Category: Motherhood

Dom Perignon – Adventures in Lactation

Posted on Posted in MotherhoodTagged

One of the difficult things of my new motherhood has been trying to get this whole fabled breastfeeding down. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated than anyone would have you believe. It’s dependent on the mother, her breastmilk production and her patience/skills getting the kid to feed, as well as dependent on the child and their ability to suck properly, be awake and stay interested.

There are a lot of things that possibly didn’t go right with my breastfeeding. It’s too complex to tease out what went awry first and when. At any rate, I’ve gone to a lactation consultant (using hospital grade breast pump, using various supplementing tools), followed the recommendations of the pediatrician to keep the kid fed (he’s on a supplement of formula), and now I’m going to a naturopath who has prescribed me domperidone, which is not FDA approved (though approved in Canada, and available there), and isn’t even for lactation, but for Crohn’s disease with the side effect of increasing lactation. In America, you can be prescribed Reglan (also for digestive issues) off-label for lactation, but it has a host of nasty side-effects, including tardive dyskinesia and increased incidence of depression (which is not good if you’re already at risk for post-partum depression!)

I was instructed to take my prescription to a specific compounding pharmacy, which was a bit out of the way for me. I was told not to say anything, not to talk about it, just to hand over the slip of paper. I was also told that other mom’s had said that this pharmacy was good – and that the quality of the substance beat what they got in Canada. It makes me wonder what other kind of not-exactly-legal-yet-legal substances I could get from this pharmacy.

I titled this Dom Parignon just because the name of the drug sounds like the champagne. It’s not like I haven’t been recommended a host of things to increase lacation. The list, so far:

Avocado
Oatmeal
Almonds
Goat’s Rue
Fenugreek
Guinness
whisky
domperidone
Reglan
meditation/looking at my child’s picture

Seriously.

It’s quite an adventure so far. Now, hand me some bourbon.

2012: Fitness

Posted on Posted in MotherhoodTagged ,

I’m coming to the end of the first month of motherhood, and realizing that I have a long way to go to return to my pre-pregnancy shape. At first, I was sure I would just pick up some inexpensive clothes at a thrift store to tide me over for the (hopefully) brief period of being too large for even my largest clothing. I hatched this idea about a week ago, and haven’t managed to get into the store to execute this plan. I also started tracking my food using Weight Watcher’s eTools – though I can’t say I’ve done well following the plan until this week, which so far I’ve made a noble attempt.

What this has gotten me, though, is about one pound up and a bit down. I’m still wearing maternity clothes (when I happen to get out of my jammies), and I’m feeling a bit dumpy and down. I know this is par for the course for a new mama, and I’m not sure how to break out. I’ve done my body measurements to see what size I am, and it’s hard to get a grip that I can shop at plus-sized shops (in the smaller sizes). This, oddly enough, makes me relieved more than sad. When I was at my largest (which was 60+ lbs from where I am now) I would occasionally have that blissful experience of trying something on at a plus sized store, looking in the mirror, and saying, hey, this looks good on me! This wouldn’t even be at a time where I was experiencing weight loss. Size doesn’t tell you if you look or feel beautiful. It’s hard to remember that.

Fitness is something else – that’s about how I feel and less about how I look. At my most fit, I was bothered by being able to see all the sinews in my neck, or how narrow my face would appear. Also, my wrinkles were more prominent! While I think I looked good (and was, frankly, stillthe fashion industry’s “plus size” 8), I wasn’t so keen on my face. What I really liked was being able to run and feeling strong and fit. That felt pretty awesome.

I’m not sure how or when I’m going to be able to get back into shape. Today may be the first step. It’s not that I can’t afford new clothes, as to thankfully my job pays me enough that I *can* – I just didn’t want to spend money on what was going to be a short-term solution. Realistically, though – it took 9 months to put on this weight (45 lbs!), so it will take time to take it off.

I have a few personal obstacles right now. The first ones are lack of sleep and being caffeine-free, which drive my hunger for carbs. Then there’s the intense feeding schedule for the newborn, which makes me feel like I have no time for “me” – either for a workout video or going for a walk. Then there’s the weather, which is typical Seattle unpredictable, with miserable chilling rain making me rather stay inside.

There are a lot of things I need to figure out to adjust to this new life. Here’s to the beginning.

Where I am outed as negative, with difficulty trusting people

Posted on Posted in Deliberate Consumption, MotherhoodTagged , , , , 1 Comment

Just to follow-up on my post yesterday about a budding comment-spammer, I thought I’d share with you what happened.

