Farewell to the Pump

So I recently mentioned my upcoming appointment with the R.E. In order for me to proceed with attempting to get pregnant with baby number two, I had to stop breastfeeding. This was not a decision I took lightly. It was extremely important to me to offer my son the best nutrition possible for as long as possible. In addition, my experience with breastfeeding was so positive that I didn’t have much incentive to move away from it, and actually felt very guilty about it, since it had been such an easy thing for me. Thankfully, due to a robust freezer supply, my son will be able to have some thawed breastmilk every day for a couple months.

To anyone who might read this who has just started breastfeeding, let me be clear. It was very easy and my supply was abundant AFTER I suffered through the first 4 weeks of adjusting to painful nipples (like toe curling pain), uncertainty about my son’s latch, uncertainty about my supply, general lack of interest in continuing breastfeeding etc. Once we got past these issues (and they all did pass with little intervention from me) it became the most natural and comfortable thing in the world. I nursed my son so easily and was able to pump and store between 8-12 ounces of milk per day due to a rigorous nurse then pump schedule. I became almost obsessed with the freezer supply…to the extent that if there was a thunderstorm, I would become panicky about the power failing and my freezers warming to the point that it couldn’t keep my 1,000+ ounces frozen.

Anyway, I began largely pumping and feeding my son bottles of expressed milk once I went back to work. I did continue to nurse for middle of the night wakings. The pumping was difficult to fit into my very busy schedule at work. I actually used my morning and evening commute to add in two additional pump sessions (pumping in the car while driving). I continued at 7 sessions for quite a while. I dropped the pump and drive sessions about a month after I started back to work, and continued to drop a pump session here and there until I finally got to only 2 sessions a day.

I feel that if I would have kept up with 4 sessions a day, I could have continued to make as much as the baby was eating, but it was a bigger time commitment than I could manage, so when I dropped to 2 sessions, I had to supplement with my freezer supply and I did one formula bottle a day just to get him used to it. Last week, I decided it was time to begin trying to get pregnant again. I decided to miss an evening pump and the next morning I was painfully engorged, but that night I skipped the evening pump again and the following morning I was not at all uncomfortable.

Now, I went from making 40-50 ounces a day to only making about 13-15 a day at the end, so my tapering down over many months made it a very easy transition, but I have to wonder why women suffer through engorgement when they wean. Wouldn’t it be easy enough to just nurse or pump less and less often over a couple of weeks? Anyway, I now am ready to pack up my pump for baby number two, and make the transition over to a woman who is no longer a pregnant woman or a brand new mom. I’m once again a woman who is re-joining the ranks of the infertiles to endure the struggles of trying to conceive.