I briefly mentioned in last week’s post that I came down with food poisoning after eating at The Black-Eyed Pea with Valerie, Grandma, Hima, and Lauren.  We ate there Thursday for lunch.  By Friday, Hima and Grandma had gotten sick and by Saturday, Valerie and I joined them.  Logan had a disgusting diaper Saturday morning… more disgusting than normal, but he never acted like his tummy hurt, so I’m not sure if he was affected or not.  My tummy on the other hand was messed up.  It felt like someone was stabbing me repeatedly in the gut.  Not to mention the other things that came along with it…

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Chris was at work and had customers scheduled to come in, so he wasn’t able to come home.  Nana to the rescue!  She came and picked up Logan (and brought me some meds and gatorade) because I was too stinkin’ sick to take care of him.  I mean, we were managing.  I drug a blanket and pillow in the playroom and laid on the floor while he played.  But I knew that he wouldn’t last all day playing by himself, so off to Nana and Pop Pop’s he went.  And with him went the remaining 25 or so ounces of expressed breastmilk I had in the freezer.  We wound up having to rely pretty heavily on my freezer supply the last couple of weeks of school.  The stress of the end of the school year was affecting my milk supply and I wasn’t getting enough milk pumped throughout the day to keep Logan in fresh.  So, when Nana left with Logan, I had 0 milk reserves left.  Oh, and an upcoming surgery (a week and a half away) that I would need 24 hours worth of milk for because the anesthesia is not compatible with nursing.  Seriously?  Talk about stress…

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Needless to say, my Saturday was shot.  We missed a 30th birthday party for our friends Katie and Ben that night.  Sunday I was feeling better, but we missed Vivi’s 2nd birthday party just in case I was contagious (at this point I wasn’t convinced it was food poisoning).  Vivi’s 1 year old cousin is going through chemo and we totally did NOT want to risk getting her sick.  I was fine all day Sunday… until that night.  And then Monday I still didn’t feel well.  Talk about the longest few days of my life.  Being sick and trying to take care of a TinyBaby is tough work!

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I was trying to stay hydrated, but I guess I wasn’t keeping up with it enough.  Monday rolled around and I had a strange feeling.  The best way to explain it would be an empty feeling, I guess.  Logan was cranky (I know now because he was hungry) and I was desperately trying to pump to restock my freezer supply for that stupid surgery.  Less than half an ounce on each side… when I normally could get out 2.5-3 oz from each side.  Holy crap!  I just knew I was drying up.  My worst nightmare was coming true.

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Instead of dwelling on the helplessness I was feeling, I hopped on a couple of my favorite breastfeeding websites and started researching how to increase my supply.  Since I had always been blessed with either an oversupply, or a ‘just enough’ supply, I had never really looked into how to increase it.  I started putting TinyFat to the breast every 1.5 to 2 hours…. and felt like I had a giant newborn again.  I increased my water intake even more and started eating a lot of oatmeal.  My supply increased a little bit, but not enough to be able to get 24 hours worth of milk pumped for my surgery.  And the stress looming over my head was just affecting my supply even more… vicious cycle.

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On Wednesday, we got out of the house to see our Aunt Hima.  I was telling her about my issue and the fact that I had one week to get some milk.  I think at this point I had managed to get about 5 ounces.  In true ‘Hima’ fashion, she sprung into action and called her Momma.  She got in the kitchen and whipped up some Methi Tepla, which I so lovingly call ‘Indian Tortillas.

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They are made with Fenugreek which is an herb that can increase milk production if your body is sensitive to it.  Our Indian Nana made them extra Fenugreeky just for me.  I added them to my ‘diet’ of extra water, oatmeal, and nursing more frequently.  I ate 1-2 3x a day all week, until they were gone.

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Indian Nana saved the day!  My milk came back with a vengeance.  I was able to keep feeding my FatBaby and pump 50 ounces by the day of the surgery, which is WAY more than he eats in one day.

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Moral of the story: DO NOT eat at Black Eyed Pea unless you are craving a date with the toilet and want to lose 10 lbs in the grossest way possible.  And Indian Tortillas loaded with Fenugreek are a life saver, as is my BFF Hima and Brown Nana.  Also, Fenugreek will make you smell like maple syrup.  True story.

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Black-Eyed Pea makes Logan a sad baby.  Seriously, though.  This looks like an ad for Feed the Children.