Ameda Vs. Medela

Long story short I have used both the Purely Yours (Ameda) and the Pump in Style Advanced (Medela) double electric breast pumps and, while I've found them both to be good pumps, I have to say I like the Medela brand better. While the Purely Yours has a free standing set up, that is really the only benefit, and I actually like the built in protective case of the Pump in Style even though you can't stand the bottles up in it. With Ameda's Purely Yours pump, there are lots of fragile pieces that have the potential to cause trouble; the silicone diaphragms don't work as well if they get wet (which happens when milk gets in the top of the pump and it does happen) and even the tiniest tear in the white valves compromises their integrity resulting in dramatic drop in the suction of the pump. Plus, it is very hard to find replacement parts for Ameda in any store, you basically have to get it online and wait for it to ship. Medela parts are found in many stores (Target, Burlington) and the Pump in Style is designed without any delicate pieces.

So to recap:

Medela                               Ameda
Pump in Style                    Purely Yours
Built in case                       Free standing (holds bottles)
Parts sold in stores             Can only find parts online
Convenient design              Delicate parts which can cause trouble

And probably most importantly, I pumped 2oz more than I ever had the first day I switched from Ameda to Medela.

Winner: Medela

Words of Wisdom: Breastfeeding

Go to a breastfeeding support group while you are pregnant. I didn't think of this, but especially since I didn't know many people who breastfed, it would have been so beneficial. I know this might not be possible for some, but if you can I highly recommend it. Actually, it will probably be easier to get to a session during the last month or so of your pregnancy than the first few weeks with a newborn.  And don't feel weird because you don't have a baby yet, new moms LOVE to share their stories and any tips they have picked up on the way. I know when I finally got to a session, baby girl was about a month old, and I was so relieved to hear that others had gone through the same problems and had some of the same concerns. Even though 'they' say that pain is not normal, it is fairly common, and knowing you aren't alone takes a lot of the pressure off. Plus, it is almost guaranteed that there will be some breastfeeding going on at a breastfeeding support group. So, if you haven't seen breastfeeding in action much before, it might help build your confidence.

Words of Wisdom on Childbirth from "Deliever This"

        "The secret behind knowing which birth option is "best" is knowing which birth option is best for you. Yes, fervent believers in every corner will argue that there is a single superior method of delivering a baby. They will say that a home birth cannot be a safe as a hospital birth (or vice versa), or that a C-section cannot be as safe as a vaginal birth (or vice versa). There may be slight statistical differences in some areas, but the truth is that healthy, lovely, smart children have been born at home, in birth centers, after emergency C-sections, and with epidurals.....
       After all is said and done, what matters most when it comes to a low-risk pregnancy is the mother's ability to labor and deliver in a place where she feels safest and most in control (exactly what it is she wants to control is the big variable, of course). It is all about you. It is about which experience will put you in the best possible frame of mind to start being a mother. Some women get to this place by taking charge, trusting their body to do what it needs to do, going through the hard work of natural labor, and reaping the emotional rewards from succeeding at it. Others feel they are best launched into the role of mom after being relaxed, anesthetized, and surrounded by the most high-tech environment just in case something goes wrong. You have to go into your birth experience convinced that your personal needs and concerns will be respected. You have to do what you feel in your heart is best for your baby" (pg 252-253).

-Marisa Cohen
Deliver This: Make the Childbirth Choice That's Right for YOU...No Matter What Everyone Else Thinks

So embrace your birth choice and get rid of the guilt, because-trust me- you will have plenty of that after the baby comes.
 

Birth Story

DAYS LEADING UP TO LABOR:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013: Doctor's appointment, Midwife did physical check and I was 1cm dilated. She said it was good my body was getting ready for labor, but figured I would still make it to my next appointment. She also said a bit of my mucus plug came out and I might lose more. I spotted very lightly for the next few days. It was brown blood, so I knew it was my cervix because of the check.

