Well, like I said last month, I don’t have a nightstand. There’s one on Jason’s side of the bed, but we don’t have books on that one either. I just have my books all over the house. There are a couple in our room, a couple on the back of the couch, one behind the couch, one in my purse, one on my end table, and tons downstairs on our bookshelves.

Last month, I was reading The Breastfeeding Answer Book, Reclaiming Nick, and Happiness Sold Separately. I have made some good progress in the Breastfeeding Answer Book. I read Reclaiming Nick and the two other books in the series, Taming Rafe and Finding Stephanie. I did not finish Happiness Sold Separately. It fell behind our couch, and I sort of forgot about it. Whoops. I did start it, though, and it’s pretty good from what I remember.

In the last month, I also discovered PaperBackSwap and BookMooch. I wouldn’t say that I am obsessed with them, but they are so fun! I put 20 of my books on the sites (10 on each) and so far, I’ve received 4 books with a 5th on the way. I also thought I would try a swap with anyone on here who wants a book that I’ve read, but so far no one has taken me up on my offer. Since I wrote the post, I have decided, I will just give those books away, so if you want one, let me know. If you have any you’d like to swap, I’m open to offers, but I guess it’s now a giveaway!

I have a trip coming up in about 1 1/2 weeks, so my reading list is a bit more ambitious this month. I have some high hopes that I will be able to read a lot on my trip. So, here is my list for October:

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper (from PaperBackSwap)- I was looking through available books on PaperBackSwap, and I saw this one. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but if it’s John Piper, I figured there’s a pretty good chance it’s got quality content.

Breaking Free by Beth Moore (from PaperBackSwap)- My friend from college purchased this study, and she has done it several times. I love Beth Moore, so I figured if my friend can do the study 5+ times and find it valuable, I would probably enjoy the book.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (from BookMooch)- This is a book I had heard about, but I’m not quite sure what I will think of it. It’s a subject I have pretty strong feelings on (midwives and homebirths). I suppose it could really go either way.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (from BookMooch)- I was in Target wandering around one night after a stressful evening trying to put A to sleep. I picked up this book and read the back of it. I had actually forgotten about it for quite a while, but when I was trading away my books, I decided to look it up.

Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson (received from Monica’s giveaway on her site Paper Bridges)- I actually found this giveaway last month when checking out others’ lists.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (borrowing it from the library)- After hearing about this one for so long, I decided to find out what all the talk is about.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (don’t have it yet, but will be getting it from the library and hope to be a part of October Book Club on 5minutesforbooks.com)- I have heard about this book, but I don’t know anything about it. Maybe it’s time I start learning what the classics are all about!

The Problem with Breastfeeding by James Akre (borrowed from a friend)- She said this book is a must read. I guess I’ll find out.

Don’t forget to check out www.5minutesforbooks.com for a list of people who have shared what they are reading this month!

Welcome to the September Breastfeeding Carnival! Thanks for visiting, and be sure to read all the way to the end of my post so you can visit others who have shared their thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I did some reading. I searched the internet for what I felt were informative articles. By the time my breastfeeding class at the hospital rolled around I felt pretty confident. My confidence increased when I went to the class. She didn’t tell me one thing in an almost two hour class that I didn’t already know! I knew I was going to be able to do it. As a sort of insurance, I found a breastfeeding forum/message board and asked if there was anything else I should do to be prepared or informed. The answers were pretty run-of-the-mill. “Just keep on going!” “Don’t let anyone talk you into quitting.” “You can do it!” I knew that I was set.

When K was born, I had a bit of a surprise. Maybe shock is a better word. He was born nearly 4 weeks early and he wouldn’t latch. He looked at my breast. He half-heartedly opened his mouth. Then, he fell asleep. What?!? This wasn’t the plan. He was supposed to know what to do, because I had done my part to get informed about breastfeeding. Well, after three days in the hospital, we were discharged. I had a nipple shield and a baby who ate for 45-60 minutes every 3 hours. Not exactly fitting my plan.

