Apparently there is a down side of coffee, which is that I am wide! awake! when I should be sleeping. It isn’t as if I drank a whole lot of coffee: I have a 4-cup coffee pot, and I made “3” cups, and the 3 is in quotes because what they call 3 cups will fill a mug once with a little warm-up-your-cup slosh (or, depending on the morning, a little evaporate-into-a-sizzling-stain-on-the-bottom-of-the-pot slosh) left over for later, and that’s it. And I am not talking about a huge mega-mug, I am talking about a normal, even SMALLISH mug.
Do I have a mother-in-law story to tell here? Why, yes I do! She likes to talk about how her late husband used to “fib” to the doctor about how much coffee he drank. “He’d say, ‘3 cups,’ and I’d say, ‘Those must be MIGHTY BIG CUPS!’ He was filling it to the 6-cup mark on our coffee maker every single day!” She tells this anecdote once per visit, but then refers to it again almost daily when she sees me making coffee: “I just keep thinking about Lloyd saying he only drank 3 cups! Ha ha ha.” She, of course, is not a coffee drinker. Never could stand the stuff. Never saw the point, either. Why not just go to bed at a decent hour? She just doesn’t understand it at all—never has. And the taste! My stars.
I had my OB appointment today. Did you know there could be a POP QUIZ on Kegels? With GRADES? It was like that nightmare where you realize you forgot to attend classes all year and now that you’ve found the classroom you have to take a test.
The OB says that if I’m breastfeeding exclusively, I’m fine without any birth control at all for at least 12 weeks. But I have five children already, and there is the question of whether I want to bet the farm on a claim made by a guy who earns his money on a per-pregnancy basis.
I definitley wouldn’t listen to the OB. How many times has he had a 10 week old baby when he realized he got knocked up again? 0.
This is an interesting read. Not that I’d trust it if I had 5 kids. But interesting. And makes you realize how stupid people really are… they take the parts they want to believe…
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility.html
GREAT LINK, Jen! I read the whole thing with interest.
ha ha! My OB (a woman) says that I should use bc whether I’m bf’ing or not. We sort of are, and kind of not. I think I might need to get a baseball bat too. lol
Your mil sounds like mine. She tells the same stories, thinking we’ve either NOT heard them 100x already or they are SO SO funny that we must want to hear them again.
“The average time for the return of menstrual periods is 14.6 months”
That line in the article ticked me off! Why can’t *I* be one of *those* women. Stupid af, 2.5 mo pp. hmph.
I follow all their other guidelines too…
OB, Schmobee.
Get thee to the pharmacy. I’m on the Nuvaring, a very low dose vaginal ring if you’ve never heard of it. I’ve been on it for 4 years and love it. I got pregnant within 2 weeks of going off of it, and it keeps those pesky monthly hormonal symptoms at bay since it’s so low dose. Best part? I only have to think about it every three weeks when I need to take it out! Perfect for a stressed out mom who puts eggs in the cabinet and milk in the pantry. Sigh.
I don’t think that 14.6 month average can possibly be right. Everyone I know got their periods again in the 3-6 month range. The only time I was later than that was when I was nursing the twins, and I think I got it around 10 or 11 months then.
I got mine back at 2 months and 6 months respectively – which is exactly a week after I put each kid in their own rooms at night. Probably just a big coincidence but I have to say I was kind of nervous the 2nd one took so long! I didn’t want to wait and I knew we’d want a third with close spacing! With this one I won’t care how long it takes to come back though.
I haven’t used birth control since college and I reallly don’t want to think about it.. ugh.
Given the economy being the way it is (and doctor’s most likely feeling the pain as well)…I would padlock myself in a room to keep my husband away as a form of birth control…if he wasn’t already snipped. Your mother in law must drive you insane (in the nicest of ways of course) in case she ever stumbles here.
Hahaha on the doc’s per-baby income! Did you mention you were thinking about an even half dozen still?
I love coffee. Now that I’m TTC, I try to make an effort at reducing my intake, but it’s really difficult. Somedays my “2” cups are more like “4” cups. I’m finding I’m not really as careful with those things as I was the first time around in general. Is it that way for everything with kid #2 and beyond? Letting things slide? Lunch meats, coffee, hair dye? Birth control? Or maybe not birth control, because maybe it’s the one thing we let slide the first time and voila! Kid #2 on the way. Maybe that’s the only think we’re more viligent about with future pregnancies. Except those of us who would like to be pregnant, who have a more difficult time of it.
Ha, I channeled you and posted about my annoying mother-in-law yesterday.
And yeah, my OB told me that I was fine with no BC as long as I was exclusively breastfeeding AND as long as I hadn’t gotten a period yet.
Then along came Caitlyn….
Oh, and on the coffee….
2 cups on my pot equals one of my regular sized mugs. I drink 2-3 mugs a day.
I’m one of those people who can go to bed after drinking a pot of coffee though, so for that, I am lucky.
I think your OB needs a refresher course in baby-making.
14 months? WTF? I got mine 8 weeks after Maddie was born. I was pumping religiously, but not nursing.
14 months. Hrumph.
oh sweet baby Jane, NO MR. OB. NO. I mean, how many people do you know who have babies mere inches apart because they followed that advice?
I know of four, personally. Four. Four sets of siblings born within a year of each other, because breastfeeding makes it all go away of course. Except it doesn’t. Not for everyone.
I agree with the greek chorus. Get thee to a pharmacy, indeed! After I had kicked the caffiene habit for my entire pregnancy and then had that one sneaky cup of coffee when the baby was 4 months, I felt like I was high, it affected me so strongly. I didn’t have caffiene again for months.
SWISTLE. DO NOT LISTEN TO THAT MAN.
He is lying to you…wants your and your insurance company’s money. I’m on the mini pill. Sucks majorly to remember. I’ve gotten my period back both times at about 6 weeks and I have either pumped or breastfed.
I’m off to help Darsie eat a 2-lb. box of See’s candy. I must be menstrual.
Okay, I’ve heard a billion times you can still get pregnant during those 12 weeks. I’ve never heard a doctor say otherwise!
And hear hear on coffee! I’m this big health nut who cannot, will not, totally give up coffee. I’m allowed one vice, yeah?
God, I’m always so behind on the commenting, sorry Swistle. But, yes I am on the mini-pill and its working for me. Maybe not so much good for the waistline (which seems intent on expanding eeek) but no craziness here. Plus the kid is almost 11 months and still no period. Love it! But then again, the pill has such different effects on different people. Just try it and see… if it makes you crazy stop!
That sounds so irresponsible! How can the OB say that! I’m horrified. Is it a guy? I cannot picture any self respecting female OB telling her patient that she is “safe” because she’s breastfeeding. Total and complete crap as far as I’m concerned!