Nursing

I've often said that nursing is the hardest thing I have ever done...and it is. But, it's also the most rewarding. I have this really cool app for my iPhone called Baby Connect. It's been a life saver in terms of keeping track of "everything Ronan". At every doctor's appointment we're asked a slew of questions that would be nearly impossible to answer without this application; how long does he nurse, how many times a day, how many ounces of breastmilk does he drink per day via bottle, how many wet and how many poopie diapers does he have each day, how much is he sleeping at night, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

As much as I love this app, it's sort of a convoluted mess at the same time and needs a bit of improving. It's full of graphs, charts, places to enter medical information such as shots or medicine given. I can record his moods, sleep, activities, daycare drop off and pickup times, and milestones. There's even a 'diary' where I will sometimes enter in when he does something special so I can go back and enter it in his baby book when I have time and not forget the details. It's an awesome tool that I've been using since he was about 2 weeks old and something I would have a hard time living without it. There is no way I could find the time to write all this down. I must open this app 50 times a day.

So, since I just made a short story long, here we go to the point....while pumping this morning I noticed a new feature I hadn't seen before, and that's a summary of all the 'totals' of categories since Ronan was born 143 days ago. This really put it into perspective how much nursing is a full time job, very challenging, at times frustrating, and takes more dedication than I have ever had to put forth. Those are just a few of the reasons why it is also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and I just keep reminding myself that it's all for him. That keeps me trucking along without much complaint. Here is our summary to date for me and the little guy:

Nursing: So far I've nursed 453 times for a total of 189 hours, 49 minutes
Left side: 398 times for a total of 93 hours, 20 minutes
Right side: 396 times for a total of 94 hours and 35 minutes

Pumping: To date, I've pumped 669 times for a total of 25.6 GALLONS of milk!!
Pumping usually takes on average about 20 minutes per session, so by my calculations that's 13,380 minutes, or 223 hours I've spent pumping in addition to nursing!

Bottle Count: 825 bottles for a total of 25.4 gallons of the 25.6 gallons I have pumped

Diaper Count: 881 total - and this doesn't even include the diapers he's had during the day for the last nearly 5 weeks of daycare. They write them all down for me so I haven't gone back and entered them in my phone. WOW!

I just can't believe we have washed 825 bottles in 143 days and I've washed my pump parts 670 times!! No wonder I can't stand washing bottles and parts anymore. By far my least favorite thing to do. And the time spent doing all this, plus working full time...it's amazing I have time to sleep! In all seriousness, nursing a baby is a lot more work than many may think, since it's "supposed" to be such a natural thing. I've spent this much time committed to it and I'm not even half way through my goal of nursing for the entire first year. This just makes me even more proud of myself and my accomplishment thus far. I wonder what these stats will look like at the end of the first year!? :)