In the last 103 months, I was pregnant or nursing 91 of them. There were only 12 months in the last {almost} 9 years that I wasn't carrying or nursing a child. Four months between finishing nursing Kaden and getting pregnant with Cam. Eight months between Cam and Ryane. ZERO between Ryane and Avery (as I found out I was pregnant when I was still nursing Ryane). I have been consecutively pregnant or nursing for 47 months straight (February 2012 until January of 2016).
When I was pregnant with Kaden, I knew I would try to nurse him. My goal was 6 months as I thought it was gross to nurse a baby longer than that. The first month was horrible. I remember sitting in my glider one night in the middle of the night trying to nurse him when he was two weeks old. I was bawling through it. It was harder than I expected (he would nurse for 45 minutes to an hour and would wake every 2-3 hours) and I was exhausted. Nic woke up to help me that night and he encouraged me to keep going. I honestly don't know why he was so encouraging at the time. Was it the thought of paying for formula? Was it because of the health benefits of nursing? Was it just because he thought he should? I don't know and I have never asked. I'm just thankful that he was so encouraging that night. That became my biggest advice for people who want to nurse- make sure your husband is 100% on board and ready to encourage you, especially in the first month.
When Kaden turned 6 months and one day old, I continued to nurse. To me, he was no different at 6 months than he was at 6 months and one day. I continued to nurse him till he was 11 months and then I spent the last month pumping and giving him bottles to wean from nursing.
Cam was easy to nurse from the first day. He nursed for about 10-20 minutes total in the hospital and pretty quickly, once we got home, nursed about 10 minutes every 3 hours. I nursed him for 14 months.
Ryane continued the trend of being a good nurser and nursed for 16 months. I had not planned on nursing for that long, but thinking she was my last baby, I had a harder time thinking about weaning. Plus, we were a busy family and I had trouble finding the time to get it all planned out. It was just easier to do what we were doing!
When I found out I was pregnant with Avery, one of the first things I said to my doctor was, "Oh my gosh... I'm still nursing!!" She told me it was okay but it was probably a good idea to start to wean within the month.
Nursing Avery was the easiest of them all and I definitely tried to enjoy this special one on one time we had together. My plan was to finish nursing by the beginning of December (14 months) but on my "last night" of nursing I decided I wasn't done. As much as I wanted to have my body back, there was something I wasn't ready to let go of. I was only nursing him before bed and I continued until January 20th (almost 16 months) when I went out of town for my Grandma's funeral.
I sobbed the last time I nursed him. For me, carrying and nursing my babies has been my greatest honor as a mom. My pregnancies became harder physically with each baby, but there is something I will forever cherish about being the one person responsible for growing these tiny babies. That every decision I made for myself affected someone else. That feeling I got every time I could feel them move inside me. The feeling of knowing that no matter the circumstance I, alone, could keep my baby healthy and nourished.
It truly was an honor... My greatest accomplishment to date.
91 out of 103.
