Beer

Even though Natalie is such an easy going baby, we are having quite a journey together.  When we were both sick, my milk supply dwindled.  I wasn't eating, she wasn't eating, and therefore I wasn't producing.  So, after getting better, I started trying to pump more and drink dark beer.  Not a bad combination, but the beer was much more enjoyable than the pumping!!  Anyway, after about 4 days of beer, it seemed like my milk supply was at least back to where it had been.  But I also started noticing Natalie would spit up a bit more, but this was completely clear spit-up.  So, another food test - no more alcohol, and see if the spit up goes away.  And guess what...  Yes, it got much better.  Ugh.  And after Kim went out and stocked the fridge with 3 different assortments of dark beer - it's going to take years to go through it if I can't drink it anymore!  :)

The other thing that happened to Natalie (just recently) is that she skipped a day for a bowel movement.  Now, doctors will tell you that breast fed babies can go a whole week without a bowel movement and as long as it's soft when it eventually comes out, all is okay.  Me?  Not a fan of that idea.  So this week, we had our Nanny (Molly) start working and she was giving Natalie bottles while I pumped.  And Natalie went 2 days without a bowel movement.  And of course, she started getting a bit out of sorts.  So I went to the health food store and walked away with a probiotic (that both she and I could take), and some gripe water, just in case things were painful.  Well, I can only give the probiotic to Natalie by putting it in the bottle, and wouldn't you know it, we did it and she was so out of sorts she would not stop crying to even try the bottle.  So that didn't work too well.  But I started taking it so it would at least get into my milk supply.  I'm hoping this will keep her bowels moving daily, but we'll see.  Oh, and the end of this episode?  She finally had the blowout we were expecting, and of course it was at the most inconvenient time/place.  We were at gymnastics watching Alli and I heard the noise.  I picked her up out of the car seat and it was all over her back and all over the car seat.  So much for watching Alli!  I had HUGE cleanup to do!!  (I guess putting her into the size 3 diaper didn't quite cut it.  But based on what I saw, it wasn't a quantity problem, it was a force problem, cause it just shot straight up her back and barely soaked the diaper.)  Oh well.  Poop happens.