8 Months and Counting

Olivia is eight months and five days old today, which means that's how long I've been breastfeeding.  I never thought I would make it this far.  Every single day was a challenge up until four months, when I was able to stop using the nipple shield and it just stopped hurting.  Then, I quit the herbs, and now I'm down from 12 pills of Domperidone a day to just 3.  We haven't needed to use our gift/donor milk for months now, so I have a nice freezer stash saved up.  People were right, it got better!  Si se puede.

I still remember being told over and over that my difficult nursing experience will make me such a better midwife.  At the time I thought, "If I had an ounce of milk for every time I heard that, I could actually feed my baby!"  Now, though, the truth is that my experience has helped my understanding of breastfeeding complications and I hope I am able to really help clients who are struggling.  I get it.  There were times when nursing hurt more than labor and it's all so emotional.

Fortunately, Olivia is thriving and my supply hasn't been hit at all by the addition of solid foods two months ago.  Yay!

We stopped going to the breastfeeding support group at Eden once Olivia started crawling, since I didn't like her being on the hospital carpet.  It was really helpful at the beginning, though.  Now, I love reading The Leaky Boob page on Facebook while I'm nursing.  There are almost 80,000 followers, so there are always lots of interesting posts and comments to read.  It's my main source of encouragement for keeping up the breastfeeding, aside from just sheer determination to make it to one full year.

I recently discovered nursing necklaces, which keep Olivia's busy hands away from pinching, kneading, scratching, or grabbing me.  Olivia and I both love the necklaces.  My sister made me my first necklace, which actually disintegrated last month from all of Olivia's constant pulling and gnawing.  My second one is quickly heading that way, since it too has been well-loved.

In celebration of my personal breastfeeding accomplishment, I just ordered a new nursing necklace from Etsy.  There were so many beautiful ones to choose from, so it was difficult but I found a hot pink wooden bead one that I love.  Let's hope it lasts awhile.

Eight months, five days of breastfeeding.  Lots of pain, lots of tears, but not a drop of formula.

I am that awesome.