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Caden’s Birth Story

June 7, 2013 by Tamara 6 Comments

Today Caden is 1 year old and I am sharing his birth story! Happy birthday baby boy!

Two weeks before Caden was born our air-conditioning quit working. While we were waiting for our insurance to determine if they would cover a new unit Josh and I packed up a few necessities and stayed with my parents. Nothing like a big slumber party with your family! While we were staying with my parents we had our 37 week check up with the OB and an ultrasound.

My ultrasound had been on Monday and by Wednesday both Josh and myself were anxiously awaiting to have a new air conditioner installed so we could return home. Wednesday morning I woke up and headed to the gym for a swim and made my way over to our house to meet with the insurance agent. After a long morning and afternoon spent sweating in our little sauna of a townhouse we were informed our insurance company would not cover a new unit. The rest of the day was spent contacting companies and getting quotes. Thankfully we found an amazing company who could have a new unit installed in two days.

When I made it back over to my parents house that evening I had the entire house to myself. Josh was at work and my Mom and Dad had gone to a concert. I knew I needed to eat but I wasn’t super hungry so I settled on a green smoothie and a banana muffin. I followed up my dinner by taking a nice long shower before going to sleep.

I woke up around 10:50pm needing to go pee and after I was done another rush of liquid came out into the toilet and the water was really cloudy. Thinking it was a little odd, I proceeded to wipe and when I looked at the toilet paper it was a light pink. This is about the time I started to realize what might actually be happening was probably actually happening.

Thinking my parents were still at the concert I called Josh at work told him what was happening and we decided he would come pick me up and we would go to the hospital. While Josh was on his way over I called the doctor and she told me it was best to go to the hospital to determine if it was in fact my water that had broken and not an excessive amount of pee.

When Josh came into my parents house a little after 11pm I heard my Mom from upstairs asking what was going on. I had missed hearing them come back from the concert and they had been home the whole time without me knowing. My Mom looked a little in disbelief when I told her I thought my water had broken. I had just started my 37 week of pregnancy so all of us were slightly surprised. We had to stop at our house before going to the hospital because my bag and Caden’s carseat were sitting by our front door ready for us to grab when we would need them in a few weeks.

We got in to the hospital and were sent into the triage area for labor and delivery. Thank goodness for pre-registering all my information 3 months ago, it made for a much smoother check in. I was then hooked up to the monitors and checked to see if my body was prepping for the baby to be born. They ran some slides of the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid. The first round of tests did not allow the nurse to determine if my water had broken, but because of the amount of the fluid she saw I was retested. This next test showed that my water had indeed broken. The nurse then checked to see how far I was progressing and told us I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced and that they baby was really low and she could already feel a good portion of his head. When Josh and I heard this we knew we were going to meet our son sooner then we had anticipated.

I was then moved to delivery room where I would have Caden. It was around 5am when we were settled and called my parents to let them know we were going to be having Caden a little bit earlier then we had thought. My friend Catherine had given me the great idea to bring food for the nursing staff at the hospital so we asked my Mom to pick up bagels on the way over to the hospital for the staff. They were very appreciative. My Dad, Evan (Brother), and Rhiannon (Evan’s girlfriend) also came around the same time. I ate some popsicles, drank lots of water and rolled around on an exercise ball to stretch out my hips. I also did some yoga poses as well :).

My family hung out with me until about 11:30am when the nurse came in to do another exam to see how I was progressing along and at that time I was 4 cm dialed and 90% effaced. I started to become uncomfortable and Josh and I decided it would be a good idea to keep everyone out of the room at this point so I could really concentrate on relaxing and breathing during the contractions.

I knew I wanted to have Caden without any medication and Josh knew that in order for this to happen I would need to stay completely focused. My Grandparents made a quick stop in to hi and then it was the nursing staff, Josh, and my Mom left in the room. At 12pm I asked to use the hydrotherapy tub to see if that could alleviate some of the discomfort. Getting in the water did feel pretty nice but after 15 minutes I needed to change positions again and decided to head back into the room.

