Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my birthday!  This year I want to share my celebration with all of you!  

Since the beginning of the month I have had several giveaways, today is no different.  If you did not win any of the previous giveaway, you are in luck!  You will have a few hours today to enter to win some awesome prizes!
Four Awesome prizes left, something for every momma!

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Good Luck!

Birthday giveaway Day 6: Breastfeeding

Yay!  It is September!  This is my birthday month.  In honor of my birthday I am having a huge giveaway.  All of you get to enjoy my birthday month as well.  Enjoy over $300 worth of prizes.

Day 6: Breastfeeding

Today we have another breastfeeding theme giveaway.  As you may or may not know, I am still breastfeeding my daughter.  After a few struggles we are still going.  I want to be able to give to other moms who are breastfeeding as well and encourage this natural and beautiful way to nourish our babies.  

Included in today's giveaway is an Udder Covers nursing cover, a nursing bracelet, two Mother's Lounge nursing pads, a sample of Lansinoh lanolin cream, a sample of Lansinoh storage bags, and a Medela coupon for help with breastfeeding.  Retail Value of $60. 

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Birthday Giveaway Day 3 Breastfeeding

Yay!  It is finally September!  This is my birthday month.  In honor of my birthday I am having a huge giveaway.  All of you get to enjoy my birthday month as well.  Enjoy over $300 worth of prizes.

As part of my switch to using more cloth, this included cloth nursing pads.  I love the Bamboobies cloth nursing pads because they are very soft and lined with PUL to prevent leaking through your shirt.  The overnights are great for the early months of breastfeeding when the flow may be a bit heavier.  The clever heart shape helps to hug the breast and reduce lumping or showing through shirts.  This pack of nursing pads includes 3 pair of regular pads and one pair of overnight pads, with a retail value of $25.  

In addition to the nursing pads, the winner will also receive a coupon for a free breastfeeding class online through Medela.  Valued at $25.  

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We made it!

We have made it nursing for a year!  We are still going with no end in sight. 

I can't say how amazing it is to be able to nourish my baby/toddler on my own.  We only made it a little over for months with Owen.  I feared that the same would be true with Charlotte.  It is amazing how different these two are.

Through out the past year I have had mastitis four times.  The first time was the worst.  Each time after that I knew what was going on and how to ease it.  Which made it a little better. 

When Charlotte got her first tooth she got into the habit of biting.  Which we had to put an end to real quick.  Before we could she managed to break the skin. OUCH that hurt! Not to mention it took about two weeks to heal.  Nursing continued to break open the wound making it take longer to heal.  Right after it happened my husband asked if I was ready to quit.  Not this Momma. I had a baby who wanted the best milk possible, and I had a body that was producing that yummy goodness. 

This past week Charlotte had hand, foot, and mouth disease.  For those that do not know, it is a viral infection that causes blisters and sores on the hands, feet, and mouth.  Charlotte had many sores in her mouth.  This caused it to hurt when she nursed.  She went almost 29 hours without nursing.  I pumped when I felt like I was getting full. I managed to pump over 100 ounces in that time period.   When she finally latched on it was just for a let down.  I got the milk flowing before trying to get her to latch.  This way she didn't need to do anything but swallow.  After the let down was over she let go.  It wasn't until bed time until she was able to nurse without screaming in  pain. Last night she slept very well and  we are nursing regularly now. 

Charlotte nurses first thing in the morning right after waking.  Then she nurses again with lunch, before nap time, after dinner, and before bed. She also nurses two to three times at night.  Which neither of us really wake up for. 

I am really happy we made it this far and look forward to the time we have remaining. 

The only picture I have of Owen nursing.  A week old

Charlotte at a week old. 

Charlotte three months old.

The Big Latch On

Today is the first day of World Breastfeeding Week 2014!

Today was also The Big Latch On event.  I believe that they are hosting events tomorrow as well.  As of the time this post was written, there was a reported 5,562 babies/children latched on during the event.   (I will update tomorrow with the final count.  The record is 14,536.)

I went to the event in Monroe, NC.  It was at a pretty nice park, the same one we watched fireworks for Independence Day.  I had planned on staying after the event and packing a picnic, and letting the kids play on the playground. However, Mother Nature had other plans.  The whole time, it poured! Which I think limited the amount of moms that came out to the event.  Two of my friends were going to come but decided not to because of the rain.

There were a total of 9 nursing moms there, the children ranged from a few weeks old to 14 months old.  Owen enjoyed his time there despite being restricted to the pavilion.  We grabbed some cars for him to play with and him and another little boy raced them around the tables.  Charlotte also tried to join in on the fun.

The moment of Latch

The participants and hosts

Overall the event was a success.  The only things I would change would be to ask the moms what struggles they have overcome or still have, and have more breastfeeding conversation between the women.