Dropping A Pump

For the past few months my milk supply has increased significantly (I now pump around 12oz in the morning, 8oz in the afternoon, and 12oz in the evening)...so much so that I stopped having to supplement Nathan with formula and had started freezing my overabundance.  If you had asked me a month after he was born if I would have predicted this, given the struggle I was having to increase my supply, I would have definitely said no.

Also over the past month I have started developing plugged ducts on a regular basis.  It seemed like every week I was having one day where I would be stressing out over making sure I unplugged the duct before it developed into mastitis.  Not fun.  I would add in extra pump sessions when my Mom or Jon were around to watch the kids.  It's hard to have a normal day when you can't take your mind off of your sore boob and what could happen if it doesn't get corrected.  Add this to the fact that I wouldn't call pumping enjoyable, makes for some discouraging days.

And you know how annoying it is to pack up my pump every time I plan on not being at home during the afternoon, which is like four times a week?  It's so annoying having to cart that thing everywhere I go.

I shouldn't be so negative...I'm lucky that I have a good pump and I'm lucky that I've only had to pump three times a day.  I couldn't imagine having to pump before every single bottle Nathan needed.

And I'm not going to lie...Jon and I always have said that we would love to have four kids...but doing fertility treatments is not in the plans for our fourth.  This baby, if it's God's plan for us, would have to be done 'au natural'.  Maybe that would be easy for us...but maybe not.  Either way, it's quite important to me that a fourth child be relatively close in age to Nathan (if I get a say in it!) because Matthew and Kayla have each other...so Nathan needs someone.  And getting pregnant really isn't an option until I get my period back...which if history repeats itself won't be until after I've completely stopped pumping.  Maybe dropping a pump so I'm only down to two will be enough?  I don't want to deprive Nathan of breastmilk just for my own selfish reasons.  I guess we'll see what happens.

Anyways, for all of these reasons, I have dropped my mid-day pump session, leaving me to only pumping twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.  I dropped it cold turkey, and it wasn't even that uncomfortable.  I hope it's not a decision I'll regret!