A New Adventure in the Works

I should be in bed.  Kamrynn is sleeping and I should be too.  The only time I can get anything done is when she is sleeping though and I wanted to get a website somewhat designed.  Here is what I have so far:

http://catchersdiaperco.weebly.com/

Once we get it going a little bit more, we'll get a better website with a more professional shopping cart than what weebly offers.

We are a Business according to the federal and state governements.  We are approved to sell FuzziBunz, Happy Heinys, California Baby and Charlie's Soap products.  California Baby as a HUGE minimum first order of nearly $1000 so we wont be carying any of their products any time soon!  It's going to be a while on the others too.  After going to other online CD stores and adding quantities of diapers to a fake shopping cart to see how many of what I should carry in our store, I discovered that most stores have 30-100 of EACH COLOR in stock.  Our $400 we scrounged together will barely get us 100 diapers, much less that number in each color!

We have decided to only sell my Perfect Diaper (whenever it gets perfected) and some wipes and see how those do before ordering diapers (unless someone wants to let me know exactly what they want and I'll order them for them!).  : )

Ok, I'm off to call Trevor to tell him good night (he's working all night) and then to bed for some much needed sleep!

Good Night!

A New Adventure

Kamrynn is finally napping, and I should be folding laundry and cleaning out the closet, but I need to get some thoughts down:

After trying several different types of diapers, I decided I wasn't going to pay $20 a diaper for something I didn't TOTALLY LOVE, and ordered about $35 in fabric to sew my own cloth diapers.  I can handle a sewing machine, making quilts is super easy, but patterns are lost on me... zippers too now that I think about it.  (Paula - that woombie I'm making for you might take several tries!)  I decided I would design the Perfect Diaper, and sell it because it would be better than all the other dipers out there and everyone would want it.  It would have velcro closures, be super easy to wash, not need stuffed, contain leaks and blowouts, keep her bottom dry, be trim, and inexpensive.  I've made two so far.  The first one was actually just a repair of one of the cheapies I bought that failed.  The second one the leg holes are too big and did not contain poo.  :(  We even had a name for our diapers - Catchers.  Trevor wanted them to be named Poo Catchers and our logo be a baseball mitt with a pile of poo in it.  I figured out if I could sew one per hour and sell them for about $12 each I'd make just under minimum wage for our state.  Could be worse...I could also have to pay for a sitter!  Six dollars an hour to sew diapers and take care of my kid.  Sounded good to me.

Unfortunately, it takes me an entire day to make one diaper.  Yes.  One.  I did not realize exactly how much time is actually spent taking care of Kamrynn.  So, scratch that idea.

Fast forward about 5 weeks: 

Still thinking and wanting to create the Perfect Diaper.  I finally have a pattern that I'm hoping will work.  Waiting for some velcro fabric I ordered to get here so I can finish it.

As I was drafting my pattern, I was still thinking about selling diapers... and how expensive they are and that Kamrynn is going to be needing Mediums soon and it sure does take a long time for me to sew them and how can I get more diapers for less money.  My solution:  Wholesale!  I sold Mary Kay for a while, and know there is a 50% mark up so I figure there's atleast a 20% markup on diapers.  I talked to Trevor about it and we're currently looking into opening an online baby store.  I know there are lots of those out there, but ours will be better.

We're going to start small.  We have $400 to invest.  I know it's not much, but I think it will be enough.  I found a WAHM (Work At Home Mom) webhosting/eCommerce place that is reasonable, have emails in to Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius and GroVia and have a list of other companies to talk to.  Once I know how much the mark-up is, I can do the math and see if our $400 is going to be enough to get this started and if this is even going to be worth while on such a small scale.  We'll write up a business plan, purchase a federal business number, open a PayPal business account, order the diapers, pick up some flat rate shipping boxes, set up the website, and wait for the first order to come in.

I'm still going to design the Perfect Diaper.  Kamrynn may be the only baby who will wear the Perfect Diaper, but it WILL exist.  ;)

OK, off to the laundry and closet!

Excess Lipase

I pumped excess milk as I had it and began to build a small freezer stash so if I wanted to go somewhere for the day and leave Kamrynn with daddy, grandparents, or sitter, I could.  The maximum ammount of time it is safe to store breastmilk in a standard kitchen freezer is 4 months.  Our freezer's gasket doesn't completely seal, but still keeps ice cream hard, so I didn't feel comfortable letting the milk go much longer than 3 months.

I thawed a pouch of milk in a sink of cool water and poured it into a bottle.  I smelled it and thought it smelled funny and had Trevor smell it.  He thought it smelled funny also, so I dumped it out and nursed her, thinking it was bad and not wanting to mess with unthawing a second pouch.

