Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Helping women love what they wear on a budget

What to Wear While Breastfeeding

by Katie Haller

Lately, it seems like all I can think about is breastfeeding.  It’s probably because it consumes a large part of my day.  I’m sure many new moms would feel the same way. 
Before I had Jack it wasn’t even a question if I would breastfeed or not.  I always knew I wanted to breastfeed my baby.  Why wouldn’t I?  It’s best for baby and mom.  Not to mention it’s free and formula is not.  I didn’t understand why everyone wouldn’t breastfeed their baby.  Well, now after having a baby, I completely understand why some women choose not to breastfeed.  It’s a lot of work!  I’ve had a love-hate relationship with breastfeeding since day one.  I was so happy that Jack nursed right away.  Our first time together he latched right on with no problem.  What I didn’t realize was that he was tongue-tied and developed a shallow latch which caused me a lot of pain.  I also had some difficulty when we came home from the hospital because I was in a lot of pain from the c-section.  It got so bad that I ended up having to take a break from nursing and just pump bottles while I healed.  I did that for a week or so and luckily Jack had no problems taking a bottle.  I broke all the rules and gave him a bottle when he was 3 days old.  I debated exclusively pumping but decided that seemed harder than nursing.  After I healed I slowly started to nurse him again.  With time we both got better with it.  I’ve wanted to quit so many times and just go to formula, but every time I think that I end up deciding that I still want to nurse him.  As of right now, I’ve decided that I’ll breastfeed until I’m ready to be done.  That could be in 2 weeks, a month or 6 months.  I just take it day by day. 
Breastfeeding has definitely come with a lot of challenges, but there is one dilemma that I’m faced with every day. That is the question of….what to wear?  It’s important to wear practical clothes for easy access to your breast when you’re nursing and pumping.  I don’t believe in buying clothes that you can’t wear for the long term, so I’m not buying any special nursing clothes, besides my nursing bras, which I’m sure I’ll still wear them even after I’m done breastfeeding. 
Here are some outfits that I’ve come up with to help you style yourself for those nursing and pumping months after your baby is born. 
This navy blue button-down dress from Old Navy is great if you work in an office and plan to pump at work.  Dresses are usually not practical for breastfeeding, but this style is perfect for it.  The buttons are great for easy access. 
This wrap dress that I found at Savers is a great style of dress for breastfeeding.  It’s low cut, so it’s easy to feed your baby or pump. 
Right now I prefer to dress in a two-piece, because it’s easy to lift your shirt to the nurse or pump.  When you wear a loose top with a blazer, no one would ever suspect that you’re a breastfeeding mom.  This is a great look for an evening out or a casual work environment. 
Just like the button down dress, a button down shirt is always nice for nursing as well.  Easy to unbutton and feed. 
This here is a look I’ve been wearing a lot right now.  It’s comfortable and cute.  It’s loose fitting which is nice for your post baby body.  Plus it’s also nice for nursing, because it’s in two pieces. 
I’m not that comfortable nursing in public, so I normally bottle feed if we’re out and about for convenience, but if I do nurse around other people I like to be covered up.  That’s why it’s kind of a nice option to use your outfit as a cover.  I have seen special scarves that are made to be a nursing cover, but I’ve found that any infinity scarf will do just fine.  Here’s an example of how you could use your own scarf as a cover up. 
Another clothing item you could use to cover up with is a waterfall sweater.  As long as it’s big enough, you can drape it over your baby.  It’s nice not to worry about packing a nursing apron or big blanket in your diaper bag everywhere you go. 
Those are just a few examples of some practical breastfeeding outfits.  I’m curious to know if anyone else had or has a favorite breastfeeding outfit that you wore? 

