Got Breastmilk?

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ryan and I celebrated our anniversary, we have been able to catch up with old friends, and of course spend time with our families. It's been a wonderful week. :) Anyway, on to adoption things! 

The short answer to that short question is "no"! ;) I strongly considered breastfeeding when I found out that it is possible to stimulate lactation even if a woman is not pregnant. I started researching on my own, so that I would be somewhat educated on the subject before I spoke to a lactation consultant (Are you surprised? lol). Without getting into too much detail, the methods involve a combination of pumping,  physical stimulation from the baby once they're born, and hormones. I was ok with pumping and physical stimulation, but neither of those seemed to be productive without taking hormones to help things along. That was a red flag for me. I was on hormones for more than a year, and I'm simply not going to take them any more. So breastfeeding was bound to be more of a challenge as a result of that stance. Then I had the meltdown a couple weeks ago about adoption being hard. That sealed the deal the for me. :) I am going to have a lot of adoption-related things on my mind and heart when Elliana is born, on top of the natural whirlwind that comes with being a first time mom. Breastfeeding for someone who has been pregnant is difficult as it is (so I hear), and I don't even have milk ready to give! I would be setting myself up for a lot of stress, and it is not the road we want to go down. I am so happy with that decision and glad that I have one less thing to think about now. whew! :)

A positive aspect of not breastfeeding is that Ryan gets the experience of feeding her too. We're both looking forward to this, for one-on-one bonding purposes and also the sheer practicality of it. During his two weeks off, we will be able to split the night shifts and get more sleep as a result. No complaints here! ;)