Sunday, August 11th, 2013: Thirty-eight weeks. I lost my mucus plug that evening, this time mixed with bloody show. It looked like snot but more gelatinous tinged with pink blood. Of  course, this got daddy and me very anxious. We spend the night looking in book and online to see if we could find any predications of when labor would be. No news though, it could mean a few days or even up to two weeks.

Monday, August 12th, 2013:  Rhythmic lower back ache while at the honda dealer buying a new car.

Wednesday, August 13th, 2013: Had cramp-like pains every twenty minutes or so apart all day long. I wasn't sure if they were braxton hicks or maybe prelabor contractions. After work, I was thinking this might be leading up to the real deal, and should I go home and get rest or go to the last class of our childbirth education series, the one on breastfeeding that was most important to me. Since I really didn't want to be making a big deal out of nothing,  I decided not to get too excited and to continue on to the breastfeeding class as scheduled. While there, I was laughing to myself because one mama was feeling hot and the lactation consultant was starting to worry, while I was covertly having contractions :P. When we got home I decided to take a shower which felt so good on my lower back. Up until this point, it was basically like having menstrual type cramps. They weren't really bad at all so I figured they could have easily been false labor braxton hicks contractions.

EARLY LABOR:

Thursday, August 15th, 2013

~1:00AM: Woke up with somewhat stronger contractions. Downloaded contraction tracker App and started timing them. Probably somewhere around 15min or 10min apart at first, I was falling back asleep in between. ~3:00AM: At some point I decided to get up and try sleeping on the recliner because it was a bit more comfortable. When they started getting closer together I figured I should pack my hospital bag in case this was the real deal. Daddy eventually woke up and demanded to know what was going on. I told him I wasn't sure but that it could be real labor. He figured he would take a shower just in case.

~5:00AM: I called the midwife when my contractions were about 5 min apart. The problem was they were only lasting about 45sec and they once in a while they would be further a part. So it didn't seem perfectly consistent to me. The midwife probably thought I was crazy because I sounded so calm. She told me to try and get some sleep and to come into my appointment at 9:00am as scheduled. So I laid back down and dozed a bit, my contractions got farther apart but they did not go away.

~7:00AM: I couldn't sleep anymore so I started to get ready for my appointment. While I was pregnant I thought I would bid off time by getting all ready (hair + make up) before going to the hospital. Ya right, I definitely didn't want to blow dry my hair in the summer heat. I must have subconsciously known I was in real labor because I did not get ready so that I could have gone to work after the appointment. My hair was up in a messy bun and I had on my stripped old navy top and leggings. I got everything ready that I wanted for the hospital and we put it in the car just in case. Daddy wasn't sure if he should go into work or not and I didn't know what to tell him. His job was not one that you could miss days very easily, so I was worried it was going to be a false alarm and I was going to be so embarrassed. But, on the other hand, he had to travel about an hour away so I didn't want him to go and then have to wait for him to get back. Plus, I didn't figure I should be driving if I really was in labor. So we decided he would bring me to my appointment and since it was relatively early, he could go to work after if it wasn't real. On the way, a co-worker told him hopefully it was a false alarm because it would have been a bad week for them to cover him (well, sorry guy!). We took the long way to the hospital because we had some extra time and even went through the McDonald's drive through so daddy could get breakfast.

~9:00AM: Fast forward to sitting in the waiting room of my OB's office, I was still having contractions and at this point I had become very shaky. But other than the shakes, there was no reason for an outsider to suspect there was anything unusual going on. Since we had been in the car and on the move I had given up on timing my contractions because it just wasn't working anymore. I still had doubts they were long or consistent enough to be real labor. The nurse told me she was going to get a machine ready so my midwife could time my contractions. But before we got that far, my midwife was going to check me; It was the moment of truth. I was so ready for her (a pretty stern woman -particularly for a midwife) to stand up say I was still 1cm. She would scoff at me for naively believing I was in labor (pfft rookie). But no, she stood up and said I was 5cm. FIVE! I was half way done. Now I scoff at myself, pft-rookie. We then had a little chat about being admitted into labor and delivery. It went some thing like this:

        Do you have any specific wants?

