Reaching a goal and other things

Life is going on at breakneck speed...so here are some of the things going on...

Beanie and I are recovering from our respective illnesses last week - her with tummy bug and me with a horrible cold.  I ended up taking Friday off and took myself to the doctors and later Beanie to the pediatrician since she caught my cold. I tried so hard to wash hands, not sneeze/cough around her, kiss her etc for those few days but it was inevitable given I was hacking and dripping snot. Luckily she only got some congestion and was over it by Monday.

The good thing in all this is that I have had my first experience with dealing with baby colds and diarrhea so next time I will be little more comfortable (I hope) and not be worried nervous wreck!

I was put on antibiotics so I am watching to make sure Beanie does not get thrush. If we can go another week then we are in the clear. I am still nursing her, hence the concern. I am taking probiotics so hopefully some of that will get through the milk. She did get mild diaper rash but we caught it soon and its gone now.

So its been a spate of one ailment after another but we are doing well now.

I have to admit that last week was really rough.  I got about 3-4 hours sleep each night for the entire week due to my own sickness, worrying about Beanie being sick and the associated fussiness related to her being unwell, plus having to work during the day and take care of the house/grocery shopping/errands, etc. I think there was one night in there when I basically was awake from 1am onwards, because even though Beanie was sleeping, I was coughing and sneezing all night long.

I was exhausted!!

On Friday night my Mom felt sorry for me and offered to stay the night. Even though I woke up several times to tend to Beanie, I could hand her to my Mom afterwards and finally got some rest. I cannot even imagine feeling that sick and having to tend to a baby and another child, should I decide to have another one.

In terms of reaching goals I have reached my 6-month goal of breastfeeding - yay!!!! Given how much I struggled with supply right from Day 1, its amazing to me that I lasted this long.  And I have to give myself a pat on the back for not giving up.  I had initially hoped to make it to 3 months, then when I did I thought maybe I can manage six.

Here I am - six months into breastfeeding. My supply is definitely dwindling. The past month have only been able to do 30- 40% breastmilk, rest is formula and solids. But still every drop is well worth it and better than nothing, I guess.

Now I am faced with what to do...should I just let nature take its course and let my supply die down or shall I give it one last shot of building it back up with more pumping etc.

I think I may give it one last hurrah and see if I can build it back up to about 50% capacity, but not stress if I cannot.

Beanie has her 6 month check up on Wed and is doing great. She is 28 1/4 inches long (99%) and weighs 17 lb 12oz (69%). She lost some weight due to her tummy bug when we weighed her on Friday but seems to have got her appetite back now. She got some shots and only cried for an instant.

When we came home I gave her a small dose of Tylenol. Then she was super happy. It was weird, even my Mom commented that she was like some who has had a glass of wine. She was laughing, happy, playful, singing.....I finally figured out that the Tylenol probably relieved her teething pain so she was in a great mood.  Her teeth are really close to coming out and the poor thing has been drooling like a faucet.

We (my parents, Beanie and I) had planned to go on a road trip this weekend, but with us being sick I decided to cancel earlier in the week.

Of course now I feel fine and regret having cancelled it. It was to be Beanie's first trip out of town.

We will probably do it later in the month.