This week, we are going to come in under budget, and I plan to chronicle the challenge. We have a lot on hand, but the trips to the store will be curbed.

My husband is at Walmart (ugh) right now getting things for a stir fry tonight. Tomorrow morning we are going to hit a farm stand for fresh veggies (yum!).

Hoping this works!

Good Morning possibly helpful Dominion rep!

I have a question about whether a bill can be reduced/partially forgiven if the amount is due to faulty equipment (not on Dominion’s part). Perhaps “pity credit” would be a good term.

After a series of unfortunate events I won’t waste your time with, we landed in a downsized but comfortable rental condo. We found the air conditioner did not work properly last month, and have been in an ongoing battle with the landlord to have it fixed. He’s one of those guys that looks as if their mom dressed them at 35 years old, and talks loud but doesn’t think people will overhear them. LL to HVAC man: “The tenants last summer thought the AC unit was just undersized and just moved out. Har Har Har!” Ok, so I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like that.

We have to run the unit constantly to keep the structure between 80 and 85 degrees and hopefully keep mold at bay. The whole situation is not pleasant, especially with a baby. I swear I went all momma tiger on him, but he moves through life in a “I found this sweet brainwashing suicide cult” fog.

While we would be able to absorb an “AC unit is too small for the structure” bill at around $210, the current “faulty unit” bill puts us in a lurch at $310.

Is it possible a pity credit exists for this month and the next to bring the bills down to $210 each? I feel like we are trapped in an uncomfortable and expensive situation, so it would be awesome if Dominion would say, “It really sucks that your landlord has aspirations of being a slum lord, but we’re so cool that we will reach into our big-boy-corporation pants, sprinkle some magic pixie dust on your bill, and make $200 disappear. BAM! Just like that.”

Maybe it is all wishful thinking, but I hope you have a smooth day and don’t deal with too many angry-bear customers.

We tried for a baby for about nine months before succeeding. In fact, we decided that we should probably make an appointment with a fertility doctor soon in case one of us was defective. I felt generally ill (achy, tired) for a couple weeks before it occurred to me that I might be pregnant, finally peeing on a stick with a positive result.

Throughout my pregnancy, I tried to be more diligent than usual about avoiding potentially harmful substances like msg, transfats and high fructose corn syrup. I also avoided things with high food poisoning risk, like deli meat, soft cheeses, and food from pet owners. Sorry pet-owning-friend, just because you chase your cat off the counter does not negate the fact that it was on the counter in the first place.

The one time I cheated with soft cheese at a wedding, I got very sick. Thanks a lot Kiln Creek; I hate you.

I did continue to eat sushi and sashimi on a near weekly basis, after doing quite a bit of research. We ate at trusted restaurants with consistent high quality, clean health inspections, and we avoided fresh water fish (including salmon). Sushi restaurants are less likely to sicken you than the average fast food joint many Americans frequent.

Morning sickness was the worst during the first trimester. The biohazard fridge at work certainly didn’t help. I would never put my own food in there, but my desk is conveniently located right next to the break room. Thankfully I only had to make an appearance twice a week.

During the nine months trying to get pregnant, I got lazy and put on about 25 extra pounds. My starting weight was around 195. I did not exercise as much as I would have liked, and weighed 240 by the time I was ready to pop.

After getting sick in my third trimester, my manager and team at work had mercy and suggested/ordered me to work from home full time.

I switched OBs mid-pregnancy after having repeated bad experiences at Specialists for Women in Suffolk, VA. I might review them in the future, but all I can suggest is to stay away. I went to The Group for Women in Norfolk, VA. I have mixed feelings on them, so I’ll review them if I manage to sort them out.

Our intentions for labor and delivery revolved around being as intervention free as possible. NO PITOCIN, no epidural, no episiotomy, etc. I’m not so badass as to go for a home birth, so we were set to delivery at Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk, VA. I was partial to this hospital because I received excellent care after surgery a year before.

Unless there is an actual medical reason, babies should not be induced before 42 weeks. I was born at 42 weeks, and had no expectations that my baby would come before that. The doctor wanted to induce at 41 weeks, but agreed to wait until 42 weeks. He got really antsy after 41 weeks actually passed, even though there were no actual medical reasons to be concerned.

He scheduled an induction for 41w6 days provided the hospital could accommodate me. Seeing we were uncomfortable with his initiative, he got upset. He actually had an emotional reaction to us asking one another if that was ok. We agreed because we were put on the spot, but after leaving we decided we just wouldn’t do the induction as long as the baby continued to move and everything felt right. If things reached 42 weeks, we would go ahead in. It was one day, but we wanted to give the baby the chance to come when he was ready. If anyone is allowed to get emotional about the birth of the baby it is me. Not a doctor I hardly know.

Saturday night, 41w4d I went into labor.

Obviously, going nine hours without food is not good for him. After doing more research, I found the nipples may not be the problem. The enemy in expressed milk is the enzyme Lipase. Lipase breaks down the fat in the milk. That’s a great assist for babies getting it straight from the tap, but a big problem if the baby needs to get through a work day without mommy.

Lipase is fast. If there are high levels in the milk, it can take on a bitter or metallic taste in as little as 24 hours. Freezing only slows the process, so the flavor may be degraded in 1-3 weeks. I remember tasting some milk when we first started offering it from the frozen stockpile. It was sweet, but also very bitter; I figured that was just the normal flavor.

We decided to experiment. This morning, my sitter offered 6 week old frozen milk from the BornFree bottle; he refused it. She cleaned it out and tried some that was pumped and frozen while I was at work yesterday. My boy greedily sucked it down and wanted more. She offered the older milk, again he refused and went to sleep.

My conclusion is that I must be one of the unlucky committed-to-breastfeeding mothers that has high levels of lipase. Since I only go in once a week, the majority of milk I pump is going to be a week old. During this first week, we are going to offer him some of the milk pumped while I was at work to see how many days he is willing to accept it. I pump the amount he takes from the bottle, so he will have something acceptable to eat the next time I go in.

While I would like to preserve the benefits of live leukocytes in my milk, my little man finds the taste below his standards after about 24 hours of refrigeration. My pumped milk has to go straight into the freezer. I am hoping the immediate freezing will keep it tasty for at least a week so he doesn’t decide to fast again. We’ll see how the next week goes!