9 and 10 Months Postpartum

Welp, 9 months really threw us for a loop.

Cue growth spurt, minor sickness, AND TEETH all at the same time.

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I knew a growth spurt happened around 9 months so I was expecting it, but hoping it would pass with grace. Overall it wasn’t terrible. Briar definitely increased her breast milk intake temporarily in the form of night waking. Again, it most definitely was not terrible. I would feed her and she would go back to sleep. It was a trend for about a week or two.

We’ve also almost completely transitioned her off of purees and onto actually people food, just cut up super small. I totally love this because she basically eats what we eat and it’s much less meal prep for me. I still buy fresh food, but I don’t have to do anything special with it.

Both girls have actually been really congested and snotty for a couple of weeks actually. It’s just unfortunately that time of year in the Ohio Valley. When the weather changes from hot to cold the sinus colds are pretty much inevitable.

And believe it or not, Briar is sprouting her two bottom teeth.

I was absolutely amazed. If you are an avid reader…which I hope you are…Raelynn did not get her first tooth until she was 15 months old and it was her top tooth and I was done nursing at this point. I was actually hoping Briar would be the same so my nipples could be spared being bitten off. I’ve never nursed a baby with teeth so this should be an interesting journey. I know mom’s do it all the time, but I just never have.

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And…in case you are wondering…today is November 15th which means we have already went to VEGAS!!!! and the most exciting thing is…

AS OF THE DAY I LEFT, I HAD ENOUGH OF MY GLORIOUS DAIRY FREE MILK TO FEED BRIAR THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS GONE.

I felt such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders knowing that was out of the way. Now I really felt like I could go enjoy Vegas. And I did. We did. We lived Vegas up for the week we were there. We went out to clubs, we played Top Golf, we walked the strip, we literally drank every minute of every day..or so it felt like…Scott and I totally needed it. We needed the time away from kids. We needed the time to rekindle our relationship. And we did. 

However…as you can imagine, my breast milk supply took a huge hit.

It was a combination of missing pumps, not pumping consistently at the same time every day, not staying hydrated, not eating enough. Today, I am actually away for business and for the entire day, I barely pumped 10 ounces. Briar is still taking 24 ounces per day and nursing once at night. So, this is not good.

Luckily, I have some extra milk to make up for what I am currently lacking, but starting next week (when I get back from business travel; hard to be consistent right now), I am going to pick up the power pumps again to hopefully regain some of my supply. At this point, I do not care about freezing any. I just want to be able to make enough.

As of next week we will have achieved 10 months of breastfeeding.

I did a hard stop with Raelynn at 12 months, but I can totally see myself going longer just for the simple fact of Briar’s dairy sensitivity. Going longer for me will take a lot of will and perseverance because I am straight up over it. BUT, for a long time, the main thing for me was making enough milk for Vegas, and now I don’t have to worry about that so it’s a lot less stressful. And to know that end is somewhat in site takes some of the stress away too.

Speaking of traveling, I have been doing a lot more than I usually do. Which makes pumping fucking awful.

Two weeks before Vegas I went to California for 4 days, then Vegas for 6 days, and now I’m away for 3 days in North Carolina and South Carolina for work. And let me tell you…dragging around this big ass hospital grade pump is a pain in my fucking neck. For real.

For personal travel, I have my purse, my pump, and my cooler to keep milk cold in.

For business travel, it’s all of the previous listed plus my laptop. And I basically refuse to put any of it in the overhead bin. I could not imagine if my milk spilled or if my pump somehow got broken. So, I’ve been doing A LOT of pumping and not a lot of nursing. I am currently on my last trip, at least I hope, until next March and I hope I’m done by then. If not, then someone better slap the shit out of me. Because I do not want to lug this pump and cooler around for another trip.