and my bf-ing journey ends here... for now.

and so today, i finally make to put away everything i have needed in the last 9 1/2 months of breastfeeding/ expressing milk:-

~~~what remains after chucking the really worn out stuff~~~

• the trusty little Medela Swing plus all the bits & pieces that come along with it.
• the nursing bras.
• the nursing tops.
• the nursing dresses.
• the nursing pads, milk bags and other accessories that have helped me on my journey of nursing Sarah.

9 1/2months.

i have such mixed feelings at the thought of no longer continuing this whole thing.

on one hand i would love to continue providing for her. it's been a tiring journey no doubt, but such a meaningful one! so precious! those late nights/ early morning nursing... just us two awake and "clinging" onto each other...... i think no words can accurately express how i (or any other mum) feels.

on the other hand, i guess it is timely that i stop now. 

i say timely, because:- 

• she seems to have gotten the hang of self weaning pretty quickly! 
• she loves her cereal brekkie, porridge lunches and dinners. 
• her milk consumption has dropped alot with the increase in solids intake. 
• heaps of literature now point to how babies can get their calcium intake elsewhere apart from milk. 
• i'm working ridiculous hours which make regular expressing quite impossible. 
• plus, after discussion with the hubs, we agree the time spent expressing, cleaning, sterilising, packing the milk can be better spent reading or playing with the girl now that she needs a whole lot more attention and activities to stimulate her learning senses.

so.

yup.

9 1/2months.

the frozen supply should last another couple of weeks.

then... that's it.

till the next one, thank you all for your support in my strange, interesting, eventful journey of breastfeeding. hahaha! what with the boobie/ milk strikes, engorgement, blocked milk ducts, nursing in the tiny noodle store in yongping, nursing in the backseat while we make our way to kl, expressing in handicap toilets, expressing in the car on long journeys up north, expressing in the dead of the night by torchlight, wearing breast shields that make me look like xena, going everywhere with my kit, being given funny names (pump-it... pumper...) and a whole lot more i can't possible list everything that has happened. 

GOOD TIMES ALL!