Where have I been? Because I truly expected to be back in the swing of things in blogland and normal life too...
Well, a nasty case of mastitis rendered me totally and utterly (oh yeah, pun intended... ) out of commission. I have seriously never been in so much pain, and would literally give birth 20 times over rather than endure it again. I am finally starting to feel better, thankfully. And it has helped immensely that Jen, my mother in law and today, my friend Amy have helped with the boys and such. Plus, I am still getting meals brought to me. Yes, I have had 4 weeks of meals from friends and church family... talk about making my life easier. Jen got it all together, scheduled everyone, etc. and has gone waaay above and beyond what the title best friend can say. (and so have the meal volunteers, I mean, we have not had the same thing twice, and everything has been sooo good.)
Sooo... here are a few more pictures from the past couple weeks, and a few life lessons learned ala Jude...
oh, and now that the knockedupedness journey is over, we are entering the Dairycowedness phase... (this is pre mastitis by the way.)
Life lessons from the mom of a newborn...
1. You would not believe how comfortable I have become living, literally in my pajamas. I take this whole blog title thing very seriously you know...
2. A towel placed between the teeth whilst pumping through mastitis will muffle your voice enough so that your visiting mom won't keep asking if you are "okay in there".
3. Though I found the maternity bathing suit (read here) shopping a real D-D-Disaster... the "I am so full of milk bra shopping" is going to prove to be an E-E-Eventful thing as well... and no, I am NOT G-G-Going to elaborate anymore if you don't get that.
4. You should never, and I repeat NEVER place the ibuprofen next to the stool softener they send you home from the hospital with... cause at 11:30 pm the bottles and pills are pretty similar and well... 4 pills later, you will know they are NOT the same!
5. It is okay to not post or comment on your friends blogs for like a month after giving birth cause they will all still love you right???
um... right??? :) :)
This beautiful hooded towel is courtesy of Greta. She made Alden this one, a white one and two burp clothes, all personalized. The woman should open an Etsy shop!! :)
Man, that stinks. Glad to hear things are better with you though :)
ReplyDeleteAnd all those meals? That's great!!!
And leaving no comments on blogs is ok. I'm still your friend!!
awwww, that little bitty towel is so cute.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're feeling better. Mastitis is something I've never had, but something about the way you write made me feel a little bit of the discomfort that must be involved.
How awesome that your church has sent a whole month worth of food. That's gotta make you feel loved! Awesome church and even awesomer best friend.
Stool softener/ibuprofen...glad you still have your sense of humor, even in the midst of all the pain!
Love the pictures. You know you're setting a precedence and us blog readers of yours will expect a picture of the baby on every single post for the rest of his life. Just so you know.
:)
I am glad things are better but I did have to laugh about the stool softner! Only because I did that with AJ! LOL
ReplyDeleteFirst of all love that picture of all your boys..Micah looks like he is in heaven as the father of three little boys :)
ReplyDeleteAlso never had to deal with mastitis - but I totally can relate to the cow like feelings - I pumped and bottled for Jack and Lauren their entire first year!...and did during those first few months have to get a new bra - that is something that has faded from my memory a lot less quickly than the pain of giving birth!
But glad to hear that everything is going relatively well - before you know it you will be on Target runs daily with the crew of three...
oh girl your boys are gorgeous...i could just eat Alden up tooo girl....i LOVE babies...
ReplyDeleteSo glad you liked everything..
i do have an etsy shop but nobody bought them so i quit loading them up :(
oh yeah and mastitis sucks BAD girl...
ReplyDeleteglad that is all healing without SURGERY...good lord...nightmares
EEEK!!! Nothing worse on EARF than achy boobies! And trust me, I do realize that "achy" is just not a big enough word to describe Mastitis. I was attempting to be nice, lol.
ReplyDeleteI will say though, that I'm glad you are adjusting well to your new blessing. And aren't friends and family the BESTESS people in the world? I would've brought you a meal myself, but it kept getting cold on the LONG drive there (from Ga). So we had to keep eating it ourselves :-D. But it's the thought that counts, right?
And for the record, YES, you are off the hook for not blogging and commenting. It takes more than that to push your fan club away.
Continue to take care of YOU and that beautiful family you have been blessed with. Talk to you soon.
OOOhhhhh....mastitis! I so feel for you. I had it for the first time with my 3rd child. I thought I was dying! Glad yours is getting better though. Your babe is such a cutie! Can't wait to hear all your stories from this new phase of your life.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh... I am sorry about the Mastitis.. that is not fun.. but gosh you crack me up. I thought I would die lauging of the bathing suit.
ReplyDeleteOk first off...have you ever heard the expression that a baby looks like they have been here before? I never really knew what it meant until I was scrolling through you blog and saw Aldens face for the first time a few posts down when he first came home. He's simply beautiful but he just screamed out at me from the screen that he had been here before.
ReplyDeleteOk so that was really weird and I can see the men in white lab coats coming down the aisle at my job so now I have to type fast!
Secondly...do you see how young, vibrant and beautiful you look in that picture holding Alden in that bath robe? Oh my god...I mean I know it's you and you can never look at yourself with the same eye as what others see...but you do look fantastic.
Thirdly...I now need to go and see what the heck mastitis is as there was one point during breast feeding where I would let out a scream and then just sit there and cry, tears rolling down my eyes as Baby C fed. I have no idea why I thought it was normal...but had a known about the towel muffling the sounds I could have used it along with to wipe up the tears.