Fortunately, my mom had breastfed both myself (for around 18 months) and my brother (for nearly 3 years). She was an amazing support. She kept telling me, “Trust yourself. You know best. You know what is right for you and your baby.” She got up with me for the middle of the night feedings and held K afterwards until he had his burp and could fall back asleep. She visited with me when I thought I was too tired to do another feeding. She was wonderful, and that was a major component for my success. I am sure of it.

When she left and I was home alone with my baby, I began to doubt myself, so I went back to the message board where I had asked for help so many weeks prior. I began posting question after question after question. I got wonderful support, and I got great information. There was one person in particular on that message board who I still feel a debt of gratitude toward. Her name was Joan, and she was a moderator of the breastfeeding forum. Sure, other people would answer my question, but I didn’t feel like I had the real answer until I heard from Joan. Over the weeks and months, I gained confidence, and I also gained a friendship. Joan is still one of my close on-line friends. She and I have kept in touch over the past few years, and when a friend of mine had a baby who had nursing troubles (oversupply and overactive letdown, something I knew very little about) Joan was available over the phone to help her out, too. I also began reading www.kellymom.com during any spare moment I had. I loved that website. It was so easy to navigate and so easy to read and understand. It is where I got the bulk of my early breastfeeding knowledge.

Almost two years later, when I had my second son, I was pretty confident again. I had been through so much with K that I thought I should have it under control. But, as almost anyone who has breastfed knows, every baby is different. With A, I had different issues, and again I turned to www.kellymom.com and a supportive on-line community to help me get through the first weeks that were tough.

Now, I’ve been nursing K for almost 35 months, and I’ve been tandem nursing K and A for 14 months. I feel like each day I can learn something about breastfeeding whether it be from a book, a website, a friend, another nursing momma, or one of my kids. I think it’s one of those things where you can keep learning more and more, but I’m not sure that you can ever say that you have “learned to breastfeed.” To me, it’s a journey more than a destination.

Check out these blogs for more thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed (updated throughout the day):

• BreastfeedingMums.com
• Breastfeeding123.com
• Hobomama.blogspot.com
• Breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com
• KateWicker.com
• Babyfingers.blogspot.com
• StopDropandBlog.com
• NurturingNotes.blogspot.com

Many times on blogs and forums, I’ve read people share their birth stories, but I rarely read anyone’s nursing story. As much as my kids’ birth stories are amazing and wonderful and exciting, to me, so are their nursing stories. Many mamas want to breastfeed, but they don’t have either the knowledge or the support to do it. When things start to become harder, sometimes those who should be the most supportive end up saying things like, “Maybe you should stop nursing.” “Maybe you should try a bottle of formula so you can get some sleep.” “Are you sure he/she is getting enough?” Unfortunately, in an attempt to help, statements like that can discourage a new, emotional mom even more. Neither of my nursing experiences have been easy or without struggle, so I thought maybe if I share mine they will encourage other moms out there to share theirs and support the new moms who are just trying to survive.

So, if you’re a family member or friend and you don’t really want to read about 2 years of nursing, this is your cue to stop. Everyone else, onward and upward.

Throughout my pregnancy, I had a few people ask me if I was planning to nurse my new baby. As most new moms who plan to nurse say, I also answered, “As long as I can, I plan to.” I read a few books on parenting, and in one book, I read that you should commit to nursing for at least six weeks before making a decision on whether or not to continue. I decided that I could make that commitment. After all, how hard could it be to nurse for six weeks, right?

I knew that if I was able to have a natural birth with no pain medications and no interventions, I had a better chance of having an awake and responsive baby. While I was pretty determined not to have an epidural, besides the fear of the needle in my back, my primary reason was that I was afraid it would interfere with nursing the baby. I also knew that it was important to nurse as soon as possible after birth, because some babies have a period of very heavy sleepiness that can last for quite a while.

