Breastfeeding... While Pregnant.

So I never quite expected I'd be here.  But here I am.

18 weeks pregnant and yet still nursing my first, who is a year and a half old.  (*I'm of the camp that believes a good mother is a mother who feeds her baby in a way that meets her needs and the baby's needs. If that be formula, great!  If that be breastfeeding, great!  To me, happy mamas = happy babies, so this is what I'm personally doing, and not a reflection or indication of what anyone else would or should do, as you make decisions based on what is best for your family in your eyes, just like I do, and that is perfectly fine!)

Breastfeeding was something I started to do because I'd read it was a good option to try for myself and little man, and it was cheap, to be perfectly honest.  It wasn't always easy, in fact, sometimes, it was downright miserable and hard.  However, I don't like to quit, at anything really, and this was no exception.  (Did I mention also that I'm cheap?  I mean, um, thrifty, right!)  So we kept going.

As time went by, things became much easier.  Breastfeeding my older babe was pretty easy.  We began to try to get pregnant again, and after a few months of trying, luckily I was able to get pregnant while still nursing.

So then, there I was, pregnant, and still breastfeeding.

At that point, while I knew I wanted to continue, because it just worked for us, there were those thoughts of doubt in the back of my head.  Should we still be doing this?

Some days, I do think to myself, the old me- the pre children me- would have been utterly confused and possibly somewhat unwilling to accept what I'm doing now.  It makes sense to me that it doesn't work for everyone.

But it works for us.  We both still enjoy those quiet moments together- that time during the day when we just get to relax, put our feet up, and exchange a few smiles back and forth as he snuggles up to me.  If you have a toddler, I'm sure you realize how lovely those moments are when you have a child who no longer wants to sit for an instant in fear of missing something really fun going on in the other part of the room :)

You can share closeness in a million other ways with your child.  There are probably more ways than I can name, and everyone has their own different ways of doing it.  This is part of ours, and- while the former me would be somewhat shocked- the mama me is just thankful that we're both able to share something we enjoy together.