From this point on it took everything I had not to cry and loose focus on my ultimate goal of having Caden without medication. When 2pm came I was so nauseated I began vomiting and the nurse asked if I would like some medication to help me from being sick. She also hooked up my IV drip at this point to keep me from becoming dehydrated. I told her the IV bag was fine but I would wait on the anti-nausea medicine and if I still was getting sick I would reconsider taking it. Thankfully I did not get sick again and did not have to take any medication.

At 2:30pm I was checked again and I was 8cm dilated, I was so happy because I knew I was getting closer to be able to push. I was on my hands and knees at this point and Josh and my Mom were pressing down as hard as possible to help relieve some of the discomfort in my lower back. (Side note: The next day they were both sore from pushing so hard on my lower back.)

At 3:20pm the urge to push was so overwhelming it took everything in me to try to fight it off. Josh and my Mom were an incredible support duo.They talked me off the edge of a complete emotional meltdown several times. The nurse started to get me into the stirrups when I informed her I would not be using them and wanted to use the squat bar instead. If you have never seen this before the end of the hospital bed lowers down and a bar is placed above that you can grab onto. The squat bar and my doctor (Dr. Brass-Jones, Center for True Harmony and Wellness) appeared at the same time and I cannot even begin to describe how good it felt to be able to start to push. Six minutes later Caden Joshua Buschel was officially and literally squatted into the world and caught by Josh.

We love that our doctor allowed us to have the exact birthing experience we had hoped for. When Josh handed Caden to me I was so happy and all the pain I had felt was nothing to the amount of love I had for this little person in my arms. He was so perfect and I could not stop looking at him. I really felt like the two of us were the only people in the room at that point.

From the time my water broke to Caden’s arrival the whole process took about 16 hours with only 6 minutes of actual push time without medication. Josh and I are so thrilled to be Caden’s parents and love our little boy so much! This past year has been the best year of our lives!

Caden’s Birthday June 7, 2012 at 3:46pm | Birth Weight 6 pounds 7 oz. | Length 19.1 in

Filed Under: Caden, My Family, Pregnancy

My Breastfeeding Story

June 5, 2013 by Tamara 11 Comments

For the next few weeks I am going to be sharing my experiences as a first time mommy and what has worked for our family during this past (very soon to be) year. Sigh. I can’t believe my baby is going to be year old in June. If you are just joining me here are my previous posts:

Baby Registry Must Haves

On Becoming Baby Wise

1st Trimester Recap

2nd Trimester Recap

3rd Trimester Recap

Homemade Baby Food Essentials

Feeding The Baby: The First Year

It seems appropriate that after talking yesterday about feeding Caden solids now would be an excellent time to share my breastfeeding story. I knew before I was even pregnant with Caden that my goal was going to be to breastfeed my babies. I approached breastfeeding just like I do anything in my life that I have no clue about, I asked a ton of questions. I talked with my friends, clients, and ob and read tons of articles on the internet. I was in completely uncharted territory about what was going to be happening to my body.

After talking with my girlfriends I learned about inverted nipples, cracked nipples, engorgement, clogged ducts, mastitis, colostrum, supply issues, and a wide array of breastfeeding products. I wanted to be prepared for anything and everything that could possible happen. You can see a few of my favorite products here.

On June 7th, 2012 within 30 minutes of Caden being born he latched on beautifully and I couldn’t believe that I was actually breastfeeding my baby. I was in awe of what my body had done to protect and grow this little miracle baby and continued to be in awe as I watched him nurse. I nursed Caden every two hours during our hospital stay and had no issues at all with feeding him.

