**sorry for the offensive picture**
***don't read if breast feeding grosses you out**
Ever since I was pregnant I had always planned on breastfeeding for one year. Easier said than done! I had no idea what to expect. My mom breastfed all five of us but for some reason she doesn't remember anything. I was so thankful for all of the Lactation Specialist in the hospital. Chase came five weeks early as you know so he was little and didn't have much energy during his feedings. He spent five nights in the NICU and every singe time I went to visit him (3-4 times a day) I attempted to feed him. I always had a Lactation Specialist come in and help.
Once Chase was around 8 weeks the breastfeeding thing really started to click. He was able to latch on a lot quicker. I would say from then on it just got easier and easier. Thinking about how he was then and how he was last week is crazy. It becomes like second nature to them and the feedings are so fast! In the beginning it felt like all I was doing was breastfeeding. Casey would come home from work and ask what I did all day. It made me so angry because I literally just breastfed all day long! It took 30-40 min per feeding and I fed him every 2-3 hours. You do the math. You don't get much of a break….
I seriously grew to love breastfeeding! I soon was comfortable doing it in public with a cover and I would plan my shopping/errands around feedings. I knew if I was going to a mall with Nordstrom that they have an awesome mother's lounge to nurse in. I have even nursed Chase numerous times in a bathroom stall (you do what you have to!). It is convenient and inconvenient at the same time. It just depends on your outlook.
March 10, 2014 was the day of Chase's last feeding. I eventually dropped him down to once a day just in the morning. Once I did that I was so sad thinking about stopping breast feeding! Ahhhh I don't know why it is so hard for me. I am so happy to be done and have my body back to myself but I am also so sad about not having that special time with Chase everyday.
I am a huge advocate of breastfeeding. I truly think it does great things for your baby and for you. I know it is not for everyone and I know it is definitely not easy. The first couple of months are so so hard! But once I got the hang of it and once Chase knew what to do it was so much easier. I really want to breastfeed all of my children for one year. After feeding Chase for a year I feel so accomplished and kind of proud of myself for sticking with it. I can honestly say that Chase never got sick (except for this last week). And it did help me lose a lot of my pregnancy weight.
Now that I am done I am really going to miss that time bonding with Chase. Especially how he would get so excited right before every feeding. And how he would stick his head up and smile in the middle of a feeding. In the end it got the point that he really knew when I was going to feed him. He would crawl over to me and have this big smile on his face when I said "milk" and did the sign for it. I know some people might read this and think that is a little creepy but as a mom I loved it!
This morning I did not breast feed him so instead of bringing him back to bed with me after getting him up I had to take him straight to the kitchen to feed him breakfast. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I will of course miss that time in the morning cuddling in bed with my baby. It is such a bittersweet ending! I guess this is why women just keep having more babies!
