United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Traci, your site is so cute! Congrats! I cant wait to see pics of Jack, I bet he will be very cute. And I know he will have a great mommy.
Talk to you soon,
Amy

WOW CONGRATS that is by far one of the sweetest web page I've seen in a long time. God bless and Good luck.

Tracy

Hi Traci,

Just wanted to say Congrats. This is sure wonderful news. Spoke to Ryan last night and his sends a big hug.

Thanks for the pictures etc.

Hugs, Karen and David.

It's good to know that the slings work best. One of my friends is giving hers to us, she loved it and I had thought that that would be the best solution to carrying them with both arms.
And we did register for the car seat that has a base that it snaps in and out relatively easy. So it sounds like so far I'm on the right track.
One of my other concerns was bathing the baby when he's a newborn, since you have to support the head so much. I'm hoping that those bathtubs will help, but if not that may be my husbands job till he gets big enough for me to bath by myself.
Has anyone used a boppy? They appear to be helpful for breastfeeding, but is there better solutions or do they work fine?
Sorry so many questions, just thought while the discussion was open I'd ask whatever popped into my head.
Kath - thanks for signing my guestbook it was really sweet of you. Glad you enjoyed the website.

-Traci

Traci
You web pages are so sweet. I can't wait to see Jacks photo on there.

I used a bobby when I feed my grandchildren. The two girls were premature and my DIL had to pump because they were so tiny. So we could all feed them with a bottle. Even thought Megan was 4 lbs when she came home from the hospital the bobby gave me great support.

I tended to feed my children with my leg up and my bpi elbow resting on my leg and pillows.
We did not have boppy's. I am only guessing but I would think the boppy gives you better posture and less stress on the spine from sitting crooked.

Kath ( robpi/adult)

Traci:
I am not bpi, but i am the mother to 4 kids, all of whom i breast fed. We had a couch with removable cushions!! so that is what i used to support my arms while nursing. some of my friends used the boppy or a "nursing pillow". Don't forget to support your legs...otherwise your back will hurt. if you start to have problems with nursing, please call the la leche league. they will send someone to your home to help you out. i know they seem a little extreme, but they can be so very helpful.

oh, the boppy... it is also really good for tummy time and for when the baby wants to sit up, but can't support him/herself yet.

good luck, and have fun.

claudia

When my babies were little I used a "bath" that was like a huge sponge. You just lay baby on the sponge, and then bathe baby with your one arm. It worked best for me because it was shaped to fit the baby, and I didn't have to support them while I was bathing them.

Once they were able to sit up on their own, I would put them into the kitchen sink. It was much easier to control the situation one handed in the smaller space.

Hi, Traci! Congratulations! I didn't know you were having a baby. I guess you were preg. when we met. I love your website! There's only one thing missing and I guess it won't be too much longer until he makes his appearance.

About your ?s, I never used a sling w/Nicole and by the time I thought about trying it, I think she was too old to really be interested. I did use one with Joshua. It was very helpful when we walked around at all day religious assemblies a few times. Joshua really liked it and always fell asleep when we walked a bit. Some moms wear them throughout the day everyday (at home, etc). I never found it that useful though. Maybe that's b/c I'm overweight. It might be easier for you to use since you're not overweight.

I also really liked my carrier. With Joshua, I bought a Baby Bjorn carrier. It's expensive, much more than other comparable products, but it was such a huge difference from the cheaper kinds I tried to use with Nicole. It was definitely worth the extra $. I don't know how difficult / easy it'd be to use with a BPI though.

About the car seat, most of them are improperly installed (I think about 80%), so I'd recommend installing it well in advance and having a certified car seat safety inspector check it out. Just call your local PD. I called ours and an officer came right to our home and checked it. You really have to use a lot of strength to install the seat properly and get your knee into the seat, etc.

About the bathtubs, I recall a discussion about this on the adult board years ago. I think that Jenny B. had some great tips. Actually, if you haven't already written her, I think you should b/c I'm sure she could share a wealth of experience with you. I think she used some kind of a bucket at some point, but I don't know about the newborn. Baths are a good "daddy" job though and often still are in our house.

