On Nursing

(Note: if reading a whole post about breastfeeding makes you uncomfortable, stop here :)

Before Emmaline was born, I really thought I would hate nursing. My goal was to nurse for 6 months, and then I figured I would be overjoyed to stop. Luckily things were different than I expected. Feeding her has been a privilege, and some of the tenderest moments of the past 6 months have been spent in the glider with her curled up against me. Now I think it is about to stop. I made it 6 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days J.

The thing about nursing is there are two different parts to it. One is actually physically feeding Emmaline, which I’ve enjoyed. Aside from the reasons above, it forced me to sit down and relax every few hours while I was home with her (although I would have rather slept in the middle of the night!). Sometimes I felt very refreshed afterwards. I learned which tv shows were on when Emmaline got hungry, and watched lots of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends”. It was also nice when we went out, because I knew that I was all she needed. Now we have to bring bottles and formula and who-knows-what-else.

The not so fun part of nursing was pumping. It is a drag. This is the main reason I’m giving it up. I must say, I am pretty psyched that my life is no longer divided into 3 hour increments. If you figure I was pumping up to 6 times per day sometimes, at least 20 minutes each time – I’ll now have more than 2 hours of new time for myself! Now I can afford to spend more time doing the things I enjoy, like exercising, sleeping, or playing with Emmaline. I will miss my podcasts though, which is how I made it through the work pumping sessions (two college football podcasts – the Dawgcast and Solid Verbal – and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me).

Considering I went back to work after 2 months, I’m pretty pleased to have made it another 4 months of nursing. Emmaline is growing well and is healthy, which is the most important thing. I definitely noticed a decline in milk as soon as I went back to work. It’s interesting how your hormones are all linked, because I also started having my cycle again at that time. Then it fell more right about the time I decided to set a defense date (I guess because of stress?). I started taking fenugreek and drinking more water, and that definitely helped. I also took over the nighttime feedings again (Chris had been giving her a bottle so I could sleep). The nail in the coffin for my supply though was AGU. It was such a busy meeting, finding time to pump was very hard. So Chris and I agreed to start giving Emmaline formula a few times a day. Ever since then, she’s had a mixture of milk and formula, and doesn’t seem to mind switching back and forth. Now that she is eating some real food, it’s a good time to switch to full formula.

I’ve managed to schlep my pump and breast milk to Palo Alto, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, and Atlanta. I’ve pumped on mini-vacations to Steamboat, Winter Park, and Breckenridge. I pumped mid-way through a hike with Chris, at about 10,000 feet in 35 degree weather with snow flurries falling. I’ve pumped at trailheads before and after mountain bike rides (and considered using my own milk after bonking only halfway through a 15 mile ride). I’ve been “busted” by mall security when I stopped to pump on the way to Breckenridge (apparently those big, empty parking lots have pretty high-res security cameras!). All in all, it’s been pretty entertaining. I think I will miss feeding her but am ready to move on to a new phase in our lives together.