Involuntary Co-Sleep Ninja

From day 1 at home from the hospital, LittleMan has slept on me, next to me, in our bed. Of course, I've read and heard about all of the dangers of co sleeping. Even Ansel's pediatrician strongly advised against it. However, he sleeps when he's next to me. I know that it's just an excuse; he would be "safer" sleeping in his own bed, waking up every 10-30 minutes, cold because babies shouldn't sleep with blankets or pillows, and alone, completely alone. 

He starts out in his bassinet, which is now getting to be a little cramped since he's getting older and bigger. The only reason why we haven't transitioned him into his own room is because it's on the opposite end of the house and on the first floor where our room is the second floor. I don't feel comfortable having him that far away just yet. We will be finding better housing once our lease ends here. But, between 7 and 8pm, he nurses to sleep or nurses and we rock him to sleep, and put him in the bassinet upstairs. Somewhere between 9 and 11pm he begins to wake. Now we've tried rocking him back to sleep, changing his diaper, everything but nurse, to get him comfortable and back to sleep in the bassinet. However, as soon as we lay him down, he's wide awake, ready for action, talking up a storm. For about 30 minutes we play the fall back asleep then wide awake game. 

That's when he gets in our bed. Throughout the night we wrestle and dance in periodic spurts as to keep him asleep, head away from pillows and blankets, not laying inbetween Cody and I as to make sure Cody doesn't crush him (Cody sleeps like a toddler, all over the place), and usually feet in my gut. He likes to kick me in the stomach when he starts waking up. 

While I was pregnant, we came across the following diagram. I never thought it could be so true.

"The Dog House" is a reoccurring position. I feel so bad for Cody, sometimes.

As for now, we will continue to co sleep. I'm not going to lie, I do enjoy it, probably as much as I love breastfeeding; but I know we will try to change things in the near future. 

BFing your LOL

Breastfeeding. Something I never wanted to do. I always wanted to have children, but the thought of something, someone latched onto my body, feasting... All I could think of was baby parasite, with teeth like a shark, draining my body of all life like a vampire . However, during my last trimester, I couldn't be more excited to breastfeed, provide my child with food made from MY BODY, give him a better chance at a strong immune system (and for free I might add).

So last night/early this morning, while attached to my baby vampire parasite, I saw that my sister had commented on my last blog post, telling me to keep writing (it has been a few months). Naturally, all I could think about was boob milk. 

Breastfeeding, or in the world of mother friendly forums, blogs, and chats, BFing. There's simply BFing, or at first glance could be Barfing; BFing your LO (little one), or Barfing your Lungs Out, or Barfing your Laugh Off, or Barfing your LOL; and EBF (exclusively BF'd or ExpressedMilk Breastfed, I'm not sure), or Exorcism Barfing. Now if that's not confusing enough with all the letter abbreviations, I'm pretty sure I've incorrectly made up what each one means and there's a ton more: LC, DD, LD, etc, etc.

So beginning at 3am, we start the Barfing and continue on a 1.5-2 hour rotation till around 8pm. Parasite.

You know you're tired when you change the words of Michael Jackson from "Beat It" to "Boob It" or make up catch phrases such as "when in doubt, boob it out".

Sorry to be blunt, but: One of my boobs is consistently and significantly larger than the other. My breasts are now what I call "Gorilla Titties", the shape isn't perky and round anymore. My nipples stay puffy. If I sleep on my stomach, I wake up in a puddle of milk. And for some reason, HobbyHubby still wants to see them all the time, probably because I've banned him from touching them (it makes my milk "let down" and I begin dripping like a faucet). 

But all is well and for a good cause, right? And who knew they made teas and cookies and supplements to help promote healthy lactation. I tried to get Cody to taste the tea, which is AWESOME, but he wouldn't, claiming that he didn't want to start lactating. I died laughing. It doesn't quite work that way. 

It's been 4 months and we are still going strong, even with me working part time. I've even cooked while Barfing my LOL. I understand why so many women give up after the first week or two; it hurt! Blistering, sore, poor nipples. But once past the first few weeks it turns into something quite magical. Here's to the next 8 months! Cheers!