A Proper Send-off.

We recently said ta-ta to breastfeeding.

Sort of hard to believe.
Seeing that it was one of my full time jobs over the past year.

First we made it to the six month mark.
*yay*
Then we made it to twelve.
*double yay*
And a couple weeks after Ly's first birthday, we completely weaned.

Done-zo.

And at the risk of La Leche League showing up on my doorstep begging me to nurse Ly until kindergarten, I have to say...

I LOVE MY FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!

Phew.
That felt good.

And for the record.
I love La Leche League.
They helped me when I was on the verge of a legit nervous breakdown.
They also helped me figure out why I had sour milk.
And I love breastfeeding.
I mean, it was pretty much my sole existence for a year.

But it feels *really* good to be done.

We rocked our breastfeeding journey.
Created a super-solid mother-daughter bond that can't be explained in words.

But as nutritionally and emotionally beneficial as it was, I was quite ready for our journey to come to an end.
And to be honest, the end was not as hard as I thought it would be.
For me, anyway.

I was sure I would be emotional.
Sad to say goodbye.
Worried that we would no longer feel that indescribable bond.

However.
I wasn't too weepy.
Or sad even.
Really just ready to be done.

I can't say the same for Lyla.
Or my right boob, however.

I got myself a clogged duct in the end.
*Go figure*
And it took Ly a couple weeks to adjust.
But I made up for it with lots of extra morning snuggles.
And, I took things slowly.
Gave it a good month to completely wean.

So in light of saying goodbye, I would like to have a proper send-off.
A little bit of a roast, if you will.

There are some things I will definitely not miss.
At all.

I happily say sayonara to...

1). The attire. Ugh. Nothing about nursing attire is sexy. {Then again, I guess that would be weird if it was.} I mean, I guess we've come a long way in the maternity fashion department. But still. I felt so frumpy...so mommy in all of my nursing attire. Not to mention the lack of variety in what I could wear if I went out for the day with Ly. I can't begin to recount the number of times I would go to put on an outfit, only to realize, Crap. I can't nurse in this. And have to dig through the dirty laundry to wear the same easy-to-lift Gap tee.

2). Planning. Oh my goodness. The planning. {And this is coming from a planning extraordinaire.} There was no go-with-the-flow-let's-see-where-the-day-takes-us kind of day. Especially while working. And especially when your supply offers just enough milk for what your baby needs. My life revolved around feedings. If I was going to be out during a feeding time, I either had to plan to nurse or pump. Or if I had to miss a feeding or pump session, say due to a meeting or event, I had to make up for it somehow. Some way. Including, but not limited to: random storage closets, bathrooms, my car, and a co-worker's office.

3). The beginning. Allow me to be brutally honest here. The first month or so was not fun. Pain of all sorts. Sometimes worse than almost as bad as labor. Newborn Lyla-Beans had a hard time understanding the science of latch and suck. Who knew newborns had to learn the whole process? Not to mention the torture of uterus contractions with every nursing. Oy.

4). Awkward Moments. Maybe this was just me. And the fact that I'm superbly modest. {Aside from the whole I feel completely comfortable sharing my every thought and feeling over the interwebs with complete strangers}. But I was am simply a target for the awkward. Leaving my nursing pads and freshly pumped milk out for parents of students to see, having my boss walk in on me pumping, and talking for a good 3 minutes to a friend's dad at her wedding while unbeknownst to him I was pumping.

5). My permanent sleep position. That's right. For an entire year. I had to sleep on my left side. Because if I slept on my right side, my right boob would get clogged. I would often wake up mid-roll-to-my-right-side only to be jolted awake in fear of a clogged duct. This tactic worked. However, I still managed to get 5 or 6 clogged ducts in my breastfeeding days.

6). Raging hormones. I was typically an emotional disaster on any given day. A sob-bomb just waiting to go off. Much of that was due to trying to figure out the whole working mom thing, not loving my job the way I thought I should, and feeling like my house was a disaster all.the.time. But mostly because I was owned by nursing and the subsequent raging hormones.

7). Watching what I ate. And every other thing that went into my body. But let me clarify. I do not mean eating healthy when I say "watching what I ate". Heaven knows I ate more cookies, chocolate, and pizza than I ever have in my life when I was nursing. I simply mean I was careful not to eat spicy things. Or take allergy medicine. Or cold meds. Or drink alcohol. Ok. That last one's a lie. I may have a couple glasses of wine now and again. Don't judge. I always waited until Ly went to bed. And she sleeps 12-13 hours. Plenty of time to work it's way through. 

8). My arch nemesis. A big adios goes to my pump. I'm not one to work well with micro-managers. And my pump was a dictator.

On a more sentimental note.
Here is a true send-off.
A well-deserved goodbye.

To Breastfeeding.
It has been an amazing journey.
Something I am thankful to have been able to do.
Something I hope to do with future babes.
Something I am very proud of.
Something that created a forever bond with my sweetie.

Until we meet again dear friend...


**This post was all in good fun. I fully support, advocate, and believe in breastfeeding. Don't believe me? Just read here and here. I'm simply jabbing a little fun at something that my entire life revolved around for a year.