In the dumps

I just don't know where I will come up with ideas to blog about after I stop pumping.  It's seriously an endless source of mental energy.  Today marks a full week that I have been dumping some, if not all, of my milk every day.  I have never been so thankful for my freezer stash.  Last Sunday night I started to feel sick.  Like really sick.  I thought I had escaped the super-germ that Joe got after Christmas but sure as Murphy's Law would have it, I got it the day before I was to leave for Vegas for 4 days.  Sunday night my throat and head hurt so much, that I got up at 2 am and actually took cough medicine.  This is saying a lot since (outside of C section meds) I have not taken even a single Tylenol since getting pregnant.  But I didn't think I would make it, so I took it knowing that I would have to dump the last milk I'd have the opportunity to pump before leaving on Monday morning.

Now, I have no idea if I am overly cautious when it comes to getting rid of milk that may or may not be tainted with OTC cold remedies.  But the guilt that ensued back when I was in my first trimester prevailed and  (rather than calling the doctor) I just err on the side of caution.

Then I was in Vegas for 4 days.  I never liked Vegas.  I liked it even less when I had to think about accommodating time to pump within a ridiculous trade show and client meeting and client dinner schedule, with a  time change on top of it.  Needless to say it wasn't easy, but I did ok.  I was obviously just pumping for supply upkeep and even if I wasn't downing Dayquil and Nyquil like it was my job, I wouldn't have made any attempt to get this milk home. Well, between a few missed pumping sessions and-- I think moreso-- probable borderline dehydration from walking one million square feet of convention center space and 4 days of decongestants, my supply has finally dipped.  I think today will be the last day I take anything, so I can start giving AJ some fresh milk again, but right now I am not pumping enough to cover his daily intake so we'll still be mixing with frozen.

I'd like to go on a frozen milk tangent for a moment.  AJ doesn't seem to notice a difference.... but frozen milk, to me, smells like freezer burn.  It just gets a little funny.  It not bad, or sour, but its not the same.  If I had a dollar for every time I Googled something about frozen breastmilk, I could quit my job.

Anyway, I know what I can do to increase supply, but now I'm thinking, AJ is 11 months old today.  Within 4-6 weeks we will start transitioning him to regular milk (cue panic about cows milk hormones)...so I could probably be ok between what I'm pumping and what I have frozen.  Its more of a mental hurdle than anything else.  So we'll see.  I thank Dayquil, and I especially thank Mucinex, without which I would not have regained the ability to speak.  But at the same time I am really looking forward to being medication free.