It's Over!

Some of you may recall this post where I declared my intent to stop breast feeding Annie. Well, when I said "about to be closed", apparently I meant over three months. I had set an arbitrary personal goal of six months to breast feed Annie. I met and exceeded that, which feels great. I had expected to feel guilty about stopping, but thankfully she had started to be so squirmy and distracted during feedings that it really made it easy. Given her track record, I don't know why I am surprised that Annie made something easy for me.

Clearly Annie's ok with it.

Yesterday was my first full day without anything to do with breast feeding and it felt wonderful. I didn't worry about the glass of wine (or 3) I had before I went to bed. I ended the evening reading a nice book instead of searching the internet on my phone while pumping. It's a strange transition to go from about a year and a half of worrying about every little thing I put in my body to closing up the ecosystem. In addition the freedom I am feeling, I have also noticed that my body has decided to shed a few pounds it has been hanging onto for the past few months. I attribute this to the fact that I was constantly starving while I was nursing Annie. Or now that certain parts of me aren't quite so huge, I can finally work out. So that's a nice bonus.

I feel a strange sense of accomplishment having lasted as long as I did, especially thinking back to the early days of pumping in my car at work. I know some people go much longer than I did but it just wasn't in the cards for us. I loved providing for our baby for 7 and a half months and it was an experience I will treasure forever. I feel like Annie was ready to move on and I know Rick's ready to be able to have more time with her.

I think I'll celebrate with a glass of champagne. Or a bottle.