The next pouch was the same.

The third pouch of milk was barely 2 months old, so thinking I was safe giving it to her, I proceeded to thaw, put in a bottle, warm and sat down with Kamrynn in my arms.  Having never tasted breastmilk before, I tasted what I had tested for temperature on my wrist.  It tasted gross!  Kinda rubbery/plastic-ish.  Trevor had tasted fresh breastmilk a few weeks after Kamrynn was born so I had him taste it to ensure THAT gross taste was what it was SUPPOSED to taste like.  NO!  He made a face, rubbed at his tongue with his shirt and finally brushed his teeth.  I nursed Kamrynn.  And did some research.

Certaintly the milk hadn't gone bad.  I had done everything I was supposed to do to store it, and it was well within the storage time frame.  I soon learned that spoiled breastmilk will taste and smell sour - similar to cows milk.  This was not a sour taste or smell.  After more research I determined I have Excess Lipase.  You can read about it here.

The milk is not bad, nor will it harm Kamrynn.  It is just as good for her as fresh milk.  If she will drink it, it is fine to give her.  If she wont, I'll consider donating it - where it will be mixed with many other mother's milk and diminish the taste.  I know I wouldn't drink it.  I haven't decided whether I'm going to try it with Kamrynn or just donate it.  I have about 50oz frozen (most milk banks require a minimum amount of 150oz.).

I now know why I haven't been hired for any of the jobs I've applied for.  If I worked, I would have to pump and scald the milk to prevent it from changing.  Scalding ruins some of the good properties of the milk... still better than formula, but not as good as fresh.  The milk has to be immediately scalded and frozen, something that is unlikely that I would be able to do in a classroom (although most science classrooms have hot plates, they dont usually have a freezer).  My number one job is taking care of Kamrynn to the best of my abilities.  I guess the answer to my prayers for a paying job is, "No."

So, here's to being a Stay at Home Mom!

New Years Resolutions

I figure if I make a ton of Resolutions, I should be able to keep atleast one, right?  Well, here they are:

• Not make Spaghetti more than once per week (three nights a week was getting a little much).
• Eat a healthy diet according to the food pyramid.
• Drink two (or more) tall glasses of water each day.'
• Keep the inside of my car clean.
• Keep the living room picked up (been doing good with the bathroom and kitchen, but the living room is a mess).
• Remember to return any pop bottles when I go to the grocery store.
• Buy a house.
• Find a good church and go.
• Think/Talk/Be positive.
• Exercise 2-3 times a week.
• Get a Job.
• Potty Learn Kamrynn.

A Day at Our House

I've had many people express shock that Kamrynn sleeps through the night.  I really dont think it is anything we're doing, God just blessed us with a great little girl!  Anyway, here's what our day looks like:

8am - Kamrynn usually wakes around eight (occasionally she wakes around six to eat, and after feeding and changing, we reswaddle and place her back in her bed where she falls asleep very quickly), ready for the day!  I feed her, change her diaper and dress her.  Then I put her back in her bed, and wheel the whole thing into the bathroom where I shower.  She may or may not fuss, but if she does I just talk to her or we sing Old McDonald, and she is happy.  I try to eat some breakfast.  Kamrynn is usually happy in the mornings as long as you're interacting with her.

11am - Some time between ten and eleven, she becomes unpleasant and needs a nap.  Sometimes we really have to work at it to get her to sleep.

Noon - Wakes from nap to eat some lunch.  Goes back to sleep very easily.

3pm - Wakes  to eat and is happy for several more hours.

5pm - Becomes unpleasant if not interacting with her.

6pm - Dinner Time

7pm - nap

9pm - After the feeding closest to 9pm we start our bedtime routine.  We eat, take and play in the bath, put PJ's on, chatter for about 20 minutes.  As soon as we become unpleasant, we swaddle and place her in her bed.  She normally falls asleep within 10 minues without fussing.

If she stirs in the night enough to wake me up, I gently rest my hand on her or jiggle her until she stops moving about.  If I dont catch her in time and she comes unswaddled, I reswaddle her.

I let her fuss, but I dont let her cry.  I see no point in leaving her to cry all alone in her bed.  It is not her fault we dont undersand what she is trying to tell us... so I hold her and try to comfort her.  I change positions I'm holding her until something works.  Sometimes I can just talk her out of crying by smileing really big and talking super happy to her.





Kamrynn is a great baby!




First Swim Meet (Willamette Alumni Meet) - and she slept through it!