Life with Baby

by Katie Haller

I promise that one of these days I will get back to my normal outfit posts and thrifty tips, but as of right now my life is revolving around my new baby.  It has been kind of a crazy couple of weeks at home with our little guy.  Time feels like it’s flying by, but I also feel like things are standing still.
It’s such a weird feeling when you bring a new baby home.  I know that people have told me that the first few weeks with a newborn are hard, but I think I just chose to ignore them.  I think the most challenging thing for me has been trying to recover from my c-section while caring for Jack.  Luckily, I’ve had a lot of help.  I feel better than I did a week ago and I’m starting to feel more and more like myself each day, but I’m not perfect yet.
It definitely feels weird not being pregnant anymore.  As much as I hated being pregnant, I miss it, if that makes any sense at all.  I hated how uncomfortable I felt and how huge I was, but I miss having my baby with me all the time and feeling him move around.  It’s a weird feeling actually holding him in my arms, knowing that he used to be inside me. 
Even though having a newborn has some challenges with the lack of sleep, the poopy diapers, breastfeeding and all the other things that come with having a new baby, it’s still one of the most wonderful feelings that I’ve ever had.  I’m overwhelmed with happiness when I look at Jack.  I can’t believe that I’m his mom and I grew him for 9 months.  It’s pretty amazing.  I love this newborn stage, but I look forward to watching him grow and getting to know him more every day. 
Here are a few pictures of my little angle.

My Birth Story

by Katie Haller

When it came to childbirth, I was always pretty relaxed about it.  I am not the kind of person to come up with a detailed birth plan with all my wants and wishes.  My birth plan was always to get my baby out as safely as possible and if I could make it less painful, then that was good too.  I’m so glad I didn’t have a birth plan that I felt I had to stick to because my birth experience was nothing that I could have planned for.  I talked with friends who have had kids, I read blogs of birth stories, watched birth stories on YouTube, but nothing could have ever prepared myself for what I experienced.  Everything that I thought would happen, didn’t happen.  I wasn’t going to share my birth story at first, but after going through with it,  I realized every woman has a different story, and maybe mine might help some first-time mom like myself. 
The morning of the day that my water broke. I thought I looked huge, little did I know my little guy was wanting out.

Labor
Wednesday, I went through my normal day.  I went to work, Kevin and I took my car in to the dealership for a check, we came home and had a normal evening together.  I had no signs of pain throughout the day.  Then at about 10:00 pm,  I woke up to go to the bathroom.  I noticed some extra water coming out of me.  I thought I was just losing control of my bladder, but it didn’t stop there.  I kept feeling leakage.  I spent an hour googling “water breaking”.  Since I had no contractions, I thought I had plenty of time to get to the hospital.  I didn’t want to wake up Kevin yet, so I went back to bed.  About 1:30 am I woke up with a pretty strong, but bearable contraction.  I decided to time them.  Before I knew it, they were less than 5 minutes apart.  I got Kevin up and he got ready as I tried to pack a bag for the hospital and clean my kitchen.  (It was 10 days before my due date, so I was a little unprepared.)  When we got to the hospital, I was in so much pain, it was horrible.  I was checked around 4:30 am and I was dilated to 4 cm.  There were so many babies being born on that day, that I got the last delivery room on the floor, which was doubling as a hospital storage room.  They were able to get me an epidural right away.  The epidural was amazing.  It helped make the pain go away and I felt relaxed.  The nurse checked me right after the epidural kicked in and I was already at 8 cm.  She told me I pretty much had dilated all the way to an 8 on my own without the epidural.  She also said I would probably be having my baby by lunchtime.  I was happy that things were moving along so quickly.  I thought that maybe my labor wouldn’t be so bad after all.  I was wrong though. 
Pushing 
Between 8 and 9 am, I was dilated to 10 cm.  Instead of pushing right away, they had me in a couple different positions to help bring the baby down.  The nurse would leave me in a position for 15 minutes then she would have me push a little, then switch positions.  We did this for an hour in a half or so.  Then she started having me really push.  This was the hardest part by far.  The nurse had turned off the epidural, so I could feel the contractions and know when to push.  It was so exhausting, frustrating and painful.  No matter how hard I pushed, the baby would not come down.  The nurse said I was doing a good job pushing, but the baby just wasn’t having it.  He was always cradled on my left side and he kept turning his head, making it harder for me to push him out.  After a little more than 2 hours of pushing like that with no results, the doctor said we would have to do a c-section.  Of course, I didn’t want that.  I was determined that I’d just get him out myself, but of course, that didn’t happen.  Before I knew it the epidural was turned back on and I was being wheeled into the operating room. 

