yum. food.

Before I got pregnant, I knew gave much thought to breastfeeding. Every baby I had ever known had gotten formula. Most mothers hadn't even tried breastfeeding. So that was always my plan too. I mean, why put yourself through that? I just didn't get it.

Then I got pregnant. Started doing research. Not only on the health benefits of breastfeeding, but also the cost of formula. And I discovered quite a few people in my life that had breastfed their children. I decided I was determined to do it, even if it was only during my maternity leave.

I'll admit, I had a lot of skeptics. No one expected it to last. And I was very cautious when the subject came up. I'd say things like "Well, I'm going to TRY." or "We'll see how it works". Even when she was a couple months old, I'd hear "So when do you start giving her formula?" like it was absolutely essential for her survival. That's where our society is now! They forget babies have been feed for centuries by milk, not formula!

In preparation, I read a few books and found some sources in case I ran into problems. Luckily, the hospital where I delivered was great. They asked if I planned on breastfeeding shortly after I was admitted, and that was that. No one tried to give her formula and all the nurses were great. Christy, bless her heart, was my labor and delivery nurse. She was a-mazing. Seriously. Not even just for the delivery, but she helped me nurse Ezri when she was about 45 minutes old. I love that woman.

We met with the lactation consultant the day she was born and then again after we were discharged, when Ezri was three days old. That morning, my milk came in. And did it ever! She advised me to go directly to the home medical equipment store and purchase a pump or I would be in pain in a few hours. So glad I did ($280 later, and numerous calls to my insurance company, each time with a different answer regarding coverage for such supplies, grrrr). It was so worth it. I know I was supposed to let my supply match Ezri's demand, but I was so concerned about drying up I thought the more I had stored in the freezer the better (no worries- I found a local woman with supply issues that was happy to take the extra off my hands).

I could not imagine feeding Ezri any other way. No that we didn't have a few hiccups. We had some trouble getting her to take a bottle, but as long as I wasn't the one trying to feed it to her, she came around. I also had a bit of scare when I thought she might have a sensitivity to dairy (no ice cream?! ahhhh!) but that was my imagination running wild. Oh, and I managed to get a case of Mastitis at about 2 weeks, probably caused by my oversupply. Even that wasn't so bad though, once the fever went down! She gets the best possible food for her, no tummy troubles, I managed to drop all the baby weight before I even went back to work (and another 10 lbs since then) and we've saved quite a bit of cash. I wonder if more people would consider breastfeeding if WIC didn't cover formula? No that I'm against programs like WIC, just a thought.

So here we are, 10 months in, and still going strong. I have no plans to stop. Although I am looking forward to the days when I won't have to consider how accessible my shirt is when I get dressed in the morning!

.b.