When K was born, I had the natural birth I desired. He was born with the cord around his neck, but after the doctor did a little maneuvering, he was free and doing just fine. The nurses cleaned him up a little and brought him back to me. They asked if I wanted to nurse him and I said yes, so I tried to get him to latch on. In my mind, the process was about two steps long. One, I would offer my breast. Two, he would latch and nurse. Well, that didn’t happen quite that way. I offered, and he looked at me. With the nurse’s help, I tried for another 15-20 minutes to get him to latch, but he didn’t. The nurse told me that it wasn’t unusual for a baby not to latch right away, and so she said that I should try again in 3 hours. Since I was tired and needed a shower, I agreed. Jason held K as he slept, and I showered and moved to my new room.

Three hours later, we tried again. Still nothing. The nurse suggested I try a different position. I tried the football hold, the cradle hold, and side lying. None of those worked. At this point, I was starting to worry a little. I asked for a visit from the lactation consultant, but I was told she was unavailable. The nurses told me again that it wasn’t unusual for a baby not to eat much the first day, so I shouldn’t worry. I could just try again in three hours.

Again and again, we tried to nurse, but K was having none of it. He would open his mouth, but then he wouldn’t latch. He just didn’t seem interested. He would attempt to nurse for 15-20 minutes or as long as I could keep him awake, and then he would sleep until I woke him 3 hours later.

After a day and a half of this, one nurse felt that he was getting to a point where he needed to eat something soon. I began to pump after attempting to feed him each time, and I got some colostrum. Colostrum is what your body produces before your milk actually comes in. It’s yellow, thick, and full of antibodies. It’s wonderful for your baby. Because K wasn’t latching, we started giving the colostrum through a medicine dropper. I was getting about 10 ccs every 3 hours. After doing this a couple times, the nurse came back and told me that I really should give K some formula so he didn’t get dehydrated, because he needed more than what I was providing him. Both Jason and I were very frustrated, anxious, and upset. We had asked to see the lactation consultant a few more times on day two, and were told that she would come when she wasn’t so busy. She was also a NICU nurse and working on a mother pregnant with twins (31 weeks) to try to keep her from going into preterm labor.

So, with no idea what to do and no real help, we agreed to give some formula. The nurse offered K a bottle, and he latched on right away and sucked down about 2-3 ounces of formula. I cried for most of the feeding. We continued all night offering the breast every 3 hours and then I would pump and we would give whatever I pumped through a medicine dropper. Then, we’d give some formula from the dropper. Feedings were taking at least one and a half or two hours. So, after almost two hours, we’d go back to sleep for an hour and start all over with little or no success.

Finally, on the third day, the lactation consultant was able to come see me. She brought a nipple shield and a supplemental nursing system. A nipple shield is a small, thin, silicone shield that goes over the nipple so a baby can latch when he wouldn’t be able to otherwise. A supplemental nursing system is a contraption that goes around a mother’s neck, and then a tube goes down to the breast and the baby sucks on this little tube at the same time as the nipple. When she watched K attempt to latch, she told me that I had flat nipples and that was what was preventing him from latching. She showed me how to use the nipple shield, and FINALLY K latched. I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it.

Because he hadn’t been eating well, the pediatrician decided to admit K into peds, and Jason and I were able to stay in his room with him for another day to make sure he was still eating well. K was now latching, but we were still struggling a little bit. He was eating for 45 minutes or more on each side, and it was nearly impossible to keep him awake. After waking him, we had to change his diaper and take of his clothes to wake him up. Then, I fed him for about 1 1/2 hours before pumping for 15 minutes. Again, by the time I finished this process, there was less than an hour left before I had to wake him again for the next feeding. The good news though was that he wasn’t losting any more weight. He was finally eating, peeing, and pooping.

We went home, and feedings remained a challenge. K woke every 2 1/2 or 3 hours at night to eat, and feedings took at least an hour. During the day though, I had to wake him and struggled to get him to nurse every 3 hours.

That went on for about three months. During this time, I tried to get him to stop using the shield and nurse without, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t. Finally, one day, I was trying to get him to nurse when he was three months old, and he refused to latch. As a last resort, I took the shield off and offered the breast. He latched right on! I was so amazed. Another big change that day was that he went from taking 60+ minutes for a feeding to only needing 15-20 minutes. I even called my sister-in-law to ask her if that was normal. It was such a quick change that I wasn’t sure what to do, but I just decided to go with it.

