Liam meets Nana and Papa . . .

Brian's parents are visiting from Milwaukee. They arrived last Sunday and drove down south on Monday to pick his grandmother (Oma) up. She had a short visit until they took her back on Wednesday, but it was so great to get some pictures of her with Liam. She loved feeding him his bottle* and holding him. Brian's stepdad, Kevin (Papa), leaves tomorrow and then his mom (Nana) is here until next Tuesday. They are so helpful with Liam . . . it's nice that they can get to know him!

* You might have noticed in some of my Facebook pictures that a lot of people are feeding Liam a bottle. It's true . . . I had to stop breast feeding. What an experience that was. I was having a lot of problems that were very painful including constant clogged milk ducts. I think that because I had to pump every two hours for the first week of Liam's life and my supply and demand was not regulated by a baby but instead a pump . . . I just produced too much. I tried day after day to continue. I tried feeding on one side, pumping on the other, then supplementing with some formula. Once I finished all this we had about one hour until it all started again. I couldn't believe how demanding and painful breast feeding was . . . woman don't talk about it very much! Girlfriends need to share with each other. I was literally sick, on the couch for a couple of days and I was crying every time I had to feed him. On top of that, he seemed to prefer the bottle. Finally, mom and Brian had an intervention with me and told me that it would be better for everyone if I stopped. So I called the pediatrician to ask about formula and I called the OB/GYN to ask how to shut this down. The nurse said that she wasn't going to lie, that it was going to be very painful, but that the best thing would be to go cold turkey. So I hung up the phone and realized that I had just breast fed Liam for the last time. I cried and cried. For the next two days I experienced a tremendous amount of emotional and physical pain. I mean, this was more painful than the c-section! I used frozen compresses, tight sports bras, pain pills, cabbage leaves . . . you name it, I did it. It took 2 days for the really bad pain to go away and a weak to feel somewhat normal again. After that I was a new woman!! I was pain free, could get more sleep, get help from others, leave the house, go on a date . . . Wow! I had planned to breast feed for a long time. I had planned to pump at work. It was going to be difficult but I was going to do it. Well, it didnt work out for us and that is OK! Liam is happy. I am happy. He loves his bottle. AND he loves that Daddy can be a part of it all.