Breastfeeding Through Hydrocephalus and Cleft Palate {A Mother’s Devotion}

June 16, 2013

Christine Curry of Storyteller Photography writes: “This is Ellie. She was born with hydrocephalus, a cleft palate and a myriad of other issues. Because of her condition, she was never able to naturally breast feed. But that didn’t stop Ellie’s mom, who wanted to give her all she could. You see, Teresa pumped her breast milk … every day.. for EVERY feed… for over a year to give to her daughter. Although Ellie could not suckle at the breast, she was still able to rec...

Read more

Staying Ahead of the Mess {Challenges of Motherhood}

June 16, 2013

Let me start with a big fat disclaimer. I am not a perfect housewife. Pretty far from it actually! But, as time goes on (7 years cohabitation, almost 5 years of marriage, 2 years as a mom) I am finding what helps me keep a “groove” so that the housework does not drown me. Because lets face it – most moms are in serious danger of getting taken down by mountains of laundry that seem to spring up from nowhere. I am even going to include pictures of my own house – without cle...

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Journey to a Peaceful Planned C-section {Twin Girls}

June 14, 2013

My story begins when I was just a child. Ever since I can remember, the one thing I wanted to be was a mother. Sure, I had other dreams and aspirations as well – but, while my idea of the perfect career and life was constantly changing, my goal of becoming a mother never once faltered or waned. That dream, however, would come true too soon when I became pregnant at the age of nineteen by a man I’d only been dating for a month. It was bad timing, and there were a lot of struggles R...

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Homebirth of a Rainbow Baby

June 13, 2013

“My hope is that in sharing Jeremiah’s story, it will give someone hope or possibly inspire them to try whatever it is they want again. I hope that by sharing our struggle and joy, someone is inspired or given a little strength to try again.” – Ashley (previous Rainbow Baby story here: Letting Go of the Fear: A Natural Birth After 4 Losses) Jeremiah’s story began with loss. Five babies lost to miscarriages, some in the early days, two boys lost in the second trimest...

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2 Sets of Twins, 16.5 Months Apart {IVF and VBAC}

June 11, 2013

Thank you to the mother who shares both her birth stories of her FOUR children. {Part 1} My husband and I knew we would need help conceiving.  He had low sperm count, and I, well just didn’t ovulate.  We met with a fertility doctor and I had the impression that we would be pregnant within a month or two and we would be on our way to parenthood.  Boy was I wrong!  We tried 3 IUIs (intrauterine inseminations) which all failed before moving on to IVF (in vitro fertilization.)  The transfer for our ...

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After Two Years TTC: Vaginal Birth of a Transverse Baby Repositioned With Help From Midwife

June 11, 2013

Josey shares the story of the conception and birth of her beautiful baby. “My husband and I were only 27 years old when we decided to try to conceive, and we had no reason to think that we would have any issues. Nearly two years later, Infertility had taken its toll on us – both on our relationship and on my faith in my body. Thankfully, we finally found success with an injectibles IUI cycle done by a Reproductive Endocrinologist who lived six hours away from us. As the pregnancy pro...

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Hospital VBAC with a True Knot

June 7, 2013

I have had three children. The first was a c-section and the other 2 were VBAC.  I feel that I was “bullied” into the c-section simply because I didn’t follow their time schedule.  I was induced at 9 days over my due date because I was told my pelvis was not large enough to have a 9 pound baby which they said she would be.  I didn’t progress as quickly as they wanted and was given high doses of Pitocin.  I made it 13 hours before caving for the epidural which then stalled...

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“Why not formula?” | Choosing Donor Breast Milk Over Artificial Milk

June 6, 2013

Having a premature baby I anticipated there could be some challenges as we began our breastfeeding journey, however nothing quite prepared me for the challenges we would face. Jett was born at 25 weeks and in the early weeks of his life he had multiple bowel perforations which can be common in premature babies. He was a very sick little baby and because of his gut issue he couldn’t tolerate even the tiniest bit of breast milk. For the first 17 weeks of his life, he was sustained on TPN (Total Pa...

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If Only I Had Known {Momma Tips}

June 6, 2013

A small trip with two kids will take no less than an hour and a half Doing your daughters hair will usually put you both in tears. Having a good cry, is almost freeing. Its okay, go ahead. One day your son will ask you if there is a bone in his penis. (Seriously, not kidding) Its really hard to be angry when awoken at 6 am when your kid looks at you smiles and says “Hi Mama!” Bribery doesn’t always work the way you plan it too. It can bite you in the butt, hard. Our kids are WA...

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Alternative Methods of Checking Dilation {The Purple Line and More}

June 6, 2013

Through several years of being a part of the birth world I have noticed a trend. Dilation is *the* birth topic. No matter how a mother plans to birth, when the time draws near, dilation is the one thing on her mind. Why? Cervical dilation tells us one thing and one thing only – where you are right that second. It tells you nothing about what came before that check (when you compare to other labors or women) and it tells you nothing about what is to come. It only tells you about the here an...