Delivering
I really never thought that I would need a c-section.  I had such a healthy pregnancy, I was not prepared for this at all.  I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to hold my baby or see him when he came out.  Kevin was so calm and it comforted me just to watch him.  I could tell from his eyes what was happening.  Before I knew it I heard the sweetest little cry in the world.  Kevin took a bunch of pictures and kept showing them to me.  He was so cute.  My favorite part was when the nurse brought the baby to my face so I could give him a kiss.  He was perfect. The most beautiful baby I had ever seen.

Kevin cutting the cord


The first time I got to meet Jack.  It was love at first sight.


Recovery 
Unfortunately, I got the worst of both worlds.  Pushing followed by a c–section means double the recovery.  It’s not fun.  This was another thing I didn’t expect.  After the surgery, I was taken back into the delivery room while I waited for a recovery room to open up.  I got to spend some time skin to skin with Jack and feed him for the first time.  Later I went to the recovery room.  I was so thirsty, all I wanted was a huge glass of water.  The nurses told me that water would make me nauseous, because of the medicine I was given during the surgery.  Finally, they let me have some water.  I was just so dehydrated after all the pushing, but eventually, I did through up some of it.  The nurses at the hospital were all so nice.  I have a new respect for everything nurses do in their jobs.  Caring for people can’t be easy and they were all so nice, patient and helpful.  I had packed a cute going home outfit with my yoga pants and a cute cardigan, thinking I’d be walking out of the hospital with makeup on and my hair done.  Yeah right!  I quickly learned that wouldn’t be happening.  I barely fit in my baggy pajama pants, because I was pumped up with so many fluids, my legs were so swollen.  I got to go home 48 hours after birth, but it was scary to leave the hospital.  Luckily I had help on the way.   

Skin to skin time

Precious baby

Daddy and Jack

I can’t resist baby feet


Over all, my birth story was no walk in the park, but when I’m holding my little baby Jack in my arms, I know it was so worth it.  He is the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.  He’s beyond perfect.  Kevin has been an amazing husband and father.  He never left my side at the hospital and since Jack came 10 days early, he had to work this week.  Thankfully, we had family that was willing to come into town early from Michigan and California, to help us out with the first few weeks.  Each day has brought new challenges for us, but we are definitely making our way.  Besides, recovering from surgery is much better when you have such a cute little guy to snuggle up with.  I’m so grateful for everything. 

New Baby!!

by Katie Haller

I’m so excited to introduce you to my sweet baby boy!  Jack William was born on February 11, 2016, at 2:13 pm.  Jack surprised us by arriving 10 days early and weighing in at 7lb 15oz.  I’m so glad he decided to show up when he did!



He is absolutely perfect and Kevin and I couldn’t be more in love with our little boy.  We’ve been adjusting to having a baby in the house and I’m trying to heal my body up after having an unexpected c-section, but mostly, we are all just enjoying our little bundle of joy.


Exciting News!!

by Katie Haller

I know it’s been a while since I’ve made a blog post.  I’m sorry about that.  I kind of disappeared without warning, but I’m back with some exciting news.  My husband and I are expecting our first baby this February!  We are very excited to be parents! 
Baby at 9 weeks
It’s been kind of a difficult summer for me.  I’ve had some pretty horrible morning sickness.  It’s taken all my energy to just get to work on most days.  Anything else, I’ve just had to put on hold, including this blog.  Now that I’m starting my second trimester, I’m finally starting to feel more like myself.  I hope to get back into doing some of the things that I love. 
I’m looking forward to this next year and all the exciting things to come.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty of things to blog about!

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