Many months in review (long overdue!)

I am significantly behind in the blogging world and have been thinking for some time that I need to blog about our recent happenings. So here it goes!

 It's so hard to believe that Gavin is over 2 years old now (27 months to be exact)! He amazes me everyday with how much he has learned and I am so proud to be his Mommy. It's so hard to sum up all the wonderful things that make Gavin, but here's a few....

**Gavin loves all things to do with transportation. I'm talking LOVES. He knows the names of all sorts of transportation including: dump truck, school bus, city bus, train, car, taxi, plane, boat, semi truck, bike, motorcycle, fire truck, police car, ambulance, and race car (you get the picture eh). He loves pointing them out as we drive around. When we turned his car seat around it was like a whole new world to explore and see.

**Gav also loves being a little chef in the kitchen. For Christmas he got two kitchens for his play room, one from his Uncle Corey and one from his Uncle Aaron and Aunt Emily and he LOVES pretending to whip up food like pizza, eggs, and make coffee for Daddy. Mommy may also have just as much fun playing with his pretend food as he does! We also made Christmas sugar cookies in our grown up kitchen and used a recipe for cookie paint so Gavin got to paint each cookie a different color. It was a blast to have him as my little helper and to see how cute he was in his apron.

**Gavin has a happy go lucky, full of life personality. My little guy brings out smiles from all he encounters any times he shows his smile (complete with heart melting dimples) or laughs his contagious giggle. Our dog, Marty, is a common cause for bringing out Gavins giggles and he loves to tell "puppy" or "Marney" (as Gavin calls him) to sit, lay down, or beg and finds it quite hilarious when he listens to him. Lately when Gavin's especially excited he'll let out a big squeal as well. 

**Gavin is a Daddy's boy through and through. He loves to yell out "my Daddy!" and run up to give him huge hugs. To witness the bond these two have is something that brings me such joy.

**His current daily routine has been the same for many months. He wakes up between 6 and 7 (closer to 7 lately--hooray!). He has breakfast right away and reminds us by telling us many times as soon as he gets up that he is "hungry!" Getting him to change out of his pj's is normally a bit of a battle because he only ever wants to wear his "truck" shirt (shocking huh). Breakfast for him is usually either cereal, pancakes, or eggs with fruit. At daycare he goes to a music class in the morning and then plays outside. He has a mid morning snack and lunch at 11:30am then takes a nap starting at 12 to anywhere between 2 and 3. Then he has his afternoon snack and normally plays either outside or in our play room in the basement (when not at daycare) for the rest of the afternoon until dinner at 5:30pm. We then do baths normally every other night and go to bed between 7 and 7:30pm. Going to bed is a bit tricky on occasion because Gav only wants Daddy to put him to bed. I know it's a phase but this is certainly a challenging part of parenthood at this time. Luckily I'm a-ok in his book any other time of day :)

**Potty training has been an adventure we've been embarking on since Gavin was 22 months old. He enthusiastically started this process with much assistance from daycare as I was skeptical with having him start this early. It helps that daycare has tiny toilets the kiddos size. At home we have a froggy potty and he has been doing so well using it. We really haven't had to try very hard to get him motivated to sit on it which has surprised me as I thought it would be a lot harder than it has been. He has started wearing pull up diapers and is so proud of himself for being such a "big boy".

**Tom and I like to get out of the house on the weekends so we have taken full advantage of our Minnesota Zoo and Children's Museum memberships. Gavin loves watching the fish and penguins get fed at the zoo and to "wake up" the dragon in the castle exhibit at the Children's Museum. We also make some semi frequent visits to Mall of America because we live so close and Gavin loves to watch the rides and play in Lego Land.

**One of Gavin's most recent loves is "Froggy", which is a frog whose real name is Pepsi at his daycare who swims in a fish tank. Every single day when we drop him off and pick him up from day care, "see Froggy" is one of the first phrases he tells us and pulls us over to the tank. He excitedly narrates what the frog is doing, such as sleeping or swimming through his tunnel.