At that point, my nursing goal became to make it to one year. Looking back, I can say that after that day when K was 3 months, we didn’t have many, if any, challenges for quite a while. A week before Kael turned one, he got the rotavirus. He also ended up with an ear infection from it. During that time, he didn’t want anything to eat or drink. He only nursed. I am confident that nursing is what kept him from becoming dehydrated.

When he turned one, I knew that I had made my goal of nursing for a year, but other than that nothing else seemed to have changed, so I wasn’t sure why I would choose to wean at that point. So, I didn’t. A week later, I found out I was pregnant with A, and knowing that 70% of babies who are nursing during pregnancy self-wean before the next baby is born, I decided to let K make the decision about whether to continue nursing or not.

For the first 20 weeks of my pregnancy with A, I didn’t find much difference in my nursing relationship with K. He nursed 4 predictable times a day. He nursed first thing in the morning, noonish, 4 o’clockish, and before bed. However, right around 20 weeks, my milk supply dropped drastically. It was a very hard time for K. He went from nursing 4 times a day for 15 minutes to nursing almost all day long. He would ask to nurse and he would latch on and nurse for an hour or more at a time. I knew that at this point nursing was as important for security as it was for nutrition, so I allowed him to nurse as much as he wanted. Some days, I think he nursed more of his waking time than he did anything else.

By about 30 weeks, I knew I had to talk to my doctor about my contractions. I was having braxton hicks contractions all day long and especially while nursing. I was having 30 or more contractions a day. Some days they were as close as 2-3 minutes apart, but they never lasted very long. When I did bring it up with my doctor, she did a test for preterm labor and ordered an ultrasound to check my cervix. Both came back with reassuring results. I was negative for preterm labor, and my cervix was normal, long, and closed. I was okay to continue nursing.

I did limit K’s nursing a little after this point. Since he had been born at 36 weeks, I was concerned about another early baby. Also, the closer I got to my due date, the stronger the contractions while nursing got. At some points, the contractions were so strong that I had to hold my ribs and breathe very shallow to manage the pain.

At about 33 weeks, K started nursing less. In fact, in May (A was due in July), he went an entire day without nursing for the first time in his life. After that point, he would often go 2-3 days without nursing, then, nurse 4 times in a day. I had decided at that point to let him do whatever he wanted. I didn’t offer to nurse, but I didn’t refuse when he asked.

A was born three days after his due date, so I did not have a second early baby. A was also 9 pounds 12 ounces, so apparently nursing K during the pregnancy didn’t keep A from getting the nutrients he needed to grow and gain weight. While I was in the hospital, K didn’t ask to nurse and I didn’t offer.

When I got home from the hospital with A, he again didn’t ask to nurse. I waited a day or two, and finally, I was so engorged one day I asked if he wanted to nurse and he did. When he realized that my milk was back, his eyes got wide and he just melted. It was everything I’d hoped for.

Unfortunately, K got a pretty nasty cold right away after A was born. So, as I was dealing with trying to learn to nurse A (which is another story in itself), K was trying to nurse with a plugged nose. He was so excited to have milk again that he was nursing as much as A some days. When he was sick, he would latch, and start nursing. Then, when he had to breathe, instead of unlatching and breathing, he would hold my nipple with his teeth to take a breath. Very uncomfortable, bordering on painful. He also had some issues with jealousy of A nursing. He never seemed upset at the baby or mad at him, but often, when I was nursing A, he would stand on my feet and cry as he waited for his turn.

Slowly, we got into a routine where K was less upset with A nursing. I think he realized that there was still milk even if A did nurse first. He still gets upset while waiting for his turn some days, but that’s not nearly as common as it was even a month ago.

K still nurses several times a day. Some days, he nurses as often as A does, but again, I’ve chosen not to limit his nursing. I feel like he’s had to grow up a bit more quickly than he would have otherwise since we chose to have another baby so close to him in age. I believe that if I allow him to control the nursing relationship, he will be able to make developmentally appropriate choices for when to nurse, how often to nurse, and when to stop.

