Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 43.5
Ounces Used: 35.5
Surplus: 8

Up a little bit. Always a good thing :)

Yum, Pizza

When I first went gluten free, I mourned the loss of pizza. Then slowly, I discovered I could make decent pizza crust and eventually found a pre-made crust that was really good. We even have an organic pizza place nearby now that makes really good GF pizza. All of these have eggs in them. So, when we found out about Little Man's allergies, I knew I would need to begin another search for good pizza. It didn't take long. I came across Rustic Crust Gluten Free Pizza Crust (check them out at http://www.rusticcrust.com/). It was only $3.99 for two personal pizza size crusts which is really cheap in the GF world so I figured I wasn't investing much if they were terrible. But, they were really good. We used Bertolli Garlic and Olive Oil sauce, Hormel Pepperoni, jarred roasted red peppers, and of course mozzarella cheese. We're also big fans of oregano and garlic powder so we added generous amounts of those. I was really pleased with the outcome and we will definitely be buying more of these crusts. One of the best things about them - unlike most GF products, they don't need to be frozen so they're always ready to bake. (And no, I wasn't put up to this by the company, I'm just excited to find good pizza that's safe for my family.)
Follow Up 6/28 - I sent feedback to Rustic Crust about how great their crust was and they let me know that coupons are available on facebook and twitter or at their website http://www.rusticcrust.com/ if you want to try it out. For those who can eat gluten, they have a full line of "regular" crusts too - no idea what they're like but thought I'd throw it out there.

Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 42.5
Ounces Used: 35.5
Surplus: 7

I had a clog this morning that I had to massage out so I was down about 2 ounces first thing in the morning. Seems my body made up for it later in the day which is good news. I'm already back up to 35 ounces of allergen free milk in the freezer plus a decent amount in the fridge.

What do you mean you won't use the EpiPen!?

My husband took little man to daycare this morning like he has pretty much everyday for the past two months. We've been really happy with the daycare we chose and the women who care for him in the infant room are really like having three extra grandma's. But, this morning one of them told my husband that they had first aid training last night and there were concerns about epi pens doing damage to a babies heart and so they may be giving it back to us. What!?!? An allergic reaction can do serious damage too!! So we called the owner to get more information and thankfully, the other woman had it wrong. Apparently three kids have been diagnosed with allergies just this week in addition to a few others that they already knew about and they're running into a situation where each family has different expectations. They want to standardize it and plan to administer benedryl first, then call 911 and give the epi pen if absolutely necessary, and also call the parents. We were fine with that but, man, did they have us worried for a few minutes. I'm sure this was just the first of many times that we will need to be his advocate to make sure that he's as safe as possible.

Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 42.75
Ounces Used: 36
Surplus: 6.75

Little man seems to be taking a little less milk since we went nut and egg free. I wonder if it's because he doesn't spit up constantly anymore. Another positive development.

A Little Taste of....Breast Milk

Yes, I finally tasted it. I know a lot of mom's taste their breastmilk to see if it's still good or to assess temperature or just out of sheer curiosity. I had no desire to taste it and managed to go over 5 months without doing it. But today I had no choice. You see, my husband, who is usually exceptionally good about safeguarding the milk, accidentally left 9 ounces sitting out all day yesterday. I came home from work to find my 6am milk still on the counter at 5pm. Now, I'm pretty liberal with my milk standards and use the 10 hour rule for how long it can sit out at average temperatures. But, 6am to 5pm is 11 hours not to mention that the house was pretty hot yesterday. So, needless to say, I was not pleased to find this milk out just when I've begun rebuilding my freezer stash with allergy free milk. To cut to the chase, we smelled it yesterday and thought it was probably fine but when I went to make little man's bottles for daycare tomorrow it smelled a little off. My choices were to risk giving him bad milk, throw it out, or taste it and make sure it was ok. Like I said, I had no choice but to taste it. And you know what, it didn't taste bad at all. No wonder the kid loves it so much. Guess I could have tried it months ago!

Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 42.5
Ounces Used: 36
Surplus: 6.5

Another good day.

Sunbutter is Squishy

Today I made my first replacement version of PB&J. I used my gluten free bread that I made with egg substitute, sunbutter, and strawberry preserves. When I opened it up at work, it had squished out everywhere and the bread looked a little like soggy dense pound cake. But, it was actually really good. Messy, but good.

Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 42.5
Ounces Used: 36
Surplus: 6.5

Biggest day I've had in over a week. I think I wasn't eating enough when I knew Little Man had an allergy but didn't know what it was. Now I know what I can eat. Breastfeeding makes you unbelievably hungry. And thirsty. As soon as I turn that pump on, I want to chug an entire bottle of water. Nice little evolutionary feature there.