With just having experienced his 3rd Christmas (where has the time gone!!), we took full advantage of Gavin being old enough to "get it" this season. It was so fun getting to have Gavin participate in helping to decorate the Christmas tree and see his fascination with the lights and ornaments. (I won't dwell on how he knocked it down 3 times from a bit of over excitement--luckily never got hurt doing so). Gavin also loved pointing out our wreath on the front door and icicle lights on our house every time we drive up our driveway. We also took a trip to the Macy's 8th floor display (an annual tradition we've started with wonderful friends Becky, Jeromy, and Linnea) which was lots of fun. I got Gavin an "elf on the shelf" we named "Elfy" and he got a major kick out of finding out where Elfy was hiding everyday. He would gasp and point every time he found it. We also continued a tradition we have had for many years to sing Christmas carols around the piano while Tom plays the songs for us. This is one of my most favorite parts of Christmas for sure. We also sang happy birthday to Jesus and Gavin impressed us by knowing all the words to the song though we had never taught him (good ol daycare!). On Christmas Eve Gavin modeled his new Santa Elmo pajamas and we set out cookies and milk for Santa. Gavin stole a quick bite from Santa's cookie but he must have been forgiven as he certainly got spoiled silly the next day with gifts. Being the first grandchild has made him one lucky kiddo that's for sure. We loved watching him help everyone open their presents Christmas Day and see how he was more excited about the bows than his gifts.

I can honestly say the only gift in the world I ever need is just to look at my sweet little boy. He brings me ongoing everlasting joy and that little guy has me wrapped so tight around his finger. He challenges me in all the best ways and I feel like I've grown so much by being his Mommy. I really mean it when I saw I never could have expected how much I could have learned from such a little human. I'm so looking forward to tons of memories to come...and I promise I'll try to blog a bit more often, though Gavin certainly keeps me on my toes!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

1 1/2 years of Gavin!

Time sure flies when you're having fun.  I find that the days, weeks, and months, just keep speeding up somehow.  I believe my last update was just at the turn of the new year.  Since then, we've been up to a lot!

For Gavin, he has been exploring the world, learning a ton, and thrilling us each day just by being his wonderful, cute, happy, giggly self.  Gavin has been walking all over and running all over! He loves to explore everything in our house and he and our dog, Marty, have become really good buddies.  Gavin loves to poke Marty's face, pull his tail, pet his back, and throw him his ball.  Most of the time, Marty is a calm companion with him (most of the time!).

Because of Gavin's love of exploring we've gone to the Children's Museum a few times in the last 2 months.  He just LOVES that place.  He especially loves the water exhibit, splish splashing around.  One time when we went he made a couple of friends with two older girls who were about 8 years old and they played peek-a-boo with him--very cute :)

After our very scary high fever escapade at the hospital with Gavin (see previous post), our pediatrician got Gavin a quicker appointment with an ENT.  We quickly decided we were going to pursue surgery to have ear tubes be put in for Gavin.  He was on ear infection #10 that wouldn't go away despite 3 trials of antibiotics.  I was very nervous for the procedure but it went super quickly (15 minutes long).  Gavin even made the nurse and anesthesiologist laugh when he met them and stuck out his hand to shake their hands.  He's quite the charmer! He didn't even shed a tear at all during or after the procedure.  What a champ! I was a proud mama.  And to date, he's been ear infection free (hoping this trend continues!).

Also, Gavin had his first dentist appointment.  Our pediatrician said it's now recommended that kids go to the dentist once they are 1 year of age.  We weren't sure what to expect since we can barely brush his teeth without a fight from Gavin.  They mostly did education about dos and don't for good tooth care.  It was honestly all things we already know--like don't give him lots of sweets, gummies, or juice.  They did show us a handy way of brushing his teeth by having him lay backwards on Tom's lap with his head in my lap so one person can hold his hands while the other brushes his teeth.  Sounds funny, but it really works!

Gavin has really been talking up a storm lately.  Most of his "words" are unintelligible to the non-mommy or daddy ears, but he will say "da" for dog, "dada" for daddy, "ma" for mommy, knows "ba ba" for the sound of a sheep, and lots of other cute little sounds.  He has also progressed a lot with learning sign language which certainly helps us understand what he wants.  For instance, he will sign "more", "help", and "all done".

My favorite "new" thing that Gavin has learned is to give kisses.  He will lean in if you ask him for a kiss. He hasn't quite gotten the pucker part, but it's super cute nonetheless.  He also gives us hugs too and it just melts my heart!!  Other new things Gavin has learned is to open and close doors, he's getting much better at drinking out of a cup without a lid, can use a spoon and fork to feed himself, he has learned to play the recorder (and often sings into it to make sound), and tries to help us get him dressed (sometimes undressed too by taking off his socks for instance).

