Babies are such blessings. My life changed dramatically when I found out I was pregnant with my first son, Brayden. I couldn't fathom a world where he is not in my life, even though I had him when I was 19. You can imagine how I felt at the beginning of this year when I found out that I was pregnant again.
Naturally, I went through several different stages of acceptance. Finally, when I calmed down, I was excited. I was going to attempt to have the "best pregnancy." I did everything "right," took prenatal vitamins every day, at healthier, and overall, took better care of myself. I was bummed when I started getting sick. My blood pressure was super low, causing me to have black outs. I was working about 55 hours/week PLUS taking care of my other little man. It got so bad, I had to quit my full time job, and my man picked up a second job so that I could take care of myself and Brayden.
At the 20 week appointment, when we found out that we were having another baby boy, the doctors also found a cyst on the umbilical cord. They told me that it was nothing to worry about, but they would monitor it anyway. A few weeks later, I had another ultrasound to check the cyst and upon closer review, the doctors found out that I had a 2 vessel cord, instead of the standard 3 vessels. Again, they said I had nothing to worry about and that they would monitor baby's growth even closer now. Typically, with a 2 vessel cord, the baby is small, usually 5-6 pounds at birth. I went through all the testing and monitoring and baby was growing just fine.
Finally on September 29, I was induced. After 3.5 hours of active labor, and no epidural, we welcomed baby number 2, Bradley Joseph at 2:01 pm. He weighed a whopping 9 lbs, 6.5 oz. The doctors were impressed with his size! We stayed in the hospital for the required 24 hours, and were at home with everyone together by dinner time on the 30. I was so excited to be a stay home mommy! It is a ton of work, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but it is EXTREMELY rewarding too.
We decided to breast feed Bradley for at least a year, and to prepare for my going back to work part time, I started pumping. I had noticed that I wasn't producing as much milk as I wanted to, so I found a recipe for "Lactation Cookies" and being the baker I am, I made them. I was skeptical at first but then I started reaping the benefits of my new found addiction. Here is the recipe:
Lactation Cookies:
Ingredients:
1 cup Butter 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 4 tbs water 2 tbs flaxseed meal
2 tsp vanilla 2 large eggs 1 tsp baking soda 2-4 tbs Brewer's yeast
2 cups flour 1 tsp salt 3 cups old fashioned oats 1+ cups chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Mix flaxseed meal and water together, set aside for 3-5 minutes.
2) Cream butter and sugar.
3) Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, then flaxseed mixture. Beat until blended.
4) Sift together the dry ingredients except oats and chocolate chips.
5) Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
6) Let dough rest for an hour or longer in the refrigerator. Then drop or scoop onto parchment-lined baking trays. Bake 8-12 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
(**Note: Brewer's yeast is the "magic" ingredient. You can find it at Natural Grocers or Whole Foods. Flaxseed meal can be found at any grocery store. Additionally, you may substitute any kind of flour and use any kind of chips or nuts in the recipe.)
I hope this recipe is as helpful to you as it was to me!
Hang in there!
~Cat
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