Kamrynn's Birth

The last few months of my pregnancy, Braxton Hicks Contractions were a regular occurrence. My abdomen would tighten for about a minute. Most of these occurred while I was doing something, and would subside if I stopped doing whatever I had been doing. I also had several each night.

At 40 weeks 4 days, on Monday, September 27th, I woke with slightly uncomfortable Braxton Hicks’. I got out of bed around 4:30 for my second bathroom trip of the morning. Before I was able to fall back to sleep I had an “upset tummy” feeling in my throat, then the baby started moving around like crazy, my back started aching and my whole tummy got tight and achy. This continued every 20-25 minutes. They progressively got closer together, and eventually I started timing them with the computer. They were randomly anywhere between 35 to 60 seconds long and 4 to 8.5 minutes apart. They never got consistent or developed any sort of pattern, and I didn’t feel any after 3:30pm. For dinner, I loaded the spaghetti up with basil. We went for a long walk. I swung on the swings at the park. We made love. All things to help get labor started!

Tuesday, September 28th, I got out of bed at 2:03 am for my usual trip to the bathroom. As I stood up my legs collapsed beneath me and I had horrible back and hip pain. Trevor helped me up off the floor, and held me up until the pain stopped because I could not move. Eventually I was able to make it to the bathroom where I noticed I was losing my mucous plug and I knew I was in labor. I had several more contractions in the bathroom, hoping my water would break over the toilet (with such intense contractions, I thought the baby would be coming quick!). No such luck. Eventually I went back to bed, but lying down was too uncomfortable. Trevor filled the bath tub up and I sat in it sideways and pushed my back against the side of the tub during contractions. Nothing seemed to help. I tried to relax, but the contractions felt the same as when I was tense. While I sat in the tub, adding hot water, Trevor got the living room ready and set up and began filling the pool. I realized me adding hot water to the bath tub was taking hot water away from the pool and finally got out of the tub and went and sat in the pool. I requested all hot water and directed it at my back during contractions. The sting from the hot water helped me focus on my skin rather than the back and hip pain. All too soon, there wasn’t enough hot water and we had to wait for the hot water heater to catch up. I would just fall asleep only to be woke up by another contraction.

Around 6am Trevor told me to “shush” as he was afraid the neighbors would hear and call the cops because he was murdering me! HAHA! I didn’t find it funny at the time, though, and very sternly told him NOT to tell me to Shush! Around 8 am, Trevor decided he couldn’t take watching me be in so much pain and started talking about going to the hospital for an epidural. A couple weeks earlier, I had made him promise not to let me go to the hospital because it hurt, and here he was encouraging me to go because he couldn’t do it. At this point I began to seriously consider it with every contraction, then after it was over I was fine and didn’t want to go. Around 8:30 we left. Traffic was horrible and we tried to take the back roads. It took us almost an hour to get there.

Around 11:30 I finally got the epidural. It was SO much better. I could still feel the contractions and a mild ache, but nothing like before. Unfortunately, with an epidural you cannot eat or drink and I was STARVING and incredibly thirsty. I chowed down on the ice chips and still managed to get sick several times. I knew by going to the hospital, I would no longer have a birth free of interventions.

The first slide down that slippery slope was the epidural. There are numerous risks involved with getting an epidural, but with the pain I was feeling with each contraction, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was repeatedly checked for dilation and my bladder emptied, greatly increasing my risk for infection. Late in the evening the doctor started talking about c-sections. When we first met her, she said she only does them as a very last resort and to not worry about it. Then all of a sudden she decided that was a possibility. One of the risks associated with an epidural is a prolonged labor. The longer you are in labor, the more tired your uterus becomes. A tired uterus cannot effectively push a baby out, and is more likely to hemorrhage. I agreed to have my water broke in hopes of bringing the baby down. Thankfully, there was no cord prolapse, a risk involved with artificially rupturing the membranes. There was still no change and we decided to allow the smallest dose of Pitocin (another risk involved with epidurals). Along with the Pitocin comes an internal monitor to make sure my uterus is responding to the Pitocin. Not long after, the doctor told me I had a fever (in Celsius) and recommended antibiotics as it was likely the baby also had an infection. - - I did not know at the time that fever is a side effect of the epidural as it diminishes my body’s ability to sweat, making it harder to dissipate excess heat. - - I allowed the antibiotics and shortly after I felt the baby move and felt pressure to push.

I was asked if I had thought about any pushing positions and I told them I had planned to just go with what felt right. I pushed for two hours, on my back – the most convenient position for the doctor. Several times I asked to sit up and was ignored. The baby kept pushing its feet up over my ribs each time I pushed. The doctor thought this meant it was stuck and had Trevor push up on my back during contractions. They put a mirror up, and finally I was able to see the baby’s head. Ever so slowly we watched the baby get closer and closer.