On average Gavin sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, falling asleep between 7-8pm and waking up about 6am.  He then takes about a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon from 12-2 or 3pm.  We have had a slight recurrence of some separation anxiety at night time with lots of crying when we leave him in his crib, but this is improving slowly but surely.

In our unseasonably warm March weather we've been venturing outside daily.  It's so fun to be outside with Gavin now that he's more mobile.  He loves discovering everything there is outside, including trees, leaves, rocks, and our neighbors cat which he calls "ca".

We marvel everyday at home much Gavin is growing and learning and my love just continues to grow for this little boy.

It is way too HOT in here!

Though I put some humor in the title, the last 48 hours have been anything but humorous with respect to Gavin's health. 


On Wednesday afternoon around 4pm Jackie received a call from our daycare stating that Gavin's temperature was over 100 degrees and he needed to be sent home. After Jackie seeing him and feeling him burn up we took no chances and went to urgent care. Jackie and I were suspicious thinking this could be an ear infection since Gavin finished his 3rd course of antibiotics in the last 6 weeks. However, the exam showed that Gavin's ears weren't red or infected but they were recessed. We opted for no prescription medication since we had a scheduled visit with his pediatrician on Friday and decided we would treat with Tylenol and ibuprofen. We got lucky and left the urgent care within one hour (the nurse had sympathy for us and saw that Gavin is quite active and an hour wait in the waiting room wasn't going to do anyone any good). We took him home that evening gave him dinner and put him to bed. However the night didn't go so well as Gavin was up a few times between 3-5:30am. 


Jackie and I decided that I should stay home with Gavin (we couldn't send him to daycare within 24 hours of a fever anyway) and we did a little coloring, played with some puzzles, read lots of books and did quite a bit of napping. Gavin did well throughout the day until yesterday evening (Thursday). We continued to give him ibuprofen and Tylenol alternating doses. He went to bed at 6:30 which has been quite earlier than normal (Gavin typically goes to bed around 7 and falls asleep around 7:30). Jackie and I went to bed knowing that we'd need to be getting up throughout the night (6th sense parenting feeling). Sure enough we were worken up with cries from his room. I got up and took his temperature which was quite high at 103.9. We decided that with only the four hours of ibuprofen on board that we couldn't keep his fever down so we called 911.



We hear sirens go by in our neighborhood and we always wonder where the emergency vehicles are headed. This time we knew they were coming to us. A police officer and two EMTs came into our house and asked us into about Gavin and his condition. The officer left after the EMTs felt comfortable and they got right to work. They put a device on Gavin's finger measuring his oxygen which was normal. After documenting a brief history, they then asked us what we wanted to do. We decided that it was best to go to the St. Paul Children's Hospital ER and take the ambulance ride in the event of a seizure or other medical care that Gavin required. Jackie rode in the ambulance with Gavin as I followed behind in the car.

At the ER Gavin was seen right away. They took his temperature rectally and it shot way up to 107.1. Now we REALLY had cause for concern. The physician came in to see us shortly after the nurses did some initial work-up and said that she wanted to rule out any scary diagnoses and ordered a urine sample, chest  X-ray, blood work and have him Tylenol rectally. The four hours in the ER were challenging. After all the testing was done it came back normal but Gavin needed some hydration so they put in IV into his left ankle and also gave him medication through that line. 

Thankfully the physician ruled out meningitis and didn't order a spinal tap, but she was concerned that Gavin may have the flu. So to be sure, our nurse performed a final test by squirting water up Gavin's nose and immediately sucking it out. Of course he didn't like it thrashed and threw a fit but also got a bloody nose from the test which lasted only a few minutes. We won't find out if he has the flu for approximately 48 hours after the test.

Thankfully we are all home and resting, gearing up for our next doctor visit to Gavin's pediatrician to discuss the test results and come up with a treatment plan. 


Given that I not only like to share the process and experience of the visits we have, I also want to share a few new bits of knowledge Jackie and I gleaned from this visit to the ER.

