HELP! Newbie Alert

Thank you for the warm welcome!

She is doing great, now. Initially we faced some serious resistance to her going on light duty right away. Her chief (with no kids of his own) insisted she could continue fighting fires until the third trimester, and our first OB wasn't willing to sign off on light duty paperwork. After lots of research and tears we took 100+ pages of paperwork to them both and asked them to go ahead and sign off on each toxin inhaled in the line of duty they felt was perfectly fine to be injested by a pregnany woman in the first trimester. Then we asked about environmental carbon monoxide levels that are appropriate for extended inhalation in pregnancy that are caused by diesel fumes from running trucks near the sleeping area in the hall. We compiled a list of other extremely challenging physical duties for their review. We fired our OB and found a new one who was much more willing to look at DPs specific situation and the risks involved and help us write up a good plan for light duty that includes working as a rental residence code inspector and fire prevention educator. She loves it and I love having her home every night instead of sleeping at the fire hall 33% of the time. Her fellow fire fighters are extremely supportive and one of them is even our wonderful donor. After 12 years on the job they are like family to us!

We are looking forward to the early pregnancy discomforts to ease up a little, but we are so excited!!!

Welcome. Sounds very stressful on the job front, but like you both advocated very well. I also wanted to pipe up on the nursing front. Can you you specify at all what your plans are? I'm pregnant with our second now (due mid-June), and my wife is trying to induce lactation so that we can both nurse (she's taking birth control pills and domperidone). Once you get down to really thinking about logistics, it seems like it might be complicated to maintain two separate supplies with one baby. Do you happen to know of anyone who has actually pulled it off in real life (as opposed to the many apocryphal stories out there)? We have yet to find anyone (though we do know adoptive families where only one mom has induced, but that really is different since then she can have more or less unlimited nursing time).

Best of luck,
Lyn

Hi everyone and thanks for making me/us feel so welcome right off the bat.

As far as shared breastfeeding goes, we are sharing it because she misses her work so much - being on the rig specifically and working the 24 hours shifts 10 days a month rather than the 40 hour work weeks she has now. So she will nurse exclusively for 6-10 weeks until she goes back to work and then I will nurse. Its my understanding that my milk isn't sufficient for brand new borns anyway so its what we'll do... Its what works for us. Having breastfed our first child 8 years ago - just me, we know that maintaining supply can be an issue... Frankly we aren't too worried about it. We will incorporate plently of milk thistle and fenugreek and pump as needed to keep supply up. Certainly having some frozen milk on hand for grandparents and big brother to fed the baby from time to time will be welcome. We are both really committed to nursing at least 18 months, so we will do whatever it takes, and luckily we are both "roll with it" kinds of people. Let me know if you encounter any problems - since we don't know anyone who has even tried it - I'd love to hear all about your experiences.