Today's Tally

Ounces Pumped: 41.75
Ounces Used: 37
Surplus: 4.75

With today's milk, my freezer stash is up to 21 oz. I did call a Milk Bank in Ohio today to find out about donating my milk but the person I need to speak to is on vacation. I wish there was somewhere local to donate it but unfortunately, there isn't. I'm coming to terms with having to part with all that extra milk since my little man has almost completely clear skin in just a few days of being allergen free and is even happier than before. I don't think I've ever seen a baby who smiles quite this much.

Finding a New Bread

I don't find the gluten free diet to be all that challenging. Most things can be substituted and taste as good (or better) than their gluten equivalent. That is not the case, however, with bread. It took me a long time to find a decent bread that I didn't have to bake myself. For the past year, I've been eating a few different kinds of bread from a company called the Grainless Baker. Their breads and other products are fantastic. But, they have eggs in them so I won't be eating them anymore. That left me in search of a new bread. Before I discovered the Grainless Baker, I used Whole Foods and Gluten Free Pantry's sandwich bread mixes which are pretty good. These also call for eggs in the recipes. I made one today using Ener-G egg replacer and it came out really well. I still hate making bread though. I feel like it takes half the day between putting the ingredients together, letting it rise, and baking it. But, at least I have an option. Here's a picture of the final product. I had a piece with sunbutter (since peanut butter is now a banned substance). Not the best snack in the world, but it'll do.

Today's Tally

When you're an Exclusive Pumper (EPer) you get a little obsessed with numbers. The number of times you pump each day (4 right now for me), how long each pump is (2x's at 26 mins, 2x's at 36 mins), the number of ounces you pump, and of course, the number of ounces the baby drinks. So, one of the things I want to do each day is keep a tally of how many ounces I pumped versus how many Little Man took. Here's todays:

Ounces pumped: 41.5
Ounces used: 34
Surplus: 7.5

This is actually low for Little Man. He's usually around 37 ounces each day (roughly 7 oz five times a day). Fine by me. That's 7.5 ounces to add to my new freezer stash.

How I Got Here

I'm new to blogging. I've followed a few other blogs for a little while now but I'm new to having one myself. But, the new life I find myself in over the past six months needs to be documented. Let me explain. About two years ago, I finally figured out that living a gluten free lifestyle is the only way for me to feel human. It took my entire life and about 73 different doctors (all of whom missed it) to figure this out. Fortunately, I met a man who put up with me when I sick and likes me even more now that I'm well. We've been married for three and a half years. In January, we had our first child who we like to call Little Man. I planned to breastfeed him so I took the class, read the books, and learned as much as I could. I knew it would be challenging but I also knew it was the best thing for him. Well, I ended up being the woman in the hospital with two lactation consultants on either side of me and a crying hungry baby. I left the hospital with lots of instructions and techniques and most of all, pain. By a week in, I had decided the breastfeeding was more painful than labor and went to see another lactation consultant after I had spent 24 hours pretty much pumping around the clock. The LC recommended pumping a few times a day and nursing the rest. I gave this a try but the result was the same. So, when Little Man was 9 days old, we turned to exclusively pumping. I called the LC and she gave me some terrific advice to get started but beyond that, there isn't a lot of information out there about pumping so I was kind of winging it. Fortunately, it has gone very well and Little Man has still not had anything other than my milk - not even a drop of formula. Of course, women still ask me if I'm going to try nursing again. My answer is no, never. For me, pumping is pain free (most of the time), gives me lots of flexibility despite needing to pump mulitple times a day, allows my husband to enjoy feeding our son, and gives me stock pile of milk in the freezer. Not to mention that I would have been pumping at work anyway. Pumping works very well for us.

Now, about that freezer stash. My little man is a growing machine. By his first doctor appointment, he was supposed to be back to his birth weight and he had gained double what he needed. He's been in the 90th percentile for height and weight ever since. Unfortunately, he also had really bad skin in the form of ezcema and occasional rashes. At his 4 month check up, the doctor suggested he may have a milk allergy and recommended that I eliminate dairy. I did that but also added more nuts to make up the protein and about a week and a half into this no dairy, extra nut diet, he was completely covered in a rash. Since I'm already gluten free and we have a nephew with severe food allergies, we decided to go ahead and get him tested. Well, sure enough, he tested positive for nuts and eggs (but not dairy). We are now three days into me not eating these and his skin is clear and he's spitting up much less (can't even explain how much spit up we were dealing with). This means that I have 700 ounces of breastmilk in my freezers (yes, freezers, we had to buy a second one), that he can't have because it's tainted with nuts and eggs. My goal this week is to find a way to donate it. I'm thrilled that he's healthy now but I'm having trouble accepting that I have to get rid of all that milk! So, long story short, I now find myself as a gluten, nut, and egg free working mom who is exclusively pumping for a very happy little man. Join me as I figure out how to navigate this new world I live in.