About Melissa

Melissa is a homeschooling mom to four children, ages9, 7, 4, and 2, with another due in May!. She loves blogging about her journey as a cloth diapering and breastfeeding mom - the good, the bad, and the chaotic, and helping other moms along the way.

Author Archive | Melissa

Pregnancy Update – 39 Weeks

May 13, 2013 By Melissa

With our reduced posting schedule., I decided early on in the pregnancy I didn’t want to do a pregnancy post to often, because I didn’t want that to be all I ever talked about. I realized last week that I’ve ended up only doing two pregnancy related posts at all! Since I’m 39 weeks and 4 days, I figured another pregnancy update wouldn’t be overkill.

Physical stuff

Overall I have been so blessed this pregnancy. I’ve been able to manage my heartburn without taking a daily medication, something I’ve needed with all of my other pregnancies. Up until the last few days, I haven’t needed a nap every day either! I have had two challenges. My back started giving me really serious issues a few months ago. By the time I hit the beginning of April, it was getting difficult to walk without a limp. It was impossible to walk without pain. I started seeing a chiropractor twice a week, and it has been a lifesaver. I literally do not know how I would be functioning without going to see him. I’ve missed a day here and there due to sickness or scheduling conflicts, and I can definitely feel the difference. The other challenge I ran into last month was that I became severely anemic after a week long stomach bug. This caused horrible headaches, and made my blood pressure spike up a bit. I started a liquid iron supplement, as well as being very intentional about getting iron into my diet, and my iron level is back up into acceptable ranges. We are still working on it though, as it would be great if it came up a bit more.

37 weeks

Yesterday – 39 weeks, 3 days!

Emotional Stuff

I am starting to feel pretty “ready” for this baby to make his or her appearance. The house is as ready as it will ever be with four kids, the carseat is installed, the pack ‘n play is set up, the birth supplies are stored, baby clothes and newborn diapers and washed and put away…. Now we just need a baby! I’m getting a bit more weepy and hysterical prone to, so that’s always fun, especially for my hubby At the same time, I am trying to relish these last days, and enjoy my baby bump, and each roll and kick. With this being our fifth baby, there’s no guarantee I will get to experience this miracle again, and so part of me is sad to think about it being over.

Home Birth Stuff

Everything is still looking good for our planned home birth, and I couldn’t be more excited! I adore my midwife, and I have two other friends who are supposed to be coming as doula/labor support. I love that my children have gotten to be such an active part of the process during my midwife appointments, and I’m excited that they will get to experience the birth of their sibling! My oldest gets to be the one to make the “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl! announcement to the room, and my seven year old is planning on cutting the cord.

Midwife appointment with all my “helpers.”

My youngest wanted to “listen” to the baby too.

Photo by my 4 year old.

Birth Stuff

Hopefully any day now I’ll be able to share a birth announcement! Be looking out on the Sisters ‘N Cloth facebook page, as well as our twitter feed. The planned hashtag is #elephantbaby, since my last was 10 lbs 6 oz, and this little one shows every sign of keeping up with big brother!

I’m off to drink some more Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, and keep bouncing and rotating on my birth ball

Read full story · Comments { 0 } in Motherhood, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Update, Preparing

Breastfeeding Blog Hop: Week 19 – Walking in My Shoes

May 10, 2013 By Melissa

This post is part of the weekly breastfeeding blog hop, hosted by us, and co-hosted by Life as Wife, Mummy, and Nurse. This week’s topic is, “Little Mommas.”

There’s a lot to intimidate you about motherhood. And one of the things that intimidates me is the knowledge that so often, my kids are going to walk in my shoes, following the footsteps I’ve modeled for them. That can be encouraging, humbling, and quite honestly, terrifying! I know that I have not always given them the best footsteps to follow.

But one area that all of mine have copied me in that makes me smile and gives me no reservations is the way they nurture their “babies.” It started when my first baby became a big sister right before she turned 2. She absolutely adored her sister, and loved mothering her own babies. My mom made her a sling of her own, and she had at least one baby in it almost constantly.

Babywearing and multitasking!

Soooo happy with her baby!

She also loved to “nurse” her babies, especially if I was nursing her sister. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to many pictures of that. I do have this one, which I love of my daughter and hate of myself So just look at her!

