A Re-Post and Follow-Up of Sorts

In light of Sarcastic Mom’s Breastfeeding Carnival, I’m offering up the link to my BF’ing story for anyone who’d like to read it again or for anyone who missed it.
As a follow up, I continued to pump 2-3 times per day at work until January. By then I was tired of going into a tiny, dark, freezing-cold room to get half-undressed and pump…and pray that I might get 6 or 8 total ounces (yes…I’d pump three times and would go home at the end of the day with usually 6 ounces…sometimes a tiny bit more). By then, Cooper was drinking about 5 ounces per bottle, so I gave him 1 breastmilk and 3 formula bottles. Whatever overage I had would go in the freezer.
In January I dropped to pumping once a day for about a week and had little-to-no-engorgement. We used up the excess milk in the freezer in a few short days, and then I gave up pumping altogether right before his 6-month birthday. I still nursed him first thing in the morning and at the end of the night. Most of the time I really enjoyed that time I had with him…a nice snuggle and his little hands patting me or playing with my hair while he ate. And since I had about 12 hours in-between feedings, my body had enough time to refill the old boobs, so I didn’t have to give him any supplemental bottles afterwards. On the mornings I was running behind, though, I wished I could get Justin to feed him for me. But I carried on because, well, those hormones did keep me extra calm in the mornings at work and at the end of the day before bed (man, do I miss those! anti-anxiety drugs have nothing on the hormone oxytocin!).
On Cooper’s 7-month birthday in February, I decided to replace the morning feeding with a bottle and just nursed him at night. Wow! Those first 3 days were uncomfortable! But my body adjusted and nursing him at night was a great way to end our hectic days. Then came the flu. Now, Cooper had one of his flu shots in January and was due for his second one in February  but he got sick before I could call to find out that they were out anyways (plus that whole thing that we had a few more strains running around than what the vaccine covered).  Even though the flu test came back negative, the doctor still thought it was the flu–explained that you can get a false-negative if you test too early after coming down with symptoms. Well, poor baby didn’t have a runny nose as much as compacted snot and gunk up in his upper-nasal-area (read: out of reach of the snot-sucker), so he actually had more trouble breathing than if he had snot running down his face. This made nursing a lot harder than the bottle because it took a lot more effort…so he’d take a sip, gasp for air, take another sip, gasp for air again, and then cry hysterically because he’s hungry but he can’t breathe enough to eat efficiently. Lather, rinse, repeat. I finally gave him a bottle and he was able to drink quite a bit more before gasping for air…he still fussed, but wasn’t getting as frustrated. Once he had a little to eat, I tried nursing him again, but same scenario. So I gave the bottle back and cried because I was really hoping that when I weaned him, it wouldn’t include shrieking, renting of garments, and gnashing of teeth gums.
I tried again the next night, but my milk already dried-up on the poorly-performing side, and seemingly had very little on the better-performing breast…and he was still congested and couldn’t breathe, so we had a rehash of the night before with the screaming and attempts to eat followed by more screaming and both of us crying.
But now? He’s great. Like I said, I miss the snuggles and closeness, and the warm-and-fuzzies I got from the hormones, but he’s happy. I’m just not happy with my formula bill! 🙂