I Set a Date!

December 15th is the day.  The day that I will pump for the last time....probably in my whole life.  Walker and I discussed this about a week ago and we decided it was in our best interest for me to wean myself from pumping.  We did not make this decision lightly.  I don't want to say I've enjoyed pumping for the last 7+ months, but I have greatly enjoyed being able to provide Lucy everything she needs nutritionally.   Now, Lucy could still be on straight breastmilk and solid foods right now, but I chose to introduce re-introduce (I forgot she had it as an infant) formula.  I wanted to make sure she would take it- that would be horrible if I went through my entire freezer stash and then found out she wouldn't drink formula!!  But thankfully Lucy is taking her formula bottles just fine.  The other reason for  giving her formula now is I can really build up my freezer stash now so that hopefully Lucy will still get at least some breastmilk every day until her first birthday.  That was my initial goal: breastmilk for the first year.  I never said how much breastmilk!  So right now, she gets breastmilk at daycare and formula at home.  This means I only need to make sure she has 12 oz and the rest I get to freeze! 
So why December 15th?  Well, the day for the start of the new month of pump rental for me is the 18th.  Obviously I won't be turning in my pump tomorrow.  So I want to turn it in by Dec. 18th in order to avoid paying for a full month's pump rental if I only have it for a few days for that time period.  Dec. 18th is a Sunday so I plan on returning it the Friday before, which is the 16th.  So I've worked out a schedule so that I'll be ready to return it then.  I realize I might have to some hand expression after the 15th but I really don't know how much I'll have to do because the schedule I worked out has me pumping twice for 5 minutes on the 15th.  I really don't think that by that point, I'll be so full that I'll need to hand express.  I'm sure by that point, I'll be getting very little from pumping. 
Anyway, I might write more later on how I'm feeling about all of this in another post.  But for right now, I'm counting down to the 15th; maybe I'll make one of those paper chains.....