So, that’s K’s nursing story. As hard as it was in the beginning, I’m not sure I would change anything, because if I did, I don’t know where we would be now because of the changes. I feel like where we are right now is a pretty good place to be.

Something I noticed during my pregnancies and after having my boys is that there are definitely a lot more horror stories floating around out there than there are low-drama, no problem, happy to be pregnant, great labor stories.

Why is it that “they” and sometimes “we” feel the need to scare women who are not yet moms or who are pregnant and have not yet had their babies? It’s not like scaring them makes our experiences more valid. When I tell people that I had pretty great pregnancies and very, very fast labors, people look at me like I’m crazy not to have had some horrible experience. I just don’t know what comes of scaring someone like that. It just seems mean.

Two years ago tonight, I was in the hospital. I was trying to decide if I was in labor or not. Looking back, I would guess it’s safe to say that I was.

Two years ago, on November 2nd, I had an appointment with the certified nurse practitioner. I was 36 weeks pregnant, and the prior week, I had been dilated to 3. I wasn’t having any major contractions, and it was my first baby so I assumed that I would still have a while. K wasn’t due until November 29th, so I didn’t even have my bag for the hospital packed or any nursing bras! At my appointment, the NP told me that I was dilated to a “good 5 cm.” I was shocked to say the least. I had been thinking I would go late, and I had even told my mom, who was coming to stay with me after the birth, not to worry about taking any time off until at least Thanksgiving.

That afternoon, I decided to run some errands. I picked up a pair of pajamas for after the baby was born. I also bought myself a couple nursing bras. I may have even stopped for ice cream or coffee. To me, it was just a regular day like any other day.

That night, my husband, Jason, who was working on his master’s independent study, was meeting with his advisor. While he was at his meeting, I realized I was having somewhat regular contractions. I decided to start timing them, although they didn’t hurt and I couldn’t feel them at all. I drank a lot of water and laid down on the couch. After timing for about 30 or 40 minutes, I called him and I told him I was having contractions, but he did not need to come home. Well, ten minutes later, he walked in the door. His advisor had sent him home. Thanks, Dr. O!

We waited and timed and waited. Finally, around 8, we called the hospital. I didn’t want to go, but knowing I had been dilated to 5 earlier in the day, I wasn’t sure what to do. I kept telling the nurse that I didn’t feel the contractions yet, and she said that I should still come in and get evaluated. We got to the hospital at about 8:30. I was 5 1/2 cm. They wanted us to walk for a while and see what happened. We walked, they checked. We walked some more. By the time we were checked the last time, I was about 6 cm, and I was staying overnight in the hospital.

The next morning at 7:30, my doctor came into the room with a resident and said, “Scoot down, let’s break your water.” Knowing I wanted a natural birth, prior to coming to the hospital, I was sure I did not want my water to be broken. However, for some reason, I said nothing and just did what she said. She broke my water, and she said she’d check on me later that day. Jason and I decided to watch tv and relax. I did pretty well for about 2 1/2 hours. Then, suddenly around 10, the contractions started in and were very intense.

Around 10:45, I asked if the nurse would check me. I was starting to get overwhelmed by the contractions, and I needed to know if I was making progress. Looking back, I probably should have changed position, laid on my side, closed my eyes, breathed, or any number of other things. I didn’t though. I just sat in my bed and tensed up waiting for each contraction. The nurse checked me and I was 8 1/2 cm dilated. About 5 minutes later, I started saying, “I have to push! I have to push!” Sure enough, I was ready.

I pushed and drank ice water for about 45 minutes and K was born! He had the cord wrapped around his neck, but as soon as that was taken care of, he was just fine. He was born at 36 1/2 weeks and was 18 inches long and 6 pounds 12 ounces. Not a huge baby, but he was definitely big for being 3 1/2 weeks early.

Look for pictures tomorrow.

Yes, 40 minutes from start to finish is what it took to delivery my son.

