Why Jess's Garden


As I think about it now, I chose the name because I garden to create a space that I want to share with my family.
This blog has now evovled to be a discussion about how I'm attempting to create a personal and physical home for my family.
Creating a garden is a key part of that process, but it is not the only part, so I feel the different parts of this blog are all congruent to the same goal.

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Diet update

oday I had an appointment with a nutritions, after the MACH nurse recommended I see her to check that my diet is OK while on the elimination diet.
Well the nutritions suggested I go the whole hog and do the complete elimination diet recommended by the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. I was pretty overwhelmed by it all when I left. The diet combined with what I have already eliminated doesn't leave me with that much to eat. As I was driving home I was sure I wasn't going to do it, but I've changed my mind now.
If I'm going to do this it is worth doing well. So now I'm learning all about Salicylates (I can't even say it yet), Amines and other natural food chemicals. I've found at lot of information and resources at Sue Dengates website. So we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Sling, Pappose or carrier

Hi. My name is Sally and I'm a sling-o-holic!

I now have 3 slings and I love them all. Let me tell you about them.

When I was pregnant my mum brought me a baba-sling.
I used this when Saana was very little and she could lie in it. She would often fall asleep while in it and it was so easy to get on and off while she was tiny. I must admit that as she became bigger it became uncomfortable to wear and she didn't seem to like it much either. I now keep it in the car for when I want to duck into a shop or something and I want at least one free hand.

Then my dad brought me an ergo. I think this one will be a favourite for a long time. It is great for walking and outside things. The only time it is not perfect is for around the home which brings me to my third sling.

I brought myself a hug-a-bub. This one is for around the home, while wearing Saana is the HAB I can cook, clean, deal with washing etc. I think this is Saana's favourite because she can face outwards and see everything that is going on. It took me awhile to get the hang of putting it on, but it gets easier pretty quickly.

Now I've written all this, I'm going to go and put Saana into the HAB because she is sik of playing on the foor or sitting in my lap.

sally

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Diet & Breastfeeding

I have decided to do an elimination diet to try and see if what I'm eating is triggering Saana's reflux. Before her UTI and kidney infection were diagnosed I stopped eating anything with caffeine, including chocolate :( and tomatoes.
We've now cut out
* dairy
* wheat/gluten
* soy
* rye
* eggs
* Plus all the original things.
I'm planning to do this for at least 2 weeks and then I'll start testing foods.

Saturday 7 June 2008

feeling a bit better

Well 24 hours on and we are all feeling much better.
DD slept for 7 hours last night, I woke up with milk running every where but feeling much rested.
I tried the 2 hours between feeds and I do think it has helped a bit. I posted on the ABA forum and one girl made the suggestion that maybe I was over-stimulating her when I thought I was settling her. I had a thought about this and I think it might be right. Instead of doing lots of things I just held her tight on my chest while sitting in the rocker, she slowly stopped crying and went to sleep, that happened twice today.

My big realization today was how the 45mins sleep cycle works. Because I was tracking time for the 2 hourly feed breaks, I noticed that on her first sleep today she woke after a 45 min sleep.
On her 2nd sleep she stirred after 45 mins, but settled back to sleep, I suspect before I would have gone to her and she would have woken up. this happen twice and she ended up sleeping for 3 45 min cycles before waking for a feed.
I'm waiting with baited breath to see how it all goes tomorrow.

Monday 2 June 2008

Breastfeeding & returning work

I'm breastfeeding at the moment and wondering what I'm going to do when I go back to work. On the whole I"m enjoying breastfeeding even though it has meant changing my diet.

The questions I'm asking myself are
* Will I try and express
* I'm trying to find out as much information about expressing as possible.
* Not sure if I should if i should buy an electric pump or just stick to my manual pump.
* How will I feel if expressing doesn't work