I received an email back – however, Traci, the alleged originator of this product – asserted that she HAD been getting my blog (though she cut-and-pasted a Google news alert for “maternity products” of which, you’ll find, I’ve only written ONE blog entry) and that her intentions were not to mass market, but rather, be helpful. I could cut and paste all that, but I’m lazy and will spare you. To say the least, this made me rather sad and concerned about her and her company’s future on TEH INTARWEBS. For while her intentions were good (according to her) I saw other similarities – here’s part of what I wrote back to her:

I cannot fault you, as a business woman, for wanting to increase your business and the awareness of others to your product. However, the method you have chosen is one used by many spammers to sell pornography, pharmaceuticals, face creams and more – and I assure you all of these spammers have tried to use comments in my blog (often times, completely non-sensical or nrelated) to sell their product…

You have put yourself in the same ranks as people who run very shady businesses. As that you responded to me personally, I can only hope that you are NOT one of those people, but rather someone else that is just trying to get a start on Internet commerce. My unsolicited advice to you is to choose another avenue. There are many options, like banner ads on sites relevant to your product, partnering with other maternity Internet retailers, or Google ads – which is quite popular with many people getting started out.

I guess my first mistake was trying to be “helpful.” In her initial responses, she created a portrait of a small business woman, just setting out in a horrible economy (embellishment mine), with a product she needed to advertise, and not a lot of great ideas on how to get this product to a wider audience. Instead of coming off as an evil spammer, she came off as naive – so I took a chance that maybe I could share some of my Patented AdviceTM to be helpful.

I pout pitifully now, as I share with you her response.

I will tell you again that you are incorrect in your assessment, but believe as you will. You must have much more time on your hands to write than I. I do not need to explain how I was recieving your blog…you just want to see it your way…so be it. I hope your life fills with positive energy , you need it.

I’m incorrect, but you won’t tell me HOW. Oh, wait, you don’t need to explain it to me. Nevermind. Uh oh, is she saying that I’m filled with negative energy? Hm. Maybe I should get an exorcism. (Uh oh, no really, this DOES sound negative. I’m being sarcastic! OMG OMG OMG!) Ok, I’ll stop that.

All I can do at this point, as to not continue this discussion that seems to be one sided…is to hope that you find an outlet for you advice and negativity. I truly am sorry that I bothered you…and wish I hadn’t brought on all this negativity into my own life. You apparently must have difficulty trusting or believing in others. I know my intentions were good….that is all that matters.

Well, Traci of BellyPod, they say that “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Even worse, I believe this is especially true for people who not just suspect, but KNOW that their intentions were good. Unfortunately (not to get too philisophical), even the concepts of good and bad are highly subjective. To reiterate, while I don’t fault a small business owner trying to get ahead in business, I do think that there are better ways than others to do that. I offered those suggestions to you – maybe so you wouldn’t make the same mistake of bothering another person who has “difficulty trusting” all the promises made on the Internet and uses their personal blog to dispense “advice.” As for the negativity – just as you see your intentions as good, I see my intentions as being at least helpful (though I wouldn’t say good.)

My simple point is this – to any legitimate business person on the Internet – don’t use the same method to sell your product as spammers who are trying to sell Viagra without a prescription. Unless you want your product to be thought of, and bought by, that same market, there are better ways to do it. Heck, I’m sure that even Amazon has some options for small businesses and their products. There are options, and I’m sorry if that seems negative – but you know, I have only good intentions.

A Note to those who wish to Advertise through Comments on Blogs

Posted on Posted in Deliberate Consumption, MotherhoodTagged , , ,

Good afternoon,

I have been receiving you blog info for a couple of weeks via Google news feeds and I wanted to congratulate you on your pregnancy and the journey you are taking as an expectant mother. I thought since you had a considerable following that I would try and network with a mom and share a product I have spent several years developing for expectant moms…the [redacted].

Wow, NETWORKING WITH A MOM. Uh. Dude. Not a mom. Yet. Also, very much against the Baby Industrial Complex and the Cult of Motherhood. (More exciting blogging on that later, perhaps.)

(Clipped, a lovely little creation story on how she came up with this AMAZING product.)

I hope you will take a look at the ultimate in comfort for expectant moms and will share my enthusiasm for this amazing product. I have included the website and I look forward to your feedback.

Kind regards,

[Redacted]

OMG – ULTIMATE comfort?! OMG OMG OMG. How could I say no?! I mean, she’s like, been reading my feed for the past who-knows-how-long and is now GRACING me with this helpful tip!

