Winter Conference 2010

Last week I went the PACGA (prosecuting attorney's council of georgia) Winter Conference 2010. It was at Callaway Gardens. I drove down Wednesday with my boss and a co-worker (Boss drove - explains why we were late). Hubby and the kids joined me Wednesday night and stayed the rest of the conference. Hubby took Thursday and Friday off and took the kids to Callaway while I learned how to be a prosecutor. ***** Callaway is offering free admission to anyone through the end of February************ So it was a nice, inexpensive little trip for all of us. This conference is a perfect example of the struggle to be a lawyer and a mom, especially a nursing mom. I didn't initially have a fridge in my room so being that I have to store valuable milk I had to call and get one delivered. Had to put up the privacy sign at 6 pm while making milk so the fridge delivery guy wouldn't walk in. Co-workers had to wait on me for dinner Wednesday so I could pump since there were no available breaks that afternoon for me to do so. Thursday I pumped at the two 15 minute breaks in the restroom 'cause my room was too far away to walk to and pump there. This meant I was using a manual pump in a stall since no stalls I have found ever have outlets in them! Since my daughter really doesn't like the bottle and thus only drinks the minimum amount (and sometimes refuses a third bottle during the day), I was able to pump more than she drank that day! I used a little bit more than 15 minutes at each break but when you are a lawyer (or any job) by day and mommy by night, you gotta do what you gotta do! The guy that delivered the fridge probably had no idea I was storing milk in it - since so many lawyers were there he probably thought I was buying beer or wine and keeping it in there. After all, when a co-worker went to the local package store, they told her that they had really stocked up when they learned all these attorneys were coming to town! And on Thursday night when everyone else went back to their rooms to take a nap or change into workout clothes and hit the gym, I was calling my husband on his cell to let him know that I was on my way right then since I just got a text asking me when I was coming back or did he need to heat a bottle?! And these are just the stories about me being a Mom to my youngest at the conference. Then there is the oldest one. He is into Thomas the Train A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!! AS IN ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!! We get it on the ON Demand channel at home. No such channel exist at Callaway. First words out of his mouth when he arrived at the hotel room - I want to watch Thomas on Mommy's TV! So I kept repeating for 2 1/2 days, we will watch Thomas as soon as we get home! Of course, he was asleep when he got home at 9 pm Friday! But we sure did watch it first thing Saturday morning - first words out of his mouth saturday morning as he came to my side of the bed - I need to watch Thomas! Gotta love that little boy!!!!!! I am sure that no one else at the conference (at least from my office) spent their last break on Friday running back to the hotel room to change 2 diapers so hubby could finish loading the car. During the entire conference, I learned about being a prosecutor - how its great, what we should try to accomplish, how to do it, war stories, etc. - but not a single thing about balancing work and family life or work and non-work life. No stories about circuits that have created in house daycare centers. No stories about take your child to work day. No stories about Judges making inappropriate comments about your water breaking on their carpet while you are pregnant. Yes, I enjoy being a prosecutor, I find traffic court very interesting (after all my senior thesis in college was The Evolution of Traffic Management Systems and the Development of Traffic Engineering), I love my profession and I never would want to stop being a lawyer, BUT there is nothing, nothing more enjoyable than seeing your kids face light up with excitement! Sometimes it is because you came home, sometimes it is because they get to watch Thomas, sometimes it is the Christmas tree you decorated for their room, or seeing a picture of their baby sister, whatever it is, there is nothing more enjoyable than seeing your child full of excitement. One day I may retire and stop being a lawyer but I will never, ever stop being a Mommy. It's late and I better get to sleep while I can. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Still Sleepless in Canton!

It's been over 6 weeks since my first post about sleepless in Canton and things have improved a little but not much. She has started to sleep a little longer in her crib at a time but it varies and is not consistent. Friday and Saturday night she slept about 6 hours each night in her crib and we were excited things this was the start of a new trend. But it wasn't! It was a fluke. 'Cause it was only 3 hours the next night and less last night. Sometimes I think she gets cold but mostly I can't pinpoint her lack of sleeping to anything in particular - except her personality! She will still sleep beside us but still wakes up then too and we don't sleep too well when she is there with us. We are about at the point that Riley started sleeping through the night fulltime so we are getting really tired. And Riley didn't have a problem going back to sleep in his crib or cradle after getting up so we were not as tired with him. We can always be hopeful that better sleeping is in store soon but I am not overly hopeful.
On another note, we had a good Christmas and a great New Year. Lots and lots of presents were opened and most were pretty cool. Though we had a 2 year old and a 4 year old that were tired and whiny on Christmas (nephew is the 4 year old), I think everyone had a good time. And New Years was very, very relaxing. I hope everyone else enjoyed the same.
The downside to New Years, though, was more sad news for my friend and her little girl with the cancer. They went in December to St. Judes for a Clinical Trial and arrived back from that right before Christmas. Between Christmas and New Years, they had to be inpatient at Childrens Healthcare in Atlanta for fevers. They were still in the hospital and couldn't return to St. Judes right after the first of the year like they had planned. So they did a catscan here at Childrens and discoverd that the tumor had spread everywhere in 3 weeks. My friend and her husband made the hardest decision that a parent has to make and decided to end treatment for their daughter. They took her home on hospice care the first week of January. The little girl was given 4-6 weeks to live. My friend and her family have been in my thoughts and prayers constantly. Last weekend we had a snowfall here in Canton and some pretty bad icy conditions. We got to play in the snow with Riley - his first real time playing in the snow. I hope my friend did the same with her child. I can not imagine how it feels to know that your child is dying and that there is nothing you can do. She might not make it to her 2nd birthday. I guess you would take one day at a time. You are never, ever prepared as a parent to bury your child. I pray that God gives them the strength to handle this.
Anyway, that is a re-cap for the last 6 weeks or so of our selves. Oh, I am back at work now - been back 2 weeks now. Paleigh is taking bottles of my milk while I am at work but she fights it and is not happy about it. Just another part of having to be a Lawyer (or any type of working person) by Day and Mommy by Night. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Thanksgiving

