Having successfully nursed my first born for 17 months you'd think I would be ready and raring to go on this one, but not so much.
You see, I know what goes into it. I monitored my calorie intake, fat intake, water intake. I spent so much time hooked up to a pump all the while using hand massage techniques to help with my pumping output. When Harrison finally started sleeping through the night I took advantage of that big supply I had at 2AM and continued to get up at that time just to pump more milk. It was exhausting to work full time, have to supply milk for a sitter, and nurse when I was home.
Lest we also not forget, mama doesn't possess the ability to miss bedtime for over a year.
Our kids will go on all of our dates for the unforeseen future. Unless there's a sitter that doubles at a wet nurse out there. But still, I refused to pump in the car or at a restaurant. I'd rather just nurse the baby and carry it along.
To do all of this again, supplements, tracking macros, water intake galore, pumping... it's an exhausting thought.
But I do it so that 1) my child gets breastmilk 2) it saves us so much money and 3) it's such a nice chance to cuddle my baby, especially since I have to work out of the home.
I'm not at all concerned with pumping so other people can feed the baby. You will never see my pump for a time that I could just as easily whip a boob out. The fact that someone else wants to feed the baby, the them I say "you fed your own, this one is mine." It might not go the same for men, but the extra cuddles are my reward for not sleeping throughout a pregnancy because the child would start kicking at random times. Or reward for how sick I was, or all the blood test... and hello, childbirth.
So while parts of me dread the work that goes into breastfeeding a second baby, I also look forward to the forced time to sit. I'm not a sitter. Usually I'm up doing something around the house.
The only real downside to nursing this second baby... my husband has figured me out.
It was well over a year before he really participated in the bedtime routine, I didn't encourage it. Then one day he waltzes in only to find out just how cuddly Harrison was at bedtime and I have yet to shake him. He's now a bedtime fixture... except that Harrison is no longer cuddly. He's more of a maniac.
So, new baby. Might as well be brand new everything. I know I'll have to relearn the whole shabang... except my art of hiding out to nurse. Because that's mama's time.
