She ended up taking the Adiri BPA Free Natural Nurser Bottles I won via a blog/ twitter contest back in May.

Unfortunately I hadn’t pumped that much milk the night before so the bottle didn’t fill her up, she did drink all the milk that was in it though and I breastfed her afterward to be sure her tummy was full.

It took N about an hour of her fussing and refusing before she was tired enough to doze off in his arms. Once she was dozing he could get her to drink the bottle.

It’s a good thing she’s getting the hang of occasional bottle feeding because I have some all day weekend rehersals coming up with the colorguard and N will be home with E the entire time, ideally He’ll be able to bottle feed her while I am off teaching all day. Woot, she wont starve!

Also, we bought Everly this Cradling Bouncy Seat and to our surprise she like it very much! It’s nice to be able to spend time with her without having to hold her the whole time.

Oh and we dealt with some very maddening health insurance/ birth cost crap today. Remember how I had a 4th degree tear after Everly was born?

Well I transported to the local hospital for stitches since a 4th degree tear is a bit more complex to repair than anything the midwives had done.

Normally they can stitch up minor tears but since I tore straight through they wanted a surgeon to do the repair work to insure all the muscles and tissue were repaired properly, you know so I wouldn’t leak and have resulting lack of control down there…

Anyway, we paid $3500 (100% out of pocket) to our midwife for Everly’s birth. That is pretty cheap compared to what it costs to birth in a hospital.

Now guess how much the bill for all my repair work was from the hospital, after insurance discounts and whatnot…

Lets just say the bill is about 52% of what the total cost for Everly’s birth was. Isn’t that crazy? It just goes to show how super inflated hospital & insurance billing is compared to paying a alternative provider directly without the hospital or insurance involved. I thought medical insurance was supposed to help us financially…

Also, remember how much of a stink my ex OBGYN made about me not getting the RhoGam shot during pregnancy? They told me I was endangering my baby and my future fertility and that it wasn’t really an optional thing…

Well after Everly was born and her blood type was determined I did get the RhoGam shot while I was at the hospital being stitched up.

Insurance will billed for it and apparently between the insurance company and the providing physician out in Tennessee that shot is somehow not deemed “a medical necessity” and insurance is now refusing to pay for it. Nice huh?

The post Small victories and insurance battles… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

We are learning about this whole parenting thing and we are so in love with little Everly. Unfortunately, we’ve got a fussy uncomfortable baby that we can’t seem to calm. Everyone is saying it is colic and everyone has an opinion about her ailment that doesn’t seem to help us in treating it.

I just hate calling it colic because the name doesn’t imply any specific condition or treatment. Everyone just throws their hands up and says “Oh colic, hang in there- it will pass”. I am sorry but just accepting that it’s a mystery that she’ll out grow isn’t okay with me. Her fussing is due to something and I want to know what so I can fix it.

She’s not fussy all day, just over certain extended periods of time. Recently she’s begun fussing at the breast too and she’s really straining to poop or pass gas.

We took a trip to the library on Sunday and checked out a bunch of breastfeeding books for me to read. Some books say colic goes away and that parents just have to tough it out. I’ve read that breastfed babies can’t be constipated but many are typically gassy and strain to poop normally. I’ve also read about how a mom’s diet can cause digestive distress for a breastfed baby.

On Sunday night/ Monday morning I had to take Everly down to the nursery and spend the night with her fussing and crying all night. We left N to sleep in the bedroom since he had to work on Monday and he spent the previous night with her fussing so I could sleep.

Anyway I am pretty sure feeding is making her tummy hurt. It’s either something in my diet or it could be her nursing pattern and the fact that she’s not getting a good mix of foremilk/ hindmilk. She could be swallowing air or not properly latching on too. Basically it could be anything…

I am just overwhelmed, frustrated and at a loss right now. I want to know what the problem is so it can be fixed but there is just so much conflicting information out there and nothing seems to be working.

Today I’ve tried breast compressions during feeding. I just read about breast compression to encourage baby to finish feeding on a breast as opposed to sleeping before sufficient hindmilk is consumed.

Everly is very soothed by feeding and has fallen asleep during feeds since she was born. I chatted with a lactation consultant about this at The farm and she showed me how to compress the breast and keep her nursing longer. I had no idea that poor latch and baby’s dozing at the breast can be a cause of colic.

To get more info I am also reading about:

Help relieve abdominal pain in infants with colic.
Colic and the breastfed baby, diet issues, let-down and other causes.

Last night was much of the same fussiness. She didn’t sleep for very long and when time came for feedings she would only nurse for like 10-15min before pulling off, fussing and grunting or falling asleep. The pulling off and fussing/ grunting is hell on the nipples and I wish she would just nurse long enough to get sufficient milk. It might reduce the constant nursing and allow us all to get some sleep.

The post My poor fussy little breastfed baby. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

When I was on knees and elbows pushing out Everly and tearing wide open while N and 4 other women watched all my sense of privacy, bashfulness and desire to be ladylike went out the window.

After delivery many unexpected farts were heard coming from me. They were shocking to me because I couldn’t feel them coming and I certainly couldn’t hold them back after a rectal sphincter tear. By the way Krystal, I didn’t poop during delivery (LOL). It took several days following labor for the poop to come.

Following labor I was inundated with questions about and inspections of my vagina, anus, boobs. Had I pooped yet, did it hurt? When was the last time I peed, did it sting? Are the crotchsicles working, how is the swelling etc.

Then there are the baby bodily functions to discuss too. What color is baby’s poop, is she peeing to? Is the poop seedy or runny? Is she having gas and does she burp often? Has she been spitting up?

Basically I am not shy about bodily functions anymore! I’ve shared that my ass hurts on several occasions and have made N’s family uncomfortable I am sure. Just the other day after pooping I noticed only blood on the toilet paper when I wiped so I called to N to inspect the stitches with me. I was sure I ripped one somehow but he assured me it was still in place despite the separating and bleeding.

Back on Tuesday I called N to come in and help me clip off the tail to my stitches that was jabbing the inside of my vagina. It was all this extra from the stitches just hanging out down there. Naturally I didn’t want to clip it off myself because it’s a bit delicate down there and I didn’t have a good view of what I was doing.

He’s a trooper and has no problem checking the damage and helping me down there. He hates thinking about and seeing the awful damage down there though. It really looks much worse than it is and honestly I would rather tear open naturally than have a labor induction or a c-section.

Anyway, back to bodily functions… When Everly poops man it is loud! Breastfed babies have much softer stools. Almost like diarrhea with some stringy chunks and seeds. It is normal for them, I am not sure if the explosive fart sounds are normal though. If you need a visual check out this video.

The sharts (shit & farts) sure are amusing us though. I mean you can hear her pooping from the next room, she has the “poop grunt” down pat and the farts/ squirts are insanely explosive! I mean she doesn’t even really cry as loud as she sharts. We positively reinforce her pooping and she smiles afterward so I guess it is all good.

The post Parenthood brings new perspective on bodily functions. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.