It took a few days for my milk to actually come and in and holy engorgement, I felt like they were going to explode. To relieve some of the pressure I busted out my breast pump and realized that I had never sat down and read the instructions or had any clue how of it worked. Caden was napping like a champ while I frantically tried to relieve the ever growing pressure that was accumulating more and more with each passing minute. I was so happy and proud of myself when I saw the milk start to release into the bottles. I felt like a woman. Never mind the fact that I just had a baby and had already been nursing him for a few days.

Everything was going so smoothly. I did not experience any cracking and Caden never had any difficulty latching. Six weeks postpartum I began exercising again. My girlfriends had all given me great advice from their experience with breastfeeding and exercising. I was making sure to drink plenty of water and eat an additional 300-500 calories a day on top of my normal intake.

Two weeks later I decided to go for a run and swim and while I was getting dressed told myself I really needed to buy a larger sized sports bra. Later on that day I noticed a huge and painful lump in my right breast. It felt like a golf ball had been shoved under my skin. I knew from talking with my girlfriends that this meant I had a clogged duct and there was the possibility that I could develop mastitis.

Mastitis is an infection of breast tissue that can be caused by clogged milk ducts, tight fitting bras, and not emptying the breast all the way during feedings. The symptoms include fever, tender and swollen breast, nausea and/or vomiting, and overall fatigue.

I immediately began massaging my chest to see if I could release the clog (this was really painful) and made an appointment to see my doctor. Several hours later I was diagnosed with mastitis. Booooooo. I was told to go and invest in new bras, and was prescribed several herbal remedies, antibiotics, and a lymphatic massage for my treatment.

If you are diagnosed with mastitis or suspect you have a clogged duct I recommend the following:

Massage that breast. It hurts but it will decrease the clogged area.
Take hot showers with more massage or soak breasts in a hot tub.
Apply castor oil hot compresses before feedings to help reduce inflammation and increase circulation to the infected tissue.
Apply hot compress poultice with medical herbs: camomile, lavender, valerian, rose hip, hops, and lemongrass
Take antibiotics and tylenol to treat infection and reduce inflammation.
Use a lactose free probiotic and dab it on nipples to prevent thrush. Once you start taking an antibiotic it kills all the healthy bacteria making it more likely to develop a yeast infection.
Rest, rest and more rest.
Continue nursing and pumping as often as possible.
Schedule a lymphatic massage.

Again I am not an expert this is just what worked for me and was prescribed by my doctor.

A few weeks later I was feeling much better and have had no other issues while breastfeeding, well aside from Caden biting my boobies :). That hurts pretty bad too.

I was very fortunate to have been home with Caden the majority of his first year. In the first few months when I went back to training clients and teaching Josh or my Mom would try to bottle feed Caden but he was not interested. Thankfully I had the flexibility to arrange and schedule client sessions around Caden’s feeding schedule.

In the last month I started to feed Caden more solid meals and he dropped his two middle of the day nursing sessions. These are my last few days breastfeeding and I am relishing them. Next week I start a 2 month treatment program to remove my varicose veins and can no longer nurse once that treatment begins. I know I will miss holding my baby close to me while he is so content and peaceful.

This past week I started using peppermint essential oil on my breasts to encourage my milk supply to decrease and it has worked beautifully. No engorgement or swelling.

I already know my last nursing session will be bittersweet. I am so blessed to have been able to experience this wonderful bond between a mother and her child.

xoxo, Tamara

PS…I had a mini design update done on my blog :). If you are looking for a website designer to work with I highly recommend Aileen Barker. She is fabulous!

Filed Under: After Baby, Caden, Personal Tagged With: Breastfeeding, Mastitis

On Becoming Babywise

May 15, 2013 by Tamara 35 Comments

Josh and I decided early on in our pregnancy with Caden that we would be following the schedule outlined in On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the GIFT of Nighttime Sleep. We know there are many differing opinions on this book but for us it has been one of the best decisions we have made for our family.

If you have never heard of Babywise take a few minutes and google the title. Bloggers and reviewers have devoted entire websites to this book, both for and against. I am not going to debate this book or tell you it is the right choice for all babies, because there is no such thing. What I am going to do is explain how this method worked for me and my family.

