A muse upon the breast

"A breastfeeding support group?" my brother says with a laugh. "Why do you need that? Isn't it easy?"

Ah. Such a misnomer. Breastfeeding is easy in that "boob will travel" and there is no "messy" bottle nonsense to ready or clean up, but man, easy?

I was thinking about all this today while in yoga (oh thank you to the boys for letting me disappear for a mere 90 minutes by myself). We were getting into a twist pose that I haven't been able to do in awhile, b/c the last time I tried to do the "prayer twist" my pregnant belly got in the way. I think it's been since like month 5 that I couldn't do it. So needless to say, it's been awhile. So I'm getting into the prayer twist, and start to do the "extended" version, which is where you put your other arm down towards the ground - see below - and no my ribs don't stick out like that -
anyway, so I'm getting into this pose, and my freaking boobs are in the way. First it was the belly, now the boobs! Now little A-cup me has never had this problem before. BUT NOW!! Ah, the milkers are just too big. never thought I would ever say that, but it's true folks. The body is an amazing thing and truly gave me the proportions I could live with... that is, until I became a human cow.

Now i'm not trying to belittle the fact that I'm breastfeeding. In fact, I'm actually very proud of myself that I've been able to last this far. I never understood why some moms say "oh, it just didn't work for me" - i was always like, come on! It's free! Formula is so expensive. But after 4 weeks of getting up ever 2 hours throughout to nurse Miss Stella, an act only I could accomplish, I understand. Boy, do I understand. And now that we've been battling the dreaded "thrush" for 6 weeks (see Goth baby post below) I feel like a hardened trooper, weary from a long-winded battle. (and now that I'm REALLY trying to get rid of the damn infection, I can't eat - ready for it? Dairy, anything with sugar, beer, bread, (aka anything with yeast), and mushrooms. Do you know how much dairy is a part of our lives? Holy cow. Literally.)

However, in support of the breast, breastmilk is pretty darn amazing. The fact that this little baby can SURVIVE on nothing but it for 6 months is pretty spectacular, and that my blessed boobs seem to "know" how much she needs as she grows. The BF group leader also mentioned that there is some immunoglobin in breastmilk that fights off bacteria that increases 3 times the amount when babies start to crawl, b/c of course, they will be coming in contact with more bacteria. SERIOUSLY? Pretty neat.

But back to the fact that it's hard work. It might have put me within 4 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight (yeah burning calories!) but it's not easy. Not in the least.

And it wrecks up your prayer twist.

Word to the wise.