        Well I don't have a birth plan.

        Good. They backfire anyway.

        I would like to try for a natural birth.

        I'd say your off to a good start.

        Can I walk around?

        Absolutely.

Lucky for us, my OB was in a building on the medical center campus I was giving birth at. So we just had a short little walk to the main building. Travis went back to get all our things I had packed and move the car to a long term parking spot (and if I would have known how much more time I had I would have gone with him).

AT THE HOSPITAL:

~11:00AM: We made it upstairs and into our room. The charge nurse came in and got me all situated. She said I could walk around but I would have to have intermittent fetal monitoring every hour or so for about 15 min. That was fine with me. I didn't even have to ask to have just a port for an IV, she offered. She got me hooked up and we listened to baby girl's strong and perfect heart beat. Maybe I missed something and she sets up all the patients since she was the charge nurse but I was under the impression she was going to be my nurse. But after about 10 min she said that I was actually going to have a different nurse. They were both super positive and supportive.

~1:00PM: The next two hours went by relatively easily. I would take turns walking around, and then sitting in the bed with the monitor on my belly. My contractions would start in my lower back and move around to the front and down to my upper thighs. The nurse gave me heating pads for my back when I was hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor which felt really good. When we were walking around and I had a contraction. I would stop and get into a slow dancing position with daddy and he would rub my lower back. That helped a lot and contractions were very manageable at this point.

~2:00PM: I had made it to about 8.5cm. I was progressing at good rate so far in my opinion. But then it started to slow down. Both sets of grandparent's arrived at the hospital at the same time. I was hooked up to the monitor at that point so they came and saw us in the room. Since sitting down was the most uncomfortable, I didn't really want to talk much. They stayed in there for a few minutes but when I saw that it seemed to be worrying my dad I told them I would come out to the waiting room and walk around after I got off the monitor. And that is what I did. Since the waiting room was small we spent a lot of time by these great big windows near the elevators. It was a beautiful sunny day.

~3:30PM: I had made it to 9cm but I was bummed that labor seemed to be slowing down. My water had not broken, the nurse told me that they wanted to wait and let it break on its own because if they broke it, labor would speed up and become more intense. So it would be "nicer" to let my water break on its own.

~5:00PM:  Still at 9cm. I was starting to get concerned since all the things I had heard and read about the transitional stage (8-10cm) was that it was the fastest stage of labor. At some point the midwife decided to break my water so she came down and did that. I didn't feel much when she did it and I didn't notice that anything got more painful after. But I did start to experience more pressure. My midwife was encouraging me to keep walking, sit in a yoga type pose, and sit on the toilet. I like the last of these the worst, because it made me feel like I wanted to push.

~6:00PM: The nurses would check me every so often and I would always be at 9cm. It was starting to get very uncomfortable because I felt like I wanted to push and I was trying not too since it was still to early. At one point my nurse suggested I try to push and she would feel if my cervix was opening up to 10cm, but it wasn't. I walked around a bit more and finally convinced Daddy to get something to eat. I felt bad for everyone waiting on me. My sister-in-law had drove down after work and she was afraid she was going to miss it (ha!). She came in to see me when she got there but I didn't talk much because it was getting pretty intense at that point. I was still walking around (VERY SLOWLY) a bit. I didn't really feel like it, but since the midwife had suggested it I tried my best. The nurses were all saying how strong I was for walking at 9cm. At that point I wasn't feeling to proud of myself though, I was just looking at the closed doors wondering how the other women were doing and hearing the little chimes of a new baby, thinking that everyone was going faster than me. I couldn't help but feel like Rachel on friends when she is in labor.

~6:45PM: It was getting close to 7pm when the nurses were going to switch over but before then the nurse I had all day said my Midwife had recommended we start pitocin. My mind started racing: Most natural birth advocates say not to get pitocin, because it starts the snowball of interventions (epidural to manage stronger pain, slows labor, more pitocin, baby becomes distressed, leading to a c-section). But those problems usually come with induction or a the beginning of labor, I'm already at 9cm. Plus I might need a c-section anyway if I don't progress any further. After I went through all the possible scenarios in a matter of two seconds I told them I was okay with trying the pitocin.

