Lucy. Emily has given her the middle name of "Orange Juice", so I also wrote a haiku for her.

Lucy

How cute is our pup?
She is the best dog ever,
Orange Juice Getchius.

The Struggle of Being "Healthy"

So we all want to be healthy, right? What is healthy, and what does it mean? To different people it means different things. To me, it means being able to function on a daily basis without getting the feeling like I am going to die.

I feel like everywhere you turn,  you end up finding out that what you are doing is wrong. Things that you think are good for you, and are made to sound like they are good for you, end up either being bad for you, or they are produced in a way where you don't want to consume them after learning about the process to make whatever it is. Check out this article.

I'm very excited for the farmers market to open up this summer in Appleton. I want to eat food that was grown in the area, and hasn't been transported from California for me to eat. I want to support my local farmers more than I have been through the winter. I told my wife that I want to start shopping at the Free Market (a little store here that sells organic, and local food) on a regular basis to support local businesses more.