Old Navy, You Owe Me a Seamstress

For less than $6, I got a bra, pair of underwear, yoga pants, and a henley long sleeve shirt at Gap and Old Navy today. I had reward gift cards from using my Banana Visa card for miscellaneous purchases when I didn't have CS's card on me. The only problem with my purchases is that my yoga pants have a hole in them. Thanks, Old Navy. Glad I paid $15 for these. Except I didn't pay at all. (To make matters worse, I just received another flyer to use my card four more times for another gift card.)

At Gap, I got a real bra. It's the first "real" bra I've gotten since before Jacob was born and I only got it because it was free. And I'm sure I will only wear it for a few more months and then it will cease to fit when I stop nursing, which co -insides with the time that I can wear a bra with underwire and no unlatching cups for easy boob access. I hear that there are such things as customized nursing bras but I have no idea where such a shop would be. For the first nine months, I wore cheap, elastic, 3-clasp, unpadded, no underwire bras until the elastic digging into my side and the awful uni-boob wore me out. I got two "normal" looking bras at Target but they come in two colors. Black and white. My new bra is pink and lacy. But I have to unhook the back and pull it up to my chin to nurse in it. No one ever tells you that a side effect of nursing is that you will lose all concept of how many times you expose your bare breast in the course of a day. Not to mention nursing in public and how easy it is to flash your nipple to unsuspecting strangers. Although, I've gotten pretty good at being covert. Or at least I think I am. I also think people who cover up after the baby is three months old have issues. I left my modesty about baby things on the delivery bed.

So I Need a Job

I do need a job. I don't want one, but we are at the point where I need one. Desperately. Even if it's so I can put gas in my car and buy Jacob diapers. I don't mind working if I can do it without putting the baby in daycare, because I don't have money for daycare and I really like my baby and I want to be with him all the time. So I'm sort of limited in my options here. Then, this morning I get a voicemail from a woman who works in the WIC office in Mobile, AL. She wants to know if I would like a paid position as a lactation consultant for other WIC mom's. It's only 10 hours a week at $7.25 but that's a PERFECT job for me.

Except I don't live in Alabama anymore. So I can't work for them.

I'm bummed. It would be so perfect for me, because I think breastfeeding is GREAT and I want everyone to try it but I know it's hard at first. It's so hard and I almost gave up at 8 weeks because I couldn't even shower without feeling like screaming. My nipples were so sensitive that the water mist created by droplets hitting my body hurt when I showered. I remember thinking that they would hurt forever and that I could never shower without pain from water out of the showerhead. I had horrible back pain, even throwing out my back once. That was so hard because I couldn't look down, I couldn't stand up or lean back into the couch. I couldn't even pick up Jacob for a day. Luckily, I could go to a chiropractor and I think he helped but my back continued to hurt until Jacob was three months old. So I know how hard it is to keep nursing. But now? I am so glad I stuck with it. Not only did we save a fortune by not buying formula, but Jacob didn't get his first cold until he was 13 months old.

That job would be perfect for me. Not only is it about something I am passionate about, but I can do it without putting Jacob in daycare. He'd just go with me. So I think I will be going to my local WIC office here and asking if they need a paid lactation consultant. Or I'm going to sell Pampered Chef.