Hey, here’s some feedback from me:

Dear [Redacted],

After receiving a comment on my blog, which was so obviously not-personalized, but meant to capitalize on my blog entry regarding a product that was related to pregnancy, yet totally different from the product you offer, I can only say that I will be deliberately avoiding your product during my pregnancy.

I believe that exploiting searches, and people’s blogs to hawk your wares is not only cheap and lazy, but also offensive. The way you are doing it fakes a personalization, “I have been receiving you blog info for a couple of weeks via Google news feeds and I wanted to congratulate you on your pregnancy and the journey you are taking as an expectant mother.” I not believe you have been reading my blog all this time. Now, this is an assumption that I’m happy to be incorrect, so if you could tell me what it is about my blog that you came across that made you so interested as to add it to your reader, that would be fantastic.

Furthermore, I will be posting this response to you in a blog entry of my own, as a warning to other people who might choose to try to market their wares through comments on my blog. Sadly, I believe most of the comments are not done by human beings, but rather by robots, and that they could care less. Regardless of that, I figure it can’t hurt to let people know where I stand.

Any future comments made to my blog by your company, or any other, that are explicitly intended to redirect to another website for the sale of a product or service, will be either altered by me to obscure the site or the original poster, or be deleted entirely. None of these comments will even be seen publicly without my approval anyway. I have already altered such means to take care of other comments meant to sell other products.

I’m sure that advertising is expensive. My request is for you to stop using non-commercial blogs, unsolicited, as a way to gain more customers.

Thanks,

Laura

BellaBand vs. Tummy Tube (BellaBand Wins!)

Posted on Posted in MotherhoodTagged , ,

I’ll preface this by saying that this is a public blog – as such, I choose to keep my personal life out of my blog, and in a more secure space. That being said, I’ll let it slip here that I’m presently pregnant, and have a product review to share with a larger audience (ie. TEH INTARWEBS).

One of the fascinating and helpful inventions to come to maternity clothing was the tube-like sleeve, knit, with a bit of spandex, with the intention of allowing a pregnant woman, in her many growing-belly stages, the ability to wear her pre-pregnancy pants a little longer (unbuttoned/unzipped), and hold up the not-quite-fitting-yet maternity pants. Think of it as an elaborate belt or cummerbund.

The first product I heard about was Ingrid and Isabel’s BellaBand. You can pick one up at a variety of maternity stores (specifically local boutiques), or order one conveniently through Amazon. The cost will run you about $26 for one, though Amazon does offer a 3 pack deal. The BellaBand, at first, seems pricey for an accessory that can cost as much as a pair of inexpensive maternity pants, but the upside is that it can work with any pair of pants, and they say will last you through post-pregnancy.

While in Baltimore a few weeks ago, I decided to go on a quest for the BellaBand, and called up MiMi Maternity and Motherhood (part of the same company) to see if they carried it. No, they replied, but excitedly told me about their Tummy Tube, a much less desirably named object, that at $16, they claimed would be the same thing. I purchased two, one black and one white – and found the first difference from the BellaBand to be that they are all One Size Fits Most. Given that I’m a woman who has changed sizes dramatically over the past two years (something like 6 sizes down), I find that laughable. Nevertheless, the Tummy Tube, though a bit binding at times, did the trick of holding my Lucky Jeans button-fly up with a few buttons undone, all without being noticable to anyone else.

After a couple weeks of the Tummy Tubes, I remained unimpressed, and found that they really didn’t add up to everything I hoped the BellaBand (or something like it) would be. I went on a quest, to a local Seattle maternity boutique, for the BellaBand. Happily, they had all the sizes to try on, which was a relief, since my pre-pregnancy size seemed to straddle the line. I found that the larger size was less snug and more comfortable in some ways, and was counseled by the sales assistant that I would appreciate the extra room as my tummy grows. SOLD. At around $24 per BellaBand, it was more expensive than the Tummy Tube, but what I found was a thicker, softer, seemingly more resilient fabric, better sewn seems, an overall wider span from top to bottom (allowing for a larger tummy later). It felt less like a tube of spandex and more like the bottom part to a spandex-fitted knit shirt I might wear.

The bottom line is, the extra cost is worth it. I know that Target sells a lower-cost BellaBand product, which runs around the same price as the Tummy Tube, however, I’d be concerned that it would fail to do the same things that the BellaBand does. I don’t know, though, and have no experience with it.

Hopefully, this will be helpful to other women out there wondering, as I did, what’s the difference? The difference is – you pay for the quality. To me, $8 more for a product I like twice as much is worth the extra change. It’s also worth it to not spend money on maternity pants unless I absolutely have to.

Oh, and I didn’t mention that the BellaBand also comes in different styles and colors, including lace trim. Very awesome.