Finally the head was out at the end of a three push contraction. I wanted to push the body out with the next contraction, but the doctor pulled her from me. I’m still irritated with the doctor over this. She was laid on my chest, and rubbed with the roughest receiving blanket I have ever felt. As she was handed to me, Trevor had seen that she was a girl and was speechless with disbelief. We were told her APGARS were 9 and 9 (Excellent). She was born at 10:03pm. I held her and told her it was ok, that she didn’t have to cry. We told her we loved her. Trevor cut the cord. The placenta came out in a big goosh, startling me. I received six stitches. She cried the entire time. Finally her daddy took her and calmed her down. Everything was so surreal and was happening so fast. She was finally here.

A nurse wiped her down, weighed and measured her, swaddled her and put a hat on. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. She met her grandparents and aunt. After her visitors left, she was given a bath while I was helped to the restroom. I got sick, felt dizzy and my vision went wacko on me and I had to go back in the bed and lay flat. Her daddy supervised her first bath. Then she went to the NICU for half an hour with daddy trailing behind to have blood drawn for a culture (to find out if she had an infection), and have an IV put in and start antibiotics. When she finally came back I was able to sit up without feeling faint and we were moved to our postpartum room.

Trevor had come down with a cold, and went home after we were settled to try to get some sleep. It was after 3am. We had been up for over 24 hours. Something Trevor is used to, but not me. I was incredibly tired and but wide awake at the same time. I was afraid to hold her for fear of falling asleep and dropping her, so she spent the night alone in the bassinet next to my bed. We were disturbed several times for IV flushes and blood pressure checks, and I got almost zero sleep. Finally around 8am I was told how to order food.

A new OB came in, told me I had not had a fever and took me off the antibiotics and released me to go home. We had to wait for the pediatrician to come in. She decided that I had had a fever and refused to release the baby until the culture came back showing no infection. This irritated me. If I had indeed had a fever that indicated infection, I would not have been taken off my antibiotics. Infections in hospitals are very serious. The pediatrician convinced me that she was very bruised up and needed a Vitamin K injection. I requested Oral Vitamin K, but she was still given the injection as the pediatrician was convinced that the oral version doesn’t work. Finally I talked her into letting us move to pediatrics, and go home the next morning. After the pediatrician left, a nurse came in and I asked her if she thought the baby was bruised. She didn’t think so at all. This irritated me further. We were finally released to move to pediatrics at 8 that night. We gave her a first name right before we were moved - Kamrynn. In pediatrics, Kamrynn could receive her un-needed antibiotics in-room rather than being taken to the NICU.

We were finally released at noon the following day after Kamrynn’s last round of antibiotics and the culture came back negative for infection. She had never needed the antibiotics. Trevor dressed Kamrynn and loaded her in her car seat and we finally went home. That evening we gave her a middle name - Kay. Her daddy called the hospital to let them know her name and make it official.

Kamrynn is growing like a weed. She weighed over her birth weight at her one week check up. Breastfeeding is now going well, she has never had any formula – which is a huge goal for me through the first year. She sleeps well at night. Tolerates traveling, sleeping away from home, and having a lot of people hold her, like a champ. She got through her first cold, at two weeks, without any medication. At her two month check-up, she weighed 12 pounds ½ ounce (77th percentile) and was 24 ¼ inches long (97th percentile). After much consideration, we declined the two month shots and are dedicated to keeping her away from sick people for the first two years of her life (at which time she is no more at risk than those who are vaccinated).

Kamrynn is now 2 ½ months old, and this is the first time I have been able to reflect on her birth without crying. . I was so insistent I was not going to the hospital unless it was an emergency, that I did not fully understand the risks associated with each intervention, and was not able to make fully informed decisions… I could only proceed based on what the doctors were telling me. I did not fully trust doctors before this experience, and they did nothing to improve that. I must trust in myself and my ability to make decisions. I have decided I need to learn from this experience so I can better stand up for the next baby if we should be so blessed. I pray that future children will have a more peaceful entrance into this world.

  Trevor tickling my feet.  Lucky for him I couldn't feel it!

  Happy Daddy!

  She's Perfect.

  Stop Bothering Me!



0-6 Weeks

 Love the non-pink outift!  There just aren't enough girly outfits that aren't pink!

 She loves the brown side of this blanket!

 Ready to go!

~ Daddy's favorite picture~

 She was screaming while I was trying to make dinner, so I turned on the vacuum.  I think she was mad at it for making her stop crying!  :)

 "Daddy has the NumNums now????  I'm so confused!"  She actually took the bottle from him with me in the room!  Good Job Kamrynn!!!