~7:10: My new nurse came in and started the pitocin. She was younger and less friendly than the first nurse. Somewhat awkward but still nice. I didn't notice the pitocin making anything worse because I was already in a lot of pain and discomfort. There was no position now that was making me feel better. I was also exhausted and falling a sleep between contractions. This point was when Daddy really started to worry about me, it was hard for him to watch. Apparently it was one side of my cervix that was being difficult, because the nurse wanted me to lay on that side to help open it up. It was probably the most uncomfortable position of all (other than on the toilet), but I did it for as long as I could to try and progress. I was still trying to breath through the contractions, but at this point I was only really able to hold it together about half the time, the rest I was moaning in agony.

~8:00PM: The nurse asked if I wanted to be checked again and I said no because she already had few times and I didn't think I could stand hearing that I was still at 9cm again! I never said it out loud but at this point I was seriously starting to doubt myself. I was thinking "what if I have to have a c-section, at this point I doubt I would even have enough energy to care, how long are they going to let me go on like this".

~8:45PM: I told the nurse "I can't help it, I'm pushing". It was an urge that I could not control. My body was pushing weather I wanted it to or not. She checked me and I was a 10cm! "THANK GOD" I said. The nurse who comes in for the baby seemed like she arrived instantly and my nurse was saying I could try a few practice pushes. I did and it was evident I was a good pusher because they told me to stop and the second nurse yelled down the hall, "Get the midwife, tell her to come NOW".

DELIVERY:

Pushing was the part I remember the least. I do remember some things, I caught a few bits of conversation between my midwife and the nurses but most of my focus was on pushing. It's true what they say about pushing, it feels so much better to be actively working towards something rather than just lying there enduring pain. Like I said before, I really didn't have much control over pushing, which made pushing when my midwife wanted me to somewhat tricky. She wanted four pushes per contraction, holding each one for a count of ten. My own rhythm would have been three pushes and holding them longer. I could tell the push was productive when I got "locked on" to the contraction (for lack of a better way to describe it). I was thinking to myself that your are less likely to tear if you don't push to fast, but I just wanted labor to be over with as soon as possible, so I was pushing as hard as I could. When she started crowning it did feel like a ring of fire, but honestly this pain was so short lived I barely remember it. I remember thinking that I could tell that there was resistance there and I could basically tell I was going to tear at least some when she came out. But I just pushed through the pain telling myself it would all be over soon. And it was. It took maybe 15min of pushing and she was out. My two first thoughts were "I can't believe I did that" and "She is sooo small". All of a sudden my energy had rushed back. The nurses cleaned baby girl on my lap and she got a 9 on her APGAR test. I got to hold her right after and I remember her having the biggest eyes, they were the Brewer eye's, the eyes all of my mom's family had as kids. I asked to do skin to skin and we practiced nursing. I remember the midwife saying that "skin to skin" was over rated, and babies will breastfeed with or without it. I agreed, and I do agree-I'm sure babies do fine without it- but now I think shouldn't have encouraged her-I should have just ignored her (common guys, I wasn't going to anger the woman who was stitching up my lady parts!). Really though, there was no need for her to say that. I was able to have that moment and I enjoyed it- that was benefit enough for me. Eventually they brought Kylie over to the warming table to get her weight and swaddle her. Daddy held her for a few minutes, and then she was back to mommy. I stuck my finger in her hand and was swept away in those wonderful bug eyes staring back at me. One of the things I remember most vividly was the feeling of her little cone head in my hand. It fit perfectly.

Taking Medication While Breastfeeding

Chances are, if you breastfeed for longer than 6 months you may need to take some type of medicaiton. I am currently facing this problem and found these sites to be the most informative:

http://kellymom.com/category/bf/can-i-breastfeed/meds/

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT

http://www.pfli.org/articles/2012jan_nice_japha.pdf