Diary of the milk machine

McKenna's first day of school went great. She came, she slept, she pooped (a lot), she drank her bottles, and in other words, charmed the pants off her new friends. She also read books, sang the goodbye song, and did toe ticklers and whispers, according to her daily report.

I have no idea what her new baby friends thought of her, considering that the oldest one of them was seven months and another one was wrought with the worst case of baby eczema I've ever seen, but she sure did seem to make quite an impression on the ladies taking care of her! I believe the exact word they used was "angel"?

And the biggest shock? I DID NOT CRY. I've been dreading dropping her off at school for months, LONG before she was born, but it really went fine. I really have to hand it to my hubby for taking another two weeks off work and acting as a buffer between me going back to work and her going to school. Today, I have a feeling, would have gone a LOT worse had he not done that.

But of course, she drained my milk supply as I expected. I thawed eighteen ounces of milk to take to school, twelve of which she consumed during the day and one that I asked P to give to her tonight about an hour after I had pumped. And I'm pumping, pumping, and pumping some more. My current plan is to pump as much as she needs for the next day (eighteen ounces for tomorrow) and then freeze whatever is left over for a rainy day. We'll see how it goes. I'm sure once I kick up my milk production, it's going to be smooth sailing, but I get so busy and distracted with work when I'm in the field, I really do forget about pumping. It doesn't seem to matter how engorged I get or how big the spot on my shirt becomes from leaking.

Right now I have thirteen ounces pumped, so five more ounces before tomorrow morning and I'm home free. I really really really want to give her fresh milk as much as I can since fresh is best...the antibodies are still alive (freezing kills them) PLUS the added advantage of being able to store it for a few days, so if she doesn't drink it at school, I can save it till the next day...whereas frozen milk, once thawed, has a VERY short shelf life.

Anywho...

Now that my new wake up time (and hers) is 6:30 am, this is going to be short. I need to walk the dogs, watch 24, and GET IN BED! I have a long trip tomorrow to Palestine, Texas...2.5 hours away from home. Blah.