Pump, pump, pump it up

I have a goal of breastfeeding Ella at least a year. God is continuing to help me achieve that goal. In the beginning, it was very difficult. Very, very. I stopped nursing a little bit in the beginning (about a month) and only pumped. She still took breastmilk from a bottle. But after I tried to nurse again, it was much better! I'm not quite sure how to explain it to someone that has never breastfed, but there is such a connection, a bond formed when nursing. It's amazing to think that that is how God intended it to be.

He created my body to be able to conceive and sustain life- even after she was born. I think about it and I'm so in awe of God's wonderful plan! I know it may sound weird (this whole topic) to some, but I don't. I think its beautiful. He helped me carry life inside of me, then gave me the ability to sustain life outside of the womb by producing the most nutritious food possible. Ella now has my antibodies to protect her against whatever my immune system has encountered. Not only that, but its good for me too! Breastfeeding decreases my risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer; also decreases my risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

I don't mean to sound like a commercial for breastfeeding, but want to share the answer to a question I've been asked quite frequently (and I'm not tooting my own horn at all): "How have you gotten back to your pre-pregnant weight so fast?" Now, I'm adding a little disclaimer before I move on- I'm not saying I'm all that and a bag of chips. Trust me, I'm not. Disclaimer continued: I've never been preoccupied about my weight. As long as I'm healthy, I'm ok with my self image.

Moving on now that all that's been said- I was 120-125 pounds pre-pregnancy, and that was my normal. After breastfeeding for 7 months, which is where I am, almost to the day, I am 109. I was back to my normal weight probably around 2 weeks after having Ella. That's without any effort to be extra healthy. As a matter of fact, I've become quite accustomed to the 600 extra calories my body is burning every day just to make breastmilk, so I've actually kind of slacked off in terms of making a relatively earnest effort of eating healthy. Is that awesome or what? God really did design this to be how mothers are supposed to be postpartum. I like it :)

I'm not judging anyone that chooses not to breastfeed, but I feel very proud of myself that Ella has only breastfed to date. I thank God for continuing to help me with this goal (because it most definitely has not always been easy). Anyway, I know that probably seemed like this whole post came out of left field, but I just finished pumping, so it was fresh on my mind :)

By the way, I got the rover :):):) I'll post pics later.