My oldest may have been the first to copy these things, but all of the rest have too. Including my son! I hope that they remember even as they grow how completely normal it is to hold, cuddle, wear, and nurse a baby.

The copying hasn’t quite stopped yet, even now that my oldest is 9. She is great at comforting her 2 year old brother, and quick to scoop him up for a hug, or cuddle him for a nap. She also informed the pediatrician at a recent visit that the nurses said she had a lazy latch when she was born, but it was really that she has a tongue tie. He looked me with a smile and said, “Lactation consultant in training?” I could think of worse things!

Do you have a favorite picture or memory of your little ones copying your mothering?

Be sure to check out what other moms have to say in the linky below! We would love if you would link up your old or current posts on this topic. Please be sure to mention the BF Blog Hop and link to this post or our page. We would love it if you shared the BF Blog Hop with your readers by including the linky code in your post, too. If you’ll leave us your twitter handle in the comments, we’ll be sure to tag you when we tweet your post! If you are new to the Hop, be sure to check out the Breastfeeding Blog Hop page for more information about how it all works.

get the InLinkz code

Read full story · Comments { 0 } in Babywearing, Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding and Children, Breastfeeding Blog Hop, Breastfeeding with Older Children

Breastfeeding Blog Hop: Week 17 – Saying Yes to Now

April 25, 2013 By Melissa

This post is part of the weekly breastfeeding blog hop, hosted by us, and co-hosted by Life as Wife, Mummy, and Nurse. This week’s topic is, “Weaning (or not)”

I’ve always thought I couldn’t be a tandem nurser.

When I got pregnant with my second child, my oldest was only a year old, and still breastfeeding a ton. I started experiencing a lot of light-headedness, and had several near fainting episodes, in addition to losing over 15 pounds during my first trimester. I could hardly function, so I weaned my first daughter at 15 months, even though neither of us was really ready. When my second daughter reached toddlerhood, I enforced a few nursing restrictions, and she gradually and gently weaned around 2. I got pregnant with my fourth while I was still nursing my third. Thrush also decided to pay me a visit, and my son loved to stay latched on forever. Nursing stopped being something that drew us close to each other, and instead left me wanting to scream with frustration. I weaned him at 2.5, a few months before my fourth was born.

Fast forward a few years. I’m currently expecting my fifth child. From the time I got pregnant, I knew I would “need” to wean Nehemiah, my fourth. I wasn’t sure exactly when, but decided sometime after his second birthday, and before the start of my third trimester would be good. We night-weaned, which took about a week, and was so much less traumatic than when I night-weaned my third! We cut back to one nursing session a day… The bedtime nursing session. But we were both still enjoying our quiet moments at the end of the day. If I needed to be away from the house at bedtime, Nehemiah went to sleep fine for my husband. He even sometimes fell asleep for me without nursing. He might go two or three days without nursing at all, but then nurse again for a few nights. But by the end of February, I just knew it was “time” if we were going to do this thing. He’s two. I’m almost at the end of my pregnancy. I can’t be a tandem nurser. Time to wean. Right?

I snapped pictures of our “last” nursing session. This one is my favorite. I cried every time I looked at it the next day.

And then we went out of town. We were in a different place, and it was just so much easier to go ahead and let him nurse to sleep. Finally, I realized something. Our nursing relationship is working. I don’t feel frustrated when it’s time to nurse him to sleep. If he doesn’t go to sleep within a few minutes, I can tell him, “All done.” and he will peacefully unlatch, and just cuddle to sleep. He’s a lot more verbal than my other children have been, and so we’ve been talking about the fact that there is a baby in mommy’s tummy, that the baby is going to come out, and drink lots of momma’s milk, and that he and the baby will share. Now when it’s bed time he says, “Momma’s milk peease. I share wit da baby!” Melts. me. every. time.

So here I am 37 weeks pregnant and still breastfeeding my two year old. Right now the “plan” is to continue on throughout the pregnancy. When the baby gets here, we will talk about the fact that the baby needs lots of momma’s milk, because babies can’t eat other food, and that Nehemiah still gets momma’s milk at bedtime. And I am actually looking forward to them “sharing”! I don’t know what this will look like in reality. Maybe Nehemiah won’t be able to handle not having unlimited access, and we will have to wean at that point. But for now, I’m just enjoying the present. Saying yes to now. And choosing to believe that it’s okay to do so.