I spend a good part of my day attached to my breast pump. At first I was pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock. That got exhausting very fast so I went to just pumping once at night and then cut out the night pumpings all together. I had been pumping 8 times a day and now I'm down to 5-6 times a day, but still feel like my life revolves around my boobs and pumping. I started thinking about how much time I spend each day pumping. It takes around 30 mintues from when I get hooked up to getting the milk in bottles and the bottles and pump stuff cleaned. So when I first started pumping I was spending 4 hours a day and now I'm down to 2.5-3 hours. That times how many days have I been at this? Just call me Elsie the Borden Cow.
Last night we cleaned out the freezer in the kitchen and moved all my milk that I've got stored up to the deep freeze we just got outside. I was AMAZED at how much was there. We've got four jumbo diaper boxes and two beer boxes full of my milk. Sometime I want to add up how many ounces I've got, Ryan thinks it's around 8 or 9 gallons. WOW!
This is the second breastfeeding blog post I have read today! haha - here is the other one, in case you are interested: http://www.solandrachel.com/
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel like pumping is actually tougher than just breastfeeding. I was pumping a ton like you at first...but we had a really hard time getting Jack to breastfeed. Plus, I didn't get milk for nearly 2 weeks after he was born, so I was pumping and spoon feeding him for a long time. So, at 6 weeks when he finally was breastfeeding good, I quit bottle feeding him...right when I should have been introducing the bottle! Man o man I would do that different because now that little stubborn guy WILL NOT take a bottle...from anybody! Plus, it turns out that all that milk I froze is bad. I guess I'm one of those lucky ladies whose milk gets rancid when frozen (or after a day in the fridge.) Ooooh, I've got a boob man on my hands. But luckily, like you, the milk is plentiful and he's a great eater now. It's good to hear that you're doing the breastmilk thing. I like hearing that other women are working hard to give their babes the best nutrition possible! Good job Lindsey!
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