I'm back(vent, rant,,,,got long)

I think Leslie should post her birth story every 6 months or so. It
should be a standard. It's inspirational for all VBAC'rs, all 'your
baby is SO BIG' Mom's and everyone else too.

Thanks, Karen.

The sad thing, though, is that most people IRL who hear my story are horrified.
They don't WANT to have a vaginal birth. They fully believe everything the
medical establishment has fed them about the dangers of birthing a "big" baby.
My doctor was interviewed on the news briefly after William was born, and he
said all his patients who saw him said things like, "You won't let my baby get
that big, will you?" It's really depressing!

There was a really good editorial in Mothering this month about how women have
come to believe the doctors and distrust what their bodies are capable of
doing.

Leslie

But has anyone else managed to feed their baby
ebm while they work without depending on a freezer stash??

Yup. I used a bit of the stash in my first week back at work, when all
concerned were getting used to the new order of things. But thereafter, DS
pretty much consumed whatever quantity I had pumped at work the previous day.
In fact, after the first few months, he was more likely to leave some of it
unconsumed and my freezer stash started to grow again.

Now, my situation was a different in that I did not start pumping daily until
DS was 6 months old, but certainly it is possible for some moms to pump what
the baby needs while at work, and not need to supplement with either pumping at
additional times or with formula.

Without repeating what others have said too much, I will just say that yes,
pumping is a chore. I absolutely loathed it. (But I'm glad I did it.) In
your case, I'd suggest that you forget about pumping until you do go back to
work. But cut back on the formula as much as possible NOW -- your baby really
doesn't need very many bottles in order to "keep in practice" before you return
to work -- and focus on nursing rather than pumping. If you can find time to
pump, great, but it should be a lower priority than just nursing. Then when
you do return to work, make pumping at work a priority, but also make nursing
at home a priority. Nurse as soon as you walk in the door. Forget whatever
other chores await you. You will have the time if you make the time. And I
promise you, the more you feed your baby at home, the less frustrating pumping
at work will be.

(Oh, yeah, and as for looking forward to spoon feeding...are you INSANE? ;-)
All that hassle and mess, bleh. I think one of the great advantages of waiting
to introduce solids until the baby is good and ready is that the spoon feeding
period is minimized; most 6-month-olds will be ready for some finger foods
within a few weeks at most. Plus, of course, the older the baby is, the more
likely he'll be able to cope with the new digestive problem without *too* much
gas, noxious diaper messes, and sleep disruption.)

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2.5 yrs