On July 15th, we got up, and we went to church. A few of my friends knew I was overdue and asked me if I thought the delivery was coming soon. I told them it had to be somewhat soon since I was already 3 days late. I didn’t think that day was the day though. We went out for lunch after church, and I had a big, greasy, YUMMY hamburger and onion rings. I told my husband, “If I go into labor today, I will probably throw up.” We got home from lunch at about 1:15. I laid down for a nap at 1:30, and at 2:19 (yes, I remember the exact time), I woke up with my first contraction. Knowing that I had been dilating about 1 cm a week since I was 34 weeks, I was somewhere between 6 and 7 cm dilated. I laid in my bed and waited to see how long I had before the next contraction. At 2:29, I had contraction #2. I knew at that point it was the real thing and that I needed to get my husband and tell him to hurry. I went to the bathroom, and at 2:31, I had my 3rd contraction. Yes, that’s right. They went from nothing to ten minutes apart to two minutes apart in 3 contractions.

My son, K, was taking a nap. I told my husband to wake him up, call the hospital, and get in the car. I called a friend who was going to meet us at the hospital to take K to her house until my mother-in-law arrived. By this point, my contractions were about a minute apart and a minute long. I definitely had to breathe through them.

We got into the car, and I said, “Drive as fast as you safely can.” We live 10 miles from the town where the hospital is. Ten miles on the interstate wouldn’t have been too bad, but at that point in the summer, there was road construction on about 5 miles of the drive. We were behind a truck who was abiding very closely to the 40 mile an hour speed limit. At that point, I called the hospital to let them know I would not be able to make it up to labor and delivery on my own. They told me that we should drive into the emergency room area, and they would meet me there.

The drive seemed to take forever, and 2 miles south of the exit for the hospital, I told my husband, “I HAVE TO PUSH!!!” He said, “Don’t!” Then, I noticed that he was breathing as deeply as I was, and I told him to knock it off. Well, he informed me that he was breathing for himself and not as an example for me. Haha, poor man.

As we pulled off the interstate, we came to a red light, and I was begging him to run it. I honestly didn’t think we were going to make it to the hospital before the baby was born. I wondered how one would clean a car after having a baby in it. Yuck. Fortunately, we did make it. We pulled up to the emergency room, and they had a garage door open for us to drive into. There were probably 20 people waiting for us, and they had a stretcher.

I rolled out of the car and onto the stretcher. They strapped me on and pushed me up to the labor and delivery ward. We arrived in labor and delivery at 3:00. I rolled off the stretcher and on to the bed. My water broke at 3:01. I pushed a few times, and my doctor told me that the baby had passed meconium, so when he or she was born, they would have to take him/her before putting the baby on my chest or letting me hold him/her.

I laid on my side, and I pushed a few more times. My baby was born at 3:03, just 44 minutes after my first contraction. When the baby was born, I asked, “Boy or girl? Boy or girl?” Someone told me that he was a boy. They said, “He’s big.” I knew he would be big though, because my family has a history of big babies, and because my pants had been too small around the waist for several weeks by that point. When they finally were able to weigh and measure him, I found out that he was nine pounds, twelve ounces and twenty-one inches long.

Whew! It was a much faster labor that I had anticipated, but everything worked out in the end, and now I have one great story to tell for the next several years.

It may not seem like it, but I am still around. I think about blogging at least once a day. I think about topics for blogging quite often. I just seem to be missing the step in the process where I sit down and write out my thoughts.

Some of you may know that we now have baby #2 in our family. I had a baby boy July 15th, and I’m now a tandem, extended nursing mom. Both boys are still going strong breastfeeding. K, my 23 month old nurses about 6 times a day, and A, my 11 week old nurses about every 2 to 2.5 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night so about 10 times a day. Wow, that sounds like a lot when I say it that way. It really doesn’t seem like that much, but I suppose 16+ nursing sessions a day is quite a bit.

Now that I’ve taken the time to sit down and start blogging, I have about 10 topics running through my head. Instead of squeezing them all into one humongous post, I’ll just let you know what will be coming on my blog in the next few days and weeks. My (40 minute) birth story, tandem nursing, extended nursing, dealing with a toddler and an infant, cloth diapering, dairy sensitivities, and overactive letdown and over supply.

