I just want to preface this post by saying I know this is not common and most people don't even realize it's possible. However, that doesn't mean it's wrong or not healthy. Everyone knows the research shows breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies. It's also a great way to bond with a child. And what child needs bonding and nutrition more than a baby from an orphanage? So, I'm very excited to say that we are preparing to breastfeed Dylan! It's going to a lot of hard work, but I'm willing to try if there's a chance of it working. Here's how it works.
I've begun Yaz, which is a contraceptive pill with higher doses of estrogen. It tries to mimic the pregnancy hormone levels and make your body think it's pregnant. Simultaneously, I will be taking domperidone, which is a nausea drug that has a side effect of producing prolactin, the hormone that makes milk. The fact that we have several months (I'm estimating around 6), makes our chance of success very high. I'm also taking a prenatal vitamin and eating oatmeal 3x/week (it seems to increase milk supply). Once we get a referral, we'll be about 3-4 months from getting Dylan. At that time, I'll discontinue the birth control, start taking a couple herbs (blessed thistle and fenugreek seed), and start pumping with a hospital-grade pump. I will have to pump 3-4x/day and work up to 8x/day. After 2-4 weeks of pumping, I should start producing milk. As soon as we get him, I should try to nurse him, but if he doesn't take right to it (which I don't expect him to), I can still pump and feed him breastmilk through a supplemental nursing system or a bottle (though I'm not supposed to use a bottle).
I'm not sure how long we'll nurse him, but I don't really agree with nursing past the age where the kid can ask for it and open your shirt. I'm not in any place to tell other people how to raise their kids, but that just seems weird to me, so we won't be doing that. I always said no longer than 12 months, but he may as old as 10 months when we get him, so maybe up to 18 months old. I'm not sure. We'll have to play that by ear. For now, I'm just hoping this will work. I'm seeing a lactation consultant that specializes in adoptive breastfeeding (and she says it's becoming very popular), and she has had a lot of success with this. I'm scared and nervous about it working, but I'm sure most new moms are.
Only 9 more days until the big yard sale!!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
It's going to take FOREVER!!
We're #59 on the list. Most of those want girls, but there are 'at least 20' ahead of us asking for boys. And that's just with OUR agency (CHI). There are some 20+ agencies licensed for adoptions in Vietnam. And that's just in the US! Crap! I'm never going to get my son.
I've started a protocol to prepare my body for induced lactation. It's amazing that I may be able to breastfeed our son without ever being pregnant! We're really excited about it. And scared. It's a lot of work (birth control pills, other drugs, herbs, lots of pumping), but it will be worth it if it works. This extended protocol takes about 6 months, which I'm sure we have, but it has the highest success rate. Of course, we may still have to supplement with formula, but some breastmilk is better for him than none! And it will help with the bonding and attachment issue, which is critical with adopted children. We have to do things a little different with Dylan than most would with a bio child. We can't let him 'cry it out' because he will have experienced abandonment. We can't use a stroller much (we'll use slings and carriers) because he needs to attach to us and learn we're his parents. There's such a fine line between attachment parenting and spoiling the kid. I think that will be hard for us.
I've started a protocol to prepare my body for induced lactation. It's amazing that I may be able to breastfeed our son without ever being pregnant! We're really excited about it. And scared. It's a lot of work (birth control pills, other drugs, herbs, lots of pumping), but it will be worth it if it works. This extended protocol takes about 6 months, which I'm sure we have, but it has the highest success rate. Of course, we may still have to supplement with formula, but some breastmilk is better for him than none! And it will help with the bonding and attachment issue, which is critical with adopted children. We have to do things a little different with Dylan than most would with a bio child. We can't let him 'cry it out' because he will have experienced abandonment. We can't use a stroller much (we'll use slings and carriers) because he needs to attach to us and learn we're his parents. There's such a fine line between attachment parenting and spoiling the kid. I think that will be hard for us.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
WE GOT IT!!!!
Sixty-five days after applying to CIS, we FINALLY got our approval yesterday! We're approved for 2 children (if twins are available, but that's rare). Now we'll officially be on the list to be matched with a child. Hopefully they'll tell me how far down the list we are.
We went to our classes yesterday at the agency. We were there from 8:30am to 6pm, learning all about how to put together our dossier (the paperwork we'll get to start on soon now that we're approved!!!), how to claim the tax credit, what types of investments we should make for our kids, how to re-adopt once we get back to the states (not required, but gives us a certificate of foreign birth that makes it much easier to register for school, etc.), and lots of other fun stuff. All day, I kept thinking we may just have that approval when we got home. They had told us it takes 45 days after getting fingerprinted. Guess how long it was? 46 days.
