All my children :)
Hello from a zombie mom of a newborn. I know there’s no rush to get back into this blogging thing but as I struggled to write my newest Everlane review post (about the cotton linen v-neck here), I felt like I needed to try to get back into a bit because I feel oh-so rusty. I’m sure it’s due to the lack of sleep combined with being out of practice with writing (it’s crazy to think I used to write 4 posts a week!), but the words aren’t flowing out as smoothly as I’m used to. I hope I’m not losing my touch (and I also hope you didn’t notice that much of a difference in my review post-birth).
Anyway my life is currently all about sneaking in naps whenever I can and increasing milk production. Women have said it before and they will say it til the end of time, but breastfeeding is hard! First there’s the whole getting your baby to latch thing (which when she’s cranky or hangry she has the hardest time doing). And then there’s the making enough milk thing. Currently my production is way down low (about half of where I need it to be) so we’re supplementing with formula. And yes I’m drinking the lactation tea, eating the lactation cookies (seriously the only guilt-free cookies I’ve ever eaten because you know it’s all in the name of making more milk), taking the supplements, pumping every 3 hours, power pumping once a day on most days, and doing some other tricks I learned from the lactation consultants. I’m not going to give up since some breast milk is better than no breast milk for Emi, but I might just be one of those low supply women (my mom also had low supply so she gave up after a week and I was a strictly formula-raised baby—it was the 80’s and hey I don’t think I turned out that bad). The only thing is formula is also expensive and if I can make the milk for free, that fits better with my FIRE goals lol.
Overall though I’m hanging in there (the nights where she cries on and off from 1-4AM are the hardest) but I’m super grateful for my small but mighty support system of my husband and my mom. Unfortunately my husband only had 2 weeks of paternity leave (yay that start-up life), but thankfully my mom has really helped out. Seriously having my mom here has been the best thing ever (I can take showers whenever I want, go grocery shopping alone, and my husband and I have already had a couple date nights). I don’t know how I got so lucky!