Lastly, I love what your friend, MIL and church did...at least I know there are real friends left in this world, plus I need to find a church. If we were to rely on the friends we have living around us to give us meals we'd be dead in 2 days!!!
It's the first picture in this post where Alden spoke to me...god it still sounds weird but not to worry they are putting the straight jacket on right now!
ReplyDeletei can completely agree with the whole mastitis thing!!! got it with #2 and well, we were NOT happy. add thrush and well, it's amazing that child got fed at all(he's a healthy 2.5 year old now). there IS light at the end of the tunnel(and humor helps). you look, and sound, great.
ReplyDeleteOwww, but so gald you are feeling better. It's nice to see you are still plugging away and loving new mommyhood all over again.
ReplyDeletePs.---like the fridge pic!
Oh, he's just so cute! And you do look wonderful, Jude! I was juuuust about to email you to see how things were going. Glad to see that everyone is ok, but eeeegads!mastitis?! oh, that sounds horrible! My mother had it after I was born and had to go back into the hospital. Much sympathy for you! Can you still nurse? Or pump as it may be?
ReplyDeleteHow lucky are you to have all those goods friends and family around to make you dinners for 4 weeks! That is awesome!
Great pics!!!! Glad to hear everything is going well! Love the name by the way!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say hi!
I know this is bad, but this post makes me cry. he is just so sweet and I love that your little man is growing so well. sorry to hear mom has not been feeling well, I could not even imagine (and this really sounds bad but I had a horse that had the mastitis thing and I could barely watch her so ouch for you). Not that I am comparing you to my horse...lol... hope you know me better than that. Anyway, so glad to get a new post from you and those new pics. Amazing how fast they grow. OK....stop posting those cute pics, now I really wanna be a grandma
ReplyDeleteYou new baby is so sweet.Congrats. They grow up so fast...I miss that baby stage... not the up all night just the cute snuggly stuff. Hope you are feeling better and are back to yourself soon.
ReplyDeleteThere's my sweet girl!! I figured you were out due to something of the mammary way. You're going to think this is weird but nothing brought such sweet relief as cold cabbage leaves. You heard right. After about 30 minutes, they are literally cooked. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou have such a handsome bunch lounging on the couch. You should be so proud. And you look beautiful as always.
BTW- my sister had her baby too. My pink vibes worked on her, though. We'll get you (the pink) next go 'round.
i am so glad you are feeling better! the towel is the cutest and thank goodnes for your extended family and friends :)
ReplyDeleteyes we still love you, how could we not! :)
OMGosh, Jude! I SO laughed out loud about the elbow! Hee hee! We're dorks like that, aren't we??
ReplyDeleteYes you are loved (and I was impressed that you did comment on my blog!).
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling better from that awful M word! So so glad! And I wish you success in your bra shopping ... that was a huge (hee hee) difficulty for me too!
And I'm so glad you have such a good support system! That rocks! Have a wonderful day!
Kim
Forgot to say that Alden is gorgeous! And so are you!
ReplyDeleteKim
hi girl .... glad to see you are going well, mastitis is really really awful - i know from personal experience.
ReplyDeleteenjoy your little baby ... they don't stay that way for long! and enjoy all your pj time .... i am jealous! :-)
You look great! Glad you're over the mastitis. Does NOT sound fun.
ReplyDeleteAnd about that sand footprint pic. That picture is somehow playing a trick on the eyes. I thought the same thing when I saw it..like the sand is sticking up..but it's just where we stepped in it to make an indention. Maybe the shadows make it look that way.. I dunno!
wow jude!!! he is beautiful!!! and I am so glad to hear you are doing better!!!
ReplyDeletei haven't been a very good blog friend lately either and I don't have the excuse of new baby and utter issues!!! (LMAO!!!)
have a fabulous evening!!
ciao
ok...thought i had commented already, but now i realize i didn't. so here we go. first of all...what a doll. i think you should hop a flight to mn and come visit. :) second...you look great! and i hope you are feeling better. lastly...enjoy your family! you are so blessed!
ReplyDeleteAwww. congrats Jude
ReplyDeletelook at you, you look so happy and what a beautiful baby, sending you lots of love from Philly,,,
He is SO cute!!!!!!! And I love that monogrammed towel!! How sweet!
ReplyDelete#4 cracked me up!! lol
My goodness....he is DARLING!!!!! I'm going to have to visit you after your visit to me to see him. Hold the little guy. And um? Is that ALL BREAST MILK??????????? Girl you are awesome! I WISH I could bust out that much when I had my children. Whew....You go girl!
ReplyDeleteGive hima a big ol' kiss for me!
-Karla
Oh great...forgot to mention how glad I am that your feeling better. I was a bit worried like for real though. When you told me you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. I was like man.....what IS this thing. So I looked it up. Girl...thank God your feeling better.
ReplyDelete-Karla
Totally love you no matter how many comments you may or may not leave. And I know it isn't funny but dude...put those stool softners away!
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures of the awesome men in your life!
Oh no...mastitis!? I had that too and felt like I wanted to die...had a temp of 104 and blacked out. I feel your pain. Hope you are on then mend now!
ReplyDeleteThe baby is adorable!
Your writings are so inspiring, you must reach out further to those unwilling to accept pajamas as full out clothing.
ReplyDelete