It was Paleigh's first Thanksgiving today. I have a lot to be thankful for. We had a sorta low key Thanksgiving with just my parents and brother-in-law over for dinner. My brother and nephew joined us after dinner and watched the Tree Lighting at Lenox on TV. Last year, my parents, husband, son, and I all went there in person. It was really neat in person. I hope to take Paleigh there too one day. I have a lot to be thankful for - especially a healthy new baby. My heart was also heavy this Thanksgiving because I found out some really sad news about a friend's baby girl. My friend's youngest daughter was diagnosed with a very rare tumor about 10 months ago that caused her to have a lot of horrible treatment with ill side effects and then eventually a liver transplant followed by additional chemo. They thought everything would be good then. There was a celebration party recently for her recovery. Well, the cancer has returned. Yesterday, she had surgery and the smallest of 4 tumors was removed. Her oncologist has basically said that there is very little, if anything, that he can do for her (my friend's facebook post said that her daughter's chances of living was like 0%). The family is considering going to a speciality cancer center out of state and possibly trying some clinical trials. My thoughts and prayers have constantly been about my friend. I can't imagine what she is thinking and feeling and the decisions they will have to try and make. The little girl was less than a year old when she was first diagnosed 10 months ago. Something so horrible shouldn't ever happen to anyone, let alone someone so young. And you should never have to see your child so sick or face the possibility of burying your own child. So, I was especially thankful for my family this year, and especially thankful for the health of my family. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. And, please say a prayer for my friend and her family. I hope and pray that at some time later I can post good news about the situation. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Nursing

A lot of things are different with this second baby. (See below post - Sleepless in Canton). One of them is Nursing. I know that nursing is a much talked about subject on certain sites but you wouldn't necessary expect it on a ordinary blog and you might not want to read about it either! This is certainly how I felt with my first baby - though I nursed for 13 months and I know it was the best for my child - I felt reluctant to discuss it, shy to let people know I was nursing, and certainly afraid almost that something embarrassing would happen because of it. I never nursed in public with my first baby. The closest I came to anything in public regarding nursing with my son was pumping in a closed, locked office at work and pumping in my closed, locked bedroom of the house I shared with co-workers during a conference. I was brave enough, though, to let people know there that I was nursing in order to prevent people from drinking the milk in the blue water bottle I stored the pumped milk in! I am not really sure why I was so reluctant and afraid to discuss it or do it in public. I guess it is because when I started nursing, I knew no one that had done it successfully and no one that continued to do it when they returned to work. None of this is the case with this baby. I know I can do it successfully, and I made it work once I returned to work with my first baby AND once I changed jobs to one requiring me to be in court 4 days a week and leaving me no opportunity to pump during the day. And to date, I have already nursed my child in public this time around! Perhaps it helps that this child has no weight gain issues with nursing that my first child had (she's risen in percentiles on 100% nursing). Perhaps it helps that I am more relaxed. Perhaps she is just a better nurser. It certainly doesn't hurt that I know I have a supportive Boss (his wife loaned me the pump I'll be using at work). Whatever the reason - I want to say that nursing is NOT something I will be embarrassed about this time or afraid to discuss. It is what is best for my child and for me and I will do it for as long as that continues to be the case. Do you know that there is even a Georgia law on breastfeeding??? It basically says that a mother can nurse her child anywhere that the child and mother can otherwise be! Why am I posting this you wonder? Well, it is something I feel strongly about. And I was reminded about that when I took my son, mother, and nephew to the Georgia Aquarium on Friday. There outside the main women's restroom was a sign that said Changing/Nursing station inside! Now, the nursing station was nothing more than a simple room of seating along 2 walls but still it was something! And the advertising made it no secret at all. More places ought to do this! Not even Babies-R-Us, which does have a Mother's room that mothers can use to change or nurse their child in, advertises it as such. With the American Academy of Pediatrics advising to nurse for the first 12 months of a child's life and then for as long as it mutually beneficial to mother and child, there should be more locations in public like this. There should be more resources, more benefits, more incentives, and definitely more support for women who chose to nurse. One local county - Fulton - provides rent-free a hospital grade pump to employees and their spouses (if the employee is male) to use as long as they need it. More government entities should do this. Fulton County also has a room in the government center where employees and members of the public (e.g. people on jury duty) can pump in private cubicles. There should be more of this. More insurance companies should cover the cost of pump and nursing accessories. (I spent $40 a piece recently on 2 nursing bras). Yes, I know that nursing is not for everyone and I don't look down on anyone that chose not to nurse their child. But, the health benefits to both mother and child have been proven scientifically. Society should recognize this and provide support to those that choose to nurse their children. Anyway, that's my position. This time around I am not afraid to let people know that I am a nursing mother. I am not afraid or embarrassed if someone finds out I nurse my child. And I won't be when I return to work. And if you work with me and can't find me for 15 minutes or so during the day (and possibly several times a day), please know that I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I'll return shortly and I'll have small containers of a white substance to put in the fridge. And the next time you are out and about and see a women with a blanket draped over one shoulder and half her body (or like I was with her head underneath the blanket for a few seconds), don't wonder what she's doing - she's feeding her child. I didn't mean to be on soap box. It's just an issue I feel strongly about and don't want any other mother to feel embarrassed or afraid about it anymore. Now, off to other hopefully beneficial things...like sleep. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Sleepless in Canton