When I was pregnant with my son, I had read a few parenting books in my planning for life with baby. I read both On Becoming Babywise and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. I had it all planned. My son was going to be born and go directly onto a schedule which included him learning to sleep through the night by 8 weeks if not sooner. Sounds great, right? Well, the minute he was born, my heart changed. I threw those books out the window and became what some people call an attachment parent. I quickly realized that I didn’t want my son to cry without me or my husband calming and soothing him. I wanted to breastfeed for as long as it worked for both of us. I wanted to wear him in a baby carrier. I became what is also lovingly referred to as a “crunchy” parent.

To find other moms who had similar parenting philosophies to me, I sought out the Attachment Parenting message board at Babyzone. Since I was already active on their message boards, I started looking there for support in my newfound philosophy. That was eighteen months ago, and since then, I’ve come to believe even more so in our choices to be “attachment parents.”

The other moms on this board did things I didn’t know people still did. They made their own baby food and they cloth diapered! When I first heard that, I thought that maybe they were crazy. Then, I started looking into cloth diapering, and I talked to my husband about it. He was a little skeptical at first, but when I showed him the diapers that I wanted to try, he become more and more interested.

Now, instead of using a simple piece of cloth with pin and a cover, cloth diapers have become more and more sophisticated. Now, there are many choices. There are prefolds, pocket diapers, and all-in-ones to name a few. The diapers that we researched and eventually purchased are the Bum Genius 2.0 One Size diapers. The appeal of these over the others was that once the new baby reaches 10-12 pounds, we will be able to cloth diaper both of our children in the same diapers without having to buy new sizes from about 10 pounds until 35 pounds. Hopefully, by 35 pounds our older one will be potty training.

Yes, now not only am I an extended nurser who advocates natural childbirth, I’m also a cloth diaperer! The next thing I want to try is canvas shopping bags instead of using the store’s paper or plastic bags. Wish me luck!

Since I have been about 20 weeks pregnant, I could tell that my milk supply has been dipping more and more. My little milk man was still determined to continue nursing though. He nursed several times a day at that point. Steadily, though, he has decreased his nursing over the past weeks until he was down to one or two times a day pretty consistently. Well, the weekend of May 12 and 13, my family was in town, and with all the commotion of having them here, my little milk man seemed to forget about nursing. May 14th was the first day in his life that he went an entire day without nursing. He did nurse the next day though, so I thought maybe he would slowly cut out that last session.

Well, this week, he went from Sunday, May 20th until today without nursing. Imagine my surprise when this morning after I got him from his crib, the first thing he did was look at me and do the milk sign!

So, when do I say he officially weaned? I have no idea, but I do know that I will let him nurse as long as he keeps asking. Just for my own purposes, I would love it if he could make it until June 3rd, so I can say that he nursed for 19 months. I do know now that each time he nurses, I try to remember every minute of it. I realize that each time that could be the last time we ever do that, and I won’t know it at the time. I’ll only be able to look back and realize it later.

Well, since I’m 23 weeks pregnant right now, a lot of my breastfeeding experiences now include talking to people about breastfeeding while pregnant. I get a lot of questions from people like “Is that safe?” I have to bite my tongue when they ask that. If it wasn’t safe, I hope I wouldn’t still be doing it 19 weeks after I found out I was pregnant.

Another question is, “How do you have the patience for that?” or “Aren’t you exhausted?” When I first got pregnant, I thought that breastfeeding during the first trimester especially would make being pregnant even harder, but I found the opposite to be true. I found that breastfeeding my ds made getting through the day a little easier. I got to sit down and rest for 20 minutes first thing in the morning when we woke up. Then, mid-morning, I got another chance to take a load off for my son’s next feeding. Again, at around 1:30 and 4ish, we sat down and I relaxed with my eyes closed as he ate.

I really believe that breastfeeding my son actually allowed me an extra hour and a half or so every day to sit and rest.