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  • Breastfeeding Through Hydrocephalus and Cleft Palate {A Mother’s Devotion}
  • Staying Ahead of the Mess {Challenges of Motherhood}
  • Journey to a Peaceful Planned C-section {Twin Girls}
  • Homebirth of a Rainbow Baby
  • 2 Sets of Twins, 16.5 Months Apart {IVF and VBAC}
  • After Two Years TTC: Vaginal Birth of a Transverse Baby Repositioned With Help From Midwife
  • Hospital VBAC with a True Knot
  • “Why not formula?” | Choosing Donor Breast Milk Over Artificial Milk
  • If Only I Had Known {Momma Tips}
  • Alternative Methods of Checking Dilation {The Purple Line and More}

Breastfeeding Through Hydrocephalus and Cleft Palate {A Mother’s Devotion}

by Svea Boyda-Vikander on June 16, 2013

Christine Curry of Storyteller Photography writes:

“This is Ellie. She was born with hydrocephalus, a cleft palate and a myriad of other issues. Because of her condition, she was never able to naturally breast feed. But that didn’t stop Ellie’s mom, who wanted to give her all she could. You see, Teresa pumped her breast milk … every day.. for EVERY feed… for over a year to give to her daughter. Although Ellie could not suckle at the breast, she was still able to receive the best her mother had to offer.

Update No. 1: Ellie was released from feeding therapy. She has been learning to take solid food by mouth for the past few months. Her mother has been diligently practicing with her and she’s gaining sufficient weight. Her doctors and specialists will now be moving towards removing her G Tube altogether!

Baby Ellie   Pumped Milk   Sleeping babe   Challenges in Breastfeeding  

Storyteller Photography-1-109

 

 

Update No. 2: here she is as a thriving two year-old!

 

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{ 8 comments }

Staying Ahead of the Mess {Challenges of Motherhood}

June 16, 2013

Let me start with a big fat disclaimer. I am not a perfect housewife. Pretty far from it actually! But, as time goes on (7 years cohabitation, almost 5 years of marriage, 2 years as a mom) I am finding what helps me keep a “groove” so that the housework does not drown me. Because [...]

Read the full article →

Journey to a Peaceful Planned C-section {Twin Girls}

June 14, 2013

My story begins when I was just a child. Ever since I can remember, the one thing I wanted to be was a mother. Sure, I had other dreams and aspirations as well – but, while my idea of the perfect career and life was constantly changing, my goal of becoming a mother never once [...]

Read the full article →

Homebirth of a Rainbow Baby

June 13, 2013

“My hope is that in sharing Jeremiah’s story, it will give someone hope or possibly inspire them to try whatever it is they want again. I hope that by sharing our struggle and joy, someone is inspired or given a little strength to try again.” – Ashley (previous Rainbow Baby story here: Letting Go of [...]

Read the full article →

2 Sets of Twins, 16.5 Months Apart {IVF and VBAC}

June 11, 2013

Thank you to the mother who shares both her birth stories of her FOUR children. {Part 1} My husband and I knew we would need help conceiving.  He had low sperm count, and I, well just didn’t ovulate.  We met with a fertility doctor and I had the impression that we would be pregnant within [...]

Read the full article →

After Two Years TTC: Vaginal Birth of a Transverse Baby Repositioned With Help From Midwife

June 11, 2013

Josey shares the story of the conception and birth of her beautiful baby. “My husband and I were only 27 years old when we decided to try to conceive, and we had no reason to think that we would have any issues. Nearly two years later, Infertility had taken its toll on us – both on our relationship and [...]

Read the full article →

Hospital VBAC with a True Knot

June 7, 2013

I have had three children. The first was a c-section and the other 2 were VBAC.  I feel that I was “bullied” into the c-section simply because I didn’t follow their time schedule.  I was induced at 9 days over my due date because I was told my pelvis was not large enough to have [...]

Read the full article →

“Why not formula?” | Choosing Donor Breast Milk Over Artificial Milk

June 6, 2013

Having a premature baby I anticipated there could be some challenges as we began our breastfeeding journey, however nothing quite prepared me for the challenges we would face. Jett was born at 25 weeks and in the early weeks of his life he had multiple bowel perforations which can be common in premature babies. He [...]

Read the full article →

If Only I Had Known {Momma Tips}

June 6, 2013

A small trip with two kids will take no less than an hour and a half Doing your daughters hair will usually put you both in tears. Having a good cry, is almost freeing. Its okay, go ahead. One day your son will ask you if there is a bone in his penis. (Seriously, not [...]

Read the full article →

Alternative Methods of Checking Dilation {The Purple Line and More}

June 6, 2013

Through several years of being a part of the birth world I have noticed a trend. Dilation is *the* birth topic. No matter how a mother plans to birth, when the time draws near, dilation is the one thing on her mind. Why? Cervical dilation tells us one thing and one thing only – where [...]

Read the full article →

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