3 goals met!

It's been a pretty good week for me because I've almost hit all 3 big personal goals I set earlier in the year.The first was to successfully breast feed for 6 months, which I will meet on 7.26. There were many times in the first 2 months I didn't think I would make this goal. To say Aubrey and I struggled with nursing would be understatement between thrush that wouldn't go away, the general pain of early nursing, and then a pretty low supply to start with. Finally, the thrush went away, the pain subsided, and then when I went back to work and started pumping on schedule, my supply dramatically increased. Which leads to the next goal.

I hated pumping right from the get go. Even when it hurt to nurse, I still would have rather nursed than pumped. I knew I would have to pump at work to keep enough milk for Aubrey to have at day care, so I decided to try and pump enough to where I could stop the last month and still have enough for her. After doing the math, I figured that would be around 800 oz of milk, which seemed like a huge number. I didn't think I would be close until September or October. Well, once I figured out my pumping schedule, took the fenugreek and blessed thistle, and drank the right amount of water, my supply sky rocketed. So much that I was storing an extra 12 oz every night. This coming from the woman that struggled to get 12 oz a day total at first. I am proud to say that this week I hit that goal. I have put our deep freezer to good use. I am so excited that I reached the goal. Now, my Christmas present to myself will be the joy I will feel putting that pump away. I still hate pumping worse than anything, but it was motivating to store away that much milk and know I was doing the best I could for Aubrey.

The 3rd goal I reached this week was fitting in my bridesmaid dress for Todd's sister's wedding in October. I had to buy the dress when I was 9 months pregnant and I had no clue what size to get. After talking with the saleslady, I decided on my size and hoped for the best. I picked it up the Saturday after Aubrey was born and couldn't even zip it a quarter of the way. I've tried it on several times since then and could zip it a little more each time. Well, I tried it on again today and was shocked that I could finally zip it all the way. I am nowhere close to happy with what size I am right now, but at least I know the dress will fit. Hopefully, I can loose at least 10 more pounds by October. I owe all of that weight loss to breastfeeding, because I eat like it's going out of style and stay too exhausted to work out. So, as much as I hate pumping, I am thankful that I have been able to loose the weight because of it. A lot of good things have come out of my stubbornness to provide milk for Aubrey and I am so glad I stuck it out through the tough times. Aubrey is fat and happy and I am getting skinnier and happy, which is all I can ask for.