Sleep less in Canton is the story of our lives right now. Yes, new baby Paleigh does sleep but not always at night and not for any reasonable amount of time. So we are getting less sleep that we would like! With our first baby, everyone said to sleep when the baby sleeps. Great advice! But it doesn't work with the second baby! 'Cause if you sleep when the second baby sleeps it means that the first baby has a chance to get into something! I was really tired on Thursday afternoon when the Nanny left and hubby was working upstairs. I dozed off on the sofa with new baby besides me. The first baby was playing and I kept hearing, Mommy open your eyes! Needless to say I kept opening my eyes to make sure that there wasn't a reason I needed to be opening my eyes! Until then...
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

One Month Old!

I haven't posted since I had my little one - it's been busy around here! I had a girl on October 6th at 1:37 pm - just one day after my due date! Paleigh Anne weighed 8 lbs and 8.5 ounces and she was 21 1/2 inches long. Her head was 36.5 centimeters. She was about 2 ounces heavier than her older brother was, 2 1/2 inches longer, and had a slightly larger head. I can't believe that I didn't have to be induced. Though I had contractions off and on all day on my due date, nothing became of then as they were somewhat irregular and never closer than 10 minutes apart. I fell asleep on the sofa and when I got up it was about 3 am on the 6th. I checked my e-mail and did a couple of things and then I realized between 3:30 and 4:00 am that my contractions had suddenly started again and that they were coming every 5 minutes. I finally called the doctor at almost 5:30 am. We got our things together, dropped our son off with a co-worker, and arrived at the hospital at 7:30. They started pictocin to help my contractions along and broke my water. I ordered an epidural shortly after 1 pm when I was finally 4 cm (I was 3 cm when I arrived). I went to the bathroom while the epidural was set up and then I felt a lot of pressure. Right before they started the epidural, they checked me again and I was 10 cm! 4 to 10 in about 10 minutes! My parents, who were there for the birth, had been set to eat lunch but my husband called them back! The doctor arrived and said he had planned to say hi and then eat lunch but instead he'd deliver the baby! 7 minutes of pushing and she was out! I did get an epidural right before I started pushing - it was put in low and just gave me a shot and not a drip since I was already involuntarily pushing while the epidural was being put in. It was an amazing delivery experience. The doctor was great and explained everything he was doing. I was so happy that she was a girl! She was put on my belly immediately. She had a full head of dark hair. I recovered easily but she had jaundice due to blood incompatability and had to be in NICU until the 10th (I was discharged on the 8th). But she has done fine every since we got home. She doesn't sleep a lot at night, though, so we are pretty tired over here! But we are happy to be home and together and I enjoy seeing her grow everyday! We have her one month check-up later today. I am betting that she will be almost 11 pounds! She doesn't seem much longer, though, so I don't know if she has gotten any taller. Our son Riley is doing well with her - he doesn't like to hear her cry at all! Anyway, that is about all for now. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Due Date!

My due date is today - Monday, October 5th! I can't believe it is here already. Almost seems like has flown by - though I know at multiple times during the pregnancy it felt like it was going really slow. Only time will tell know when my baby will be born. My doctor won't let me go past 41 weeks so within a week I know I'll have a new baby to hold! I can't wait to see if it is a girl or a boy. Though I am tired a lot and have had lots of braxton-hicks contractions off and on, I don't feel as desperate to get this child out as I did with my first one at 40 weeks (I was induced with him at 41 weeks). Perhaps not being on bedrest is the difference. Anyway, I am still excited about knowing that I will meet my child soon. I can't wait! We have trial week this week but I don't have any assigned cases for trial. It will be a long week if I don't deliver until the end of the week but I suppose I'll survive. I better go and get to bed since I have to be in court in a little over 5 hours. Until then...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night.