1. In Gavin's case, and I don't know of this is because of age and weight, we can administer ibuprofen on a schedule of every 6 hours and if he spikes a fever we can give Tylenol too in between.
2. Similar to when you're expecting to deliver a baby, have the diaper bag at the ready in your home with diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, etc...  Consider having a change of clothes or extra clothes for the parents/caregivers in the event you would leave the house in an emergency like we did.
3. Ask if you don't understand something the nurse or physician tells you. There are so many times medical and office staff came in and out of the room, hooked up an IV, took a urine sample, obtained chest X-rays, took my co-pay, peeked in to see if we were OK, etc... Ask for spellings of medications. Ask how long the dose is effective. Should it be given with food? Does it need to be refrigerated or room temperature for storage? Does your discharge paperwork summarize the care you received and a next course of action?   
4. Stop at the pharmacy and stock up on some basics; in most cases, it's cheaper than your average "big box" store. I bought a large amount of liquid Tylenol for $2 and I know it will get used.  

Nursing woes...belated recap

I was reflecting today that I really love my blog because it's a great memory book about what's been going on the past 2 years or so of my life.  Especially with bringing Gavin in the world, it helps me remember all the little things that have happened.  What I recognize, though, is that there's a huge part of the beginning of Gavin's life I really haven't written about.  That is the breastfeeding part.  Truly, I have only really opened up about most of this nursing saga with my close friends, and only Tom knows all of the...gory...details.  I never wrote about my experience being a nursing mama on the blog because I thought it was too personal, and some may not want to know all the TMI details.  And maybe it is too personal, but I'm realizing that the memories associated with it are the hardest I have from Gavin's early days and I decided to write this blog post as a sort of catharsis for myself to try to let go of some of the memories.  And if it can help any soon to be nursing mamas prevent some of the many problems I had, even better.

So here we go...

I knew from pre-becoming pregnant that I wanted to breastfeed.  I read books about it, I went to a breastfeeding class through a parenting center we have in the Twin Cities, and felt ready.  In the hospital I saw two different lactation consultants to get as many tips as I could to set Gavin and I up for success in this new nursing relationship.  Unfortunately, the second lactation consultant I saw really set me up for a road to trouble.  She made me use a nipple shield (I know I told you it may get to TMI) and said I should only nurse with this to make sure Gavin was latching on appropriately.  Only later did I learn that this can cause babies to become dependent to only using this and that it can also increase your risk of developing breast infections.  She also told me that I should use a breast pump for 10-15 minutes extra after EVERY nursing session to ensure that I'd have an adequate milk supply.  I was extremely exhausted in the hospital after a labor that lasted over 30 hours, but was determined to listen to the advice of the lactation consultant, so I did.  It was laborious and time intensive to pump after each nursing session (which lasted about 45 to 60 minutes each anyway because Gavin was VERY slow), but I did it.

Five days post-partum when we were at home is when it really got hard.  This was the day my milk "came in" and I became horribly engorged.  Naive me, I continued pumping like the lactation consultant told me to, after each nursing session as I'd been instructed which made it all worse.  That afternoon my brother, Corey, came over for dinner and to meet Gavin.  During dinner I felt like I got hit by a truck, was so exhausted that I laid my head on the table and nearly fell asleep.  After my brother left I took a bath to try to relax and started shaking uncontrollable and was SO cold.  It was then time to nurse Gavin again and I felt absolutely awful, like I had the flu.  I took my temperature and it was 102.  I then started to have excruciating pain in my chest and nursing was also terribly painful.  The pain was shooting up my arms to the point I could barely hold Gavin.  Because I was so engorged as well, I had developed lumps all over both of my breasts and could tell Gavin wasn't able to empty them completely.  I called my nurse line and they paged the on call OBGYN who called me back shortly.  I ran through my symptoms and he was pretty certain I had mastitis but wanted me to be seen the next morning to make sure.  I was advised because they thought it was mastitis to make sure I was emptying my breasts of milk every 2 hours around the clock until the infection cleared.  Talk about exhausting.  I was also told I could use ice packs on my chest to help the pain and engorgement.  I got barely any sleep that night because I was in so much pain and my fever made me sweat like crazy.

The next morning my doctor was able to fit me in and confirmed that I had mastitis. In addition, she confirmed that (TMI alert) my stitches from labor had torn, became infected, and I had a bladder infection to top it off.  I was pumped full of antibiotics and was cautioned by my doctor that once you get mastitis, the more risk there is of developing it again.  I was uber determined, however, to get past this and continue to breastfeed.

