pump it up

sigh, I've given in to the two open wounds on my left nipple (good ole lefty), and have decided to pump, rather than breast feed until it heals. lefty got lacerated during a middle of the night sleep and snack session, so I have no idea what happened, but was pretty rudely awakened by some very BRIGHT pain. it's been maybe two weeks with no healing in sight, so I thought I'd go the gentle route before the top of lefty is nothing but a mere memory (ok, so that's a slight dramatization, but man, this baby sure knows how to murder a boob. he's not a gentle henry). I've also been experiencing pain during milk let-down, which I didn't remember from the first go-round with breast feeding. I looked it up, and it might be that max is chomping more than sucking...I'm not exactly sure how to really evaluate that, he seems to do well with his latch on righty and previously on lefty (I probably shouldn't have gotten so lazy with night feeds so early on), but I figured that pumping would allow me to see if the painful let-down lets up (ha ha!).

so, I've been dreading the pumping, sort of remembering it as a grind (I suppose it becomes that when you have to figure out how to get it into the workday for an entire 9 months). what I've discovered, however, is that I actually enjoy it. first of all, lefty isn't in as much pain during the pumping, and second of all, HULU... oh, and the satisfaction of beginning the milk stash. I think that maybe if I pump every two and a half hours, I can stay ahead of max, and get a little extra that will be put aside for future feeds. first pump today, 3.5 oz - he drank all of it. second pump today, 4 oz - I'm thinking that maybe he'll only need 3 oz and I'll be able to put 1 oz aside for later? is this waaaay too much information? sorry! I'll show more restraint in the future.