About the boppy for breastfeeding, it's better than nothing, BUT there are nursing pillows that are made specially for that, which are MUCH better to use. I used a Boppy a little with Nicole, but I hadn't gotten it until she was 6 mos. old, so I really didn't use it for nursing too much. I actually bought it at the time to help her sit up b/c she couldn't balance since her L arm was still so weak. Anyway, I'd heard about this nursing pillow called "My Best Friend Nursing Pillow" by Zenoff. Well, let me tell you, this was definitely at the top of my list of "must have" baby products!! I loved my nursing pillow!! Here's a link to the specific pillow I'm referring to: http://store.babycenter.com/product/fee ... &stage=all . That's at Baby Center. You might be able to find it cheaper at another site (although that price looked good to me). I think I got it from Mothering With Ease, but can't seem to get into their site w/o a password now. They've also improved the pillow since I bought mine b/c now there's a clip closure and mine was velcro (which meant if I nursed Joshua to sleep and then laid him down, I had to leave the room before removing the pillow b/c the long velcro strip was so loud to remove). The same company also makes an inflatable pillow. That can be very helpful if you're traveling or will be doing a day trip out somewhere. It's not the most convenient thing to inflate, esp. if you have a crying / hungry baby in your hands, but it's great for packing into a bag and then just inflating it when you reach your destination and keeping it inflated. If you use the regular pillow, you'll love it so much that you'll prob. want the inflatable one too if you'll be traveling at all. It's also great to have for days when you're washing the cover on the regular pillow b/c it's machine washable, but cannot go into the dryer (believe me, it's a snug fit so you don't want to risk shrinking the cover).

The other thing for nursing I recommend is to use a stool. I use the Medela nursing stool (which you can also find at Baby Center). It's not a step stool, but is designed specifically as a foot rest / for nursing and the top of the stool is angled rather than flat.

Even if you end up bottle feeding for any reason or not nursing for too long, the pillow and stool would still be useful for bottle feeding. I highly recommend them! They really made BF'g sooo much more comfortable for me the 2nd time around! Have I sold you?

While I'm talking about nursing products, and I hope I don't embarass anyone here, but I also found a great nursing bra, made by Medela (http://store.babycenter.com/product/fee ... ?stage=all ). Some of the nursing bra clips are hard to manage with one hand, but it didn't take long to master this one with one hand. You just squeeze it to unfasten it and it's not too hard to fasten it either. When it's clipped, it stays fastened though, unlike another clip I found that was easy to open and close one-handed, but also ended up coming unclipped on its own quite frequently. Also, the cup is made of a cotton/lycra material that stretches for comfort and good fit. Here's also a link that looks similar to the night-time bras I bought (http://store.babycenter.com/product/fee ... ?stage=all ). You should go to a maternity shop for a fitting before buying or ordering anything though. Baby Center is not giving me any comission, honest! :O)

I'm so happy to hear that you're going to BF! I'd like to say that while it's a very natural thing and can go very smoothly for many moms, it can also be difficult for others. I'd recommend getting some info. from La Leche League in advance. You can get some info. online and can findout who your local contacts are so you could attend a meeting. I was hesitant to contact them when I had trouble nursing Nicole b/c I ended up doing some bottle supplementing and I thought they'd look down on me, but they were not like that at all and were very supportive. It's great to have a good support network in place. If you have any problems at all w/nursing, please keep me in mind and feel free to call me (we can exchange #s via e-mail if you'd like). I've overcome some challenges with both babies and have done lots of reading and would love to help you if you need it. I nursed Nicole for 2 years and am still nursing Joshua (who will be 2 this week), so I have a "little" experience.

I hope you have a great pregnancy and L&D! Keep in touch and e-mail if you'd like.

~Tina, bpmom@comcast.net, mom to Nicole (7 y.o. w/LOBPI) & Joshua (23 mos. w/NOBPI)

One more thing (as if I didn't write enough already!), about the sling -- our local LLL had a video that they lent me that shows all the different ways to wear the sling. If your friend didn't get a video with her sling, try to borrow a copy of one from your local LLL group. It's not hard to use, but there's a specific way to wear it and a certain point where it's supposed to rest and wearing it the proper way will not only be more comfortable for your back and shoulders, but also safer for the baby. It's also great to see the different ways you can use the sling as the baby gets bigger and also the easiest ways to get the baby in and out of the sling and into different positions. I watched the video over and over again. Just thought I'd add that info.

~Tina

Hey Traci

Let me add my Congrats to the list of others.

I had a bathing tub for Missy (ROBPI) that might do well for you. The neck and back of the child is supported making it easier to wash, as well it had a shower head attached to make rinsing easier (well ok, I'm paranoid and lazy!!). Babies R Us sells them. I found a more recent version at the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/br ... 38-9557703

It's the Toddler bath & Shower Centre. There are others available. I would suggest taking a doll (a nice limp and hard to handle one - LOL) to a Babies R Us and trying all the tubs out. And make your hubby do it too!!

Good luck and safe delivery!

Ginne