One very nice part of my post-partum journey was a benefit I got through my job for free telephonic services with a lactation consultant named Debbie.  Debbie became my nursing lifeline.  I probably spoke with her 1-2 times a week for the first 16 weeks of Gavin's life.  Debbie was the first person to help me realize how enormous my milk supply was.  She had me pump after Gavin had a full nursing session and I pumped out 6 ounces of milk out of each breast.  She had some sort of reaction like, "holy crap!".  She said at this stage it was normal to pump 2 ounces per breast BEFORE a nursing session.  She then coached me on a plan to try to cut down my milk supply.  Once my mastitis cleared up, we talked about a plan to try to reduce how much milk I was making because this was lending itself to the plugged milk ducts that I constantly had and was constantly trying to rid myself of.  Basically the plan was to keep pumping after each nursing session to ensure that I was emptying all of my milk out to try to get rid of the plugged ducts.  Then I was to choose one nursing session a day and only pump out half as much as normal for 3 days, then skip pumping after that nursing session the next 3 days, and keep repeating until I was no longer pumping at all after nursing sessions.

Unfortunately I was not able to ever finish this plan because 3 weeks post partum I developed mastitis again.  This time Tom was at work and I was home alone with Gavin.  I noticed the initial signs of exhaustion again and while nursing I felt the same shooting pains in my breast and up my arm.  It hurt so bad I was literally afraid I would not be able to hold Gavin and had to set him in his crib.  I called Tom who raced home to find a crying me and a crying Gavin.  I again had a high fever and called the nurseline who said again that it sounded like mastitis.  I went right back to the doctor who confirmed it again and sent me home with more antibiotics and that I needed to nurse until my breasts were empty every 2 hours until the infection had cleared.  Totally exhausting.  Plus this completely threw my whole plan on decreasing my milk supply back to the starting point.

After this second bout of mastitis, I had a brief period where I decided I couldn't do this anymore.  I couldn't put my body through this wearing routine any longer and we bought a can of formula.  I gave Gavin one bottle of formula which he promptly spit up all over himself, and decided this was not what I wanted.  I really, really, wanted to be able to breastfeed.  I knew all of the positives and decided to not let myself give up.

Once the mastitis cleared up, I worked with my lactation consultant, Debbie, on trying to get Gavin off of the nipple shield and she also advised me to see a lactation consultant face to face.  I went to see one at Methodist Hospital who was very helpful in correcting Gavin's latch and nursing went much more smoothly after this.  I did tons of research on ways to prevent mastitis as there are many different things that can contribute to it (including stress--ironic huh?!).  I started taking Lecithin supplements three times a day which is supposed to help prevent pluggled milk ducts.  I was super hopeful.

Yep, you guessed it, as soon as thing started getting better, and I was advised it was time to try cutting down my milk supply, then came back the plugged ducts and again at 7 weeks post-partum I got mastitis a third time.  I was devastated.  Beyond devastated.  This really hit me not only physically but also emotionally. I felt like I was trying so hard and only running into the same problem over and over again.  My body was so tired.  While working through this course of antibiotics, Tom had a "come to Jesus" moment with me.  I was constantly, every single day of Gavin's life, thinking and worrying about my body.  That, on top of post-partum hormones was really wearing on me.  He really wanted me to stop breastfeeding.  I really, really didn't want to do it.  It took a lot of talking, a lot of crying, and a lot of convincing, but I finally came to the decision to stop.  Let me tell you this was the hardest decision of my life.  Not kidding.  I had so much guilt about stopping, felt like a failure, had to deal with telling others including some who though didn't say it outright, gave judgmental glances when I told them I was going to stop nursing.  I had to acknowledge the fact that I couldn't be a good mom while nursing in my conditions.  My doctor also had a mini "come to Jesus" moment with me too, acknowledging that it was very lucky that the mastitis would come back again, which I was terrified of.  Being worried and anxious all day every day was causing me to be preoccupied and not able to enjoy my time with Gavin.

Here came the tedious and tricky part.  Because I was making SO much milk (at my peak I was making 70 ounces a day which my lactation consultant said was about 3 times what a normal woman makes and was the most she had ever seen a woman make with only one baby--not multiples), I had to move forward very carefully.  I spoke with my lactation consultant and did a lot of research on my own.  I met with my doctor and we came up with a plan to actually go on an antibiotic for a little over a month while weaning and to do a very slow weaning process to try to prevent getting mastitis again.  We learned from my previous mastitis experiences that each time I got mastitis, it only caused my milk supply to go up because of how often I needed to nurse to cure the infection.

