There is one small bonus to CD's departure. My frozen stash of milk is likely to expand significantly from the paltry 13 ounces currently squirreled away.
CD likes to give Eleanor a bottle each evening and I like the extra sleep it affords. In order to accomplish this I have to make sure I pump 3-5 ounces of milk each day. I generally have extra in the morning so at the feeding around 4:45 am Eleanor takes one side only and I pump the other. If I didn't, milk would shoot across the room....and we really don't like to waste it! I do the same at the next feeding, usually between 7:30 and 8:30 am. Getting five ounces has been surprisingly easy, at least to me. (The difference in milk supply this time around is striking. I never leaked a drop last time. It was as though I had exactly enough and no more. This time I have leaked, copiously, on many occasions. Each time I'm annoyed, but also secretly, at least until now, very proud of my superpower milk making capabilities.)
It's no doubt a hold-over from last time but I still get a touch of "performance anxiety" when I know I have to produce a certain amount of milk via the pump. I pump the most milk when I'm reading a magazine or book, not watching the bottle and counting every drop that lands in it. Not only will I be able to pump without pressure for the next 12 days, every additional ounce I freeze results in even more security. I know that I can pull out an ounce or two if I don't pump enough, or I can be away for a little while (a date with CD, perhaps?) and she won't starve, or I could get sick for a little while (not outside the realm of possibility given the lack of sleep) and she would be fine.
I would rather have CD around for the next 12 days than have a big supply of frozen milk, but I'm choosing to look for a bright side for a change. (Stay tuned for our regularly scheduled bitching...likely to return after a few days of flying solo.)
CODE BROWN update: Grunting....we have lots and lots of grunting! I am smelling odors and hearing sounds that make me think we may finally have a poop... a mere 113 hours since the last one. Of course, Eleanor could just be teasing me. I was sure the last diaper change would be "the one" and I was wrong.
and one more CODE BROWN update: Woo Hoo! She wasn't teasing me. I have never been so happy to see a poopy diaper.
Last update: The first poop was reasonable. And the second? I need a shower.
1 comment:
Lucky you! I always had a rotten time pumping. I never, not once, had a let-down while pumping, and thus it could take 40 minutes to get two ounces. Discouraging, to say the least... Oh, well. I nursed all three of my kids for over a year, and they were all chubby little things, so obviously there was plenty! But if they'd had to be separated from me for any reason - well, thank goodness for bottles. :-)
I take it your baby's solely breastfed? Solely breastfed babies, as I'm sure your doctor was telling you, virtually never suffer constipation. I think, though, that she tied with the record for the longest time of any child I've ever known! Maybe even broke it.
Hey! Her first big achievement! Make sure you write it down in her Baby Book...
MaryP
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