The basic principals of the BabyWise Method include:

Eat, play, sleep schedule for baby
Striving for awake time during and after a feeding
Trying for full feedings as opposed to snacks
Putting baby to sleep without many props

With Josh being a firefighter sleep is crucial. For our family, deciding to sleep train Caden was a must. After talking with several friends who all had huge success after implementing the suggestions in this book we knew we would be a Babywise family. This method provided us with structure and taught us how to establish a routine for our newborn. We had an open and flexible mindset as we followed this book. If something didn’t seem to work for us we kept trying different variables until we had a positive outcome.

Our first day home from the hospital was a blur. Putting everything away, finishing the final touches on the nursery, and of course sitting and staring at our new baby. That night as we placed Caden in his crib and made sure his swaddle was snug we quietly walked out of the room and immediately went back to look at him again before gently closing his nursery door. I admit Josh and I were glued to the baby monitor and checked on him multiple times that first night. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep, maybe 5 hours total after waking up round the clock to feed him. By three months of age Caden was sleeping 8 hours solid at night and at four months he graduated to rockstar status by sleeping 7pm-7am.

The following is an outline of Caden’s nursing and bedtime schedule for the last 11 months.

Birth: Every 2-3 hours for the first two weeks to increase Caden’s weight per doctors orders. After Caden’s weight increased we were given the go ahead from his pediatrician to allow him to sleep during the night without needing to wake him to eat.

Week 3: 4am, 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6:30pm, 9pm, and 12:30am. Bedtime at 7pm followed by the last two feedings.

Week 7: 5am, 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6:30pm, and 9:30pm. Bedtime at 7pm followed by a dream feed.

Month 3: 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 9:30pm. Bedtime at 7pm followed by a dream feed.

Months 4 – 9: 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm. Bedtime at 7pm.

Month 10 – 11: 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm. Bedtime at 7pm.

Nap times were more of a challenge. Three month old Caden was averaging 60-90 minutes of daytime sleep. The Buschel house was not a fun place to be from 5-7pm. We had a very tried, cranky, and screaming baby for 2 hours each day. Up until this point we had been successful with following the book verbatim in regards to attempting to encourage Caden to nap without a sleep aid. My definition of success changed the moment we introduced Caden to the glorious pacifier. Cue sunbeams and choir singing! This was a game changer. We deviated from what the book said, became more flexible, and Caden napped! Yay for sleep aids!

At 11 months old, Caden now takes a morning and afternoon nap for a total time of 3-4 hours. It is amazing! Caden’s nap routine did not change overnight. It took several months of adjusting, using sleep aids, and being patient. The most common response Josh and I hear when we describe Caden’s sleep schedule is some variation of “You are lucky you have such an easy baby.” We agree! Caden is a super sweet kid! We also agree that it took both of us consistently working together in order for Caden to develop healthy sleep habits.

Life is short and time is too precious to waste judging others. I have nothing against feeding on demand or having your baby sleep in the same room with you. Each child is unique and what worked for my baby might not work for yours. I am just sharing what has worked for our family.

If you are thinking of trying BabyWise or using it as a flexible guideline here are my suggestions:

Don’t be afraid to deviate from what the book says. Make it work for you and your family.
Make sure any caregiver who watches your baby knows your plan and is willing to commit to it also.
Give it time. Habits do not form overnight.
Your baby’s schedule is constantly changing. Be flexible and ready to adapt.

What has worked for your family? If you don’t have kids, would this be a method you would try? I love to read your comments!

xoxo, Tamara

PS…Want to know what I else I will be blogging about over the next few weeks? Stay tuned for my breastfeeding story, how to make your own baby food, an overview of what we feed Caden, and other random goodness. Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: Babywise, Caden Tagged With: Baby, Babywise, Feeding Schedule, Naps, Sleep Training