Basically what we devised was a 7 week nursing taper.  I stopped nursing completely and instead just pumped.  I started with 7 times a day.  Because of how much milk I was making it took me 45 minutes for each pumping session to empty all my milk.  Yep this was a lot of hours a day I was pumping.  I did this all through the night as well.  At 8 weeks old Gavin was sleeping through the night and I was still waking up 3 times a night to pump.  Every 4 days I cut one of those pumping's in half, only pumping half as much milk as I normally did.  Then 4 days after that I skipped the pumping entirely.  I kept going with this schedule and once I had cut a few pumping's out, I spread the time out between pumping's further.  Basically this entire time I was dealing with engorgement and constant pain from the pressure from all the milk I was holding.  I was discouraged as other women I had talked to said it took them 3 days to wean and I had to deal with 7 weeks of it.  I was bitter and so sad about it all.  What I also started to notice was not what was supposed to happen....which is that the less I pump the more my milk supply should go DOWN.  But no, not my wacky body...my milk supply was going UP!  So frustrating.

With my lactation consultant, we then decided to try EVERY other trick in the book for decreasing my milk supply.  Many of these tips were more or less old wives' tales but I was desperate.  I tried wearing multiple sports bras to try to squelch the milk supply.  I put ice packs on my chest after each pumping session to try to again, stop the milk from coming back.  I tried placing cold cabbage leaves on my chest after pumping, again for the same purpose.  I then tried taking Benadryl multiple times a day which is also supposed to decrease milk supply.  I also drank cups and cups a day of peppermint tea each day which again, supposed to decrease milk supply.  Nothing was helping.  Luckily, I was able to continue the weaning schedule and hadn't gotten mastitis again.  I did have one hiccup in the weaning process when I was about halfway done with the weaning I was pumping and started pumping blood...a whole ounce of blood.  It was gross and totally freaked me out.  Call to my nurseline again and I got another reaction like "oh my, that should definitely not be happening".  Back to the doctor's office and my doctor said she had never had someone experience this and went and did a pole with some of her other colleagues.  Basically they couldn't determine why this had happened but nothing they could find told them this was specifically cause for concern.  I was told to keep pumping and continuing weaning but to come back if it happened again.  Luckily me for it didn't happen again.  So back to weaning...it wasn't until I was down to 2 pumpings per day that my milk supply FINALLY started to decrease.  I was up to pumping 28 ounces in one pumping at that time, though.  Yes this is an insane amount of milk and you can only imaging how uncomfortably painful this was.  When I was finally done pumping all together, it took a full 10 days for my engorgement to go away.

Now what I can say is that when I was finally done weaning, I for the first time in 4 months (which is how old Gavin was when I was fully weaned) I felt relief and no more worry.  I was so glad to be done with nursing even though I still had a ton of guilt about it.  The one positive that came of my breastfeeding problems was that because I made so much milk, I had been able to save all of the extra milk Gavin wasn't able to drink.  We had so much milk, in fact, that we had to buy a separate chest freezer to store it all (we're talking about 1800 ounces total).  With this, Gavin had breastmilk until he was 6 months old and that, in my opinion, isn't too shabby.  I was proud that I was confident that I had literally tried everything I could to try to make breastfeeding work.  It just didn't for me.  I was also lucky to have an extremely supportive spouse who dealt with helping me through this whole process.  

So to copy my husband who likes to write anecdotal comments to his "future Tom", here is my list of tips to "future Jackie" if I ever have another child.  Because I will try breastfeeding again.  Despite all of the trauma I went through the first time around.  But here are things that I will do next time and a list of things I will NOT do next time:
-Do NOT buy nursing bras with underwires in them (I didn't know this)...they can instigate plugged milk ducts
-Do NOT use nipple shields unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, and even then try something else
-Do NOT pump at all until your milk supply is well established
-DO meet face to face with a lactation consultant as often as possible in the early weeks of nursing
-DO be on the lookout for plugged ducts and intervene as quickly as possible to eliminate them
-DO take Lecithin supplements to help ward off plugged ducts

When I became a mama, most of my closest friends hadn't yet entered this journey so I did feel alone with a lot of this.  I hope, though, that I can help others who have had issues and help them know there is a way through the hardest of the journey.