 First smile caught on camera!

 She likes her showers...I think better than the baths!

 Starting early on the sailing!

 I'm almost always happy in the mornings!

 Trick or Treat?  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat!

Shooting the Bad Guys with Daddy!

Help me win some free diapers!!!!

Starved Fish

I had several things on my To Do list for yesterday.  I needed to pay bills and get them in the mail, wash the diapers, fold the ever growing pile of clean clothes (I manage to do the laundry with one hand, but folding is annother story), buy groceries, return some things to Target, Feed Trevor's Fish, Write Thank You Notes, Figure out health insurance for Kamrynn, and get gas for Daddy.  I had no help in any of this as daddy was at work.

Here is what happend instead:  I ate a sandwich while Kamrynn screamed in her swing.  Fed Kamrynn, then changed her, then changed her a second time because she wasn't finished when I changed her the first time, put her in her carseat, went to the bathroom while she screamed some more in her carseat, lugged the carseat around the house to keep her quiet while I hunted down my grocery list...found the grocery list in my coat pocket!  Installed the carseat in the 4-runner without the base while Kamrynn screamed at the top of her lungs...I was just about to take her out when she finally calmed down (I was beginning to think she was being pinched or something).  Finally we were off.  We arrive at Target, and rather than dealing with installing the carseat after we were finished, I just took Kamrynn out.  That's when I discovered she had been crying because she had a poopy diaper.  We changed the diaper in the back of the 4-runner... slanted leather seats are not conducive to diaper changes!  We exchanged our items for a baby carier, and off to get the Car from Trevor's work to go put gas in it.  Paid $3.15 for gas, and Kamrynn cried every time the car stopped moving.  Took the car back to Trevor and Kamrynn decided she was hungry.  She took her sweet time eating (falling asleep almost instantly)and even longer burping (we got one small burp out of her).  I changed annother dirty diaper, but got smart this time and opened the very back of the 4-runner where it is flat. While putting her in her seat, she spit up, and I took her out and wipped her off... I just had a spare onsie and didn't want her legs to get cold getting groceries in the carrier so I left her in a stinky outfit.  Finally we were off to get groceries!

Getting groceries was the easiest part of the entire trip!  Kamrynn LOVES the carrier and fell asleep almost as soon as I put her in it.  She cooed a couple times, but other than that I did not hear a peep out of her!  I did find it too difficult to carry the groceries inside with her and she screamed in her swing every time I went outside to get annother bag.  Thankfully daddy came home and helped with the last one! 

Kamrynn ate dinner while we ate a pizza, and actually went to bed at a decent time last night.  The fish starved.  The rest of my list has been added to today's To Do list, and now Kamrynn is hungry.  Bye for now!

BIRTHDAY

KAMRYNN KAY

8lbs 7oz, 21" long

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 @ 10:03pm

Getting ready to go home!

 I love my daddy....

What we did once we got home: 

Babies

We're at 40+1weeks today!  One week from today and half of US babies have been born by then (those who are healthy, and mother's aren't induced by impatient doctors).  One week, six days from today, and half of babies world wide have been born by then.    Three weeks from today and the vast majority of all first, singleton, babies have been born by then (not sure if that is world wide, or just for the US).  I really thought our baby would have been here shortly after it was safe for her to come out at 37 weeks (considering she has a very impatient father who wants everything NOW), but it looks like that's not going to happen.

I have only two things left to do before I am as ready for her as I'm going to be....  I need to steralize the receiving blankets, and clean out the car and figure out how to get the carseat installed so Trevor cant come along and move it more than the 2" it is allowed to move!  Oh, and I also need to pick the house up once more....  It stays clean all four days that Trevor works, but for some reason, by Thursday nights it is a disaster!  I wonder why that is....  :)

We watched the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD the other day.  Pretty much, the steps to quieting a baby are:  1)Swaddle 2)On the side 3) Jiggle 4)Shhhhhhhhhhhh 5) Uh oh...I forgot!  Guess I'll have to look that one up!  I also looked into the Dunstan Baby Language.  Apparently babies tell us exactly what they need when they cry:  A hungry cry sounds like NEH; Tired is OWH; needing to burp is EH; having gas is EAIRH; and just uncomfy is HEH.  I am beginning to be able to distingush between some of them when I listen to them on YouTube, so hopefully I'll be able to tell what the baby needs without too much frustration!  Trevor thinks our baby wont make the same noises, but we'll see!

Here's some pictures for you!

 Sucking my tummy in!  Cant do that for very long so Trevor has to be quick taking the picture!