So now we wait (some more). We'll have to put together our dossier as soon as they tell us to go (probably in about a month). The documents have to be less than 6 months old when we get Dylan, and there is a 4-month wait between referral and travel, so I can only assume that if they tell me to start working on it, we'll have a referral within 2 months. We already ordered birth and marriage certs because our social worker at CHI told us it would be ok, but now we may have to reorder them. That's a little frustrating, since that's about $50 down the drain. On the bright side, I sold my SCUBA gear and the wonderful lady that bought it paid $50 more than we agreed on, just because she's that nice. Granted, it was still less than half of what I paid for it and only used it once, but that's my own fault. They call that a stupid tax.
Anyway, between the classes, getting approved with CIS, and making a little money, it's been a great Father's Day weekend! I got Christopher three DVDs. Good Morning, Vietnam, Platoon, and a documentary about the VN War called We Were Heroes.
We went to our classes yesterday at the agency. We were there from 8:30am to 6pm, learning all about how to put together our dossier (the paperwork we'll get to start on soon now that we're approved!!!), how to claim the tax credit, what types of investments we should make for our kids, how to re-adopt once we get back to the states (not required, but gives us a certificate of foreign birth that makes it much easier to register for school, etc.), and lots of other fun stuff. All day, I kept thinking we may just have that approval when we got home. They had told us it takes 45 days after getting fingerprinted. Guess how long it was? 46 days.
So now we wait (some more). We'll have to put together our dossier as soon as they tell us to go (probably in about a month). The documents have to be less than 6 months old when we get Dylan, and there is a 4-month wait between referral and travel, so I can only assume that if they tell me to start working on it, we'll have a referral within 2 months. We already ordered birth and marriage certs because our social worker at CHI told us it would be ok, but now we may have to reorder them. That's a little frustrating, since that's about $50 down the drain. On the bright side, I sold my SCUBA gear and the wonderful lady that bought it paid $50 more than we agreed on, just because she's that nice. Granted, it was still less than half of what I paid for it and only used it once, but that's my own fault. They call that a stupid tax.
Anyway, between the classes, getting approved with CIS, and making a little money, it's been a great Father's Day weekend! I got Christopher three DVDs. Good Morning, Vietnam, Platoon, and a documentary about the VN War called We Were Heroes.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
A little progress...
We heard back from the senator's office (after 3 emails) confirming our address with CIS is correct now. She also said if we don't have our approval by Monday, let her know and she'll follow up on the status. It's been 9 weeks since we applied and over 6 since we got fingerprinted. Any day now...
We had a yard sale last weekend (not the big one with the bake sale-just trying to clear out some of the stuff we have so far). We didn't do too bad! I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, $300 is not going to hardly put a dent in our $25,000 bill for this adoption, but it's more the mentality that 'it's the thought that counts.' Most of the stuff we sold was our own, but the fact that my mother-in-law, aunt, brother, a coworker and someone at church gave us stuff to sell shows their support and means a lot to us. It shows us that Dylan will be accepted into the family with open arms. My sister and parents are getting stuff together for the next one (they have busy lives and didn't have much notice for the first sale!). I think a couple coworkers and hopefully my sister-in-law will be baking items for the bake sale. I even had a friend out of state offer to donate new items for a raffle. The support of everyone means so much more than anything!
We had a yard sale last weekend (not the big one with the bake sale-just trying to clear out some of the stuff we have so far). We didn't do too bad! I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, $300 is not going to hardly put a dent in our $25,000 bill for this adoption, but it's more the mentality that 'it's the thought that counts.' Most of the stuff we sold was our own, but the fact that my mother-in-law, aunt, brother, a coworker and someone at church gave us stuff to sell shows their support and means a lot to us. It shows us that Dylan will be accepted into the family with open arms. My sister and parents are getting stuff together for the next one (they have busy lives and didn't have much notice for the first sale!). I think a couple coworkers and hopefully my sister-in-law will be baking items for the bake sale. I even had a friend out of state offer to donate new items for a raffle. The support of everyone means so much more than anything!
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Still waiting
We got Chris' passport last Friday. We're still waiting on CIS approval. And now we're hearing the wait time between approval and referral has gone from a few weeks to 'up to 6 months' though it should take less time than that. I don't think there's any hope of getting Dylan this year. I'm pretty upset about that. In the long run, a month or two is no biggie, but when it comes to the adoption tax credit, it could mean a whole year that we have to pay interest on the money we're borrowing for the adoption.
The yard sale is tentatively set for July 8. We had to keep pushing it out because my parents never have a free weekend, and it's at THEIR house!
The yard sale is tentatively set for July 8. We had to keep pushing it out because my parents never have a free weekend, and it's at THEIR house!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
