You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do...

I have been blessed with a circle of mom friends that I made in my New Mamas class at Amma Maternity. Our class is over now, but we've continued to get together. Today we gathered at one of the mom's houses to watch the documentary Babies. I had seen it before, but it was interesting to watch now that I am a mom.

It's been so nice to have moms with babies about the same age. We are able to share our stories, compare our struggles, help one another, and celebrate successes.

Today the topic of bizarre breastfeeding locations came up. One of the moms joked that she was going to make a blog that chronicled her weird locations. That made me think, and I decided to create a blog post for it (thanks for the idea, Alissa!).

I have been lucky to have breastfeeding go pretty smoothly. With the exception of the start (before it was discovered that Linnea was born tongue-tied), things have gone well. Linnea has become a pretty good breastfeeder, and I seem to have a good supply to feed her with. :-)

Until just a couple weeks ago, Linnea was exclusively breastfed (as in no bottles)...which is wonderful, but definitely creates for some interesting breastfeeding locations...

So obviously there's the normal locations...our house, our parents' houses, our friends' houses... and then it expands from there...

The next level is the places that are out of the ordinary, but a pretty supportive environment... New Mamas class at Amma, church (both in the lobby and the bathroom), the Women's Lounge of Nordstroms (which is SUPER nice...moms, take note), a bathroom at a restaurant...

Then we get to the bizarre "you do what you gotta do" places... the parking lot of Wal-Mart, the parking lot of Cub Foods, the dining area of a McDonald's, the dining area of Tavern on France (this was with the Amma Mamas, so it wasn't all that bizarre), the community room of our local library, in the car along the shore of Lake Superior (while Jeromy geocached...), an industrial farm equipment parking lot, and my personal favorite...a picnic table outside the Eco Building at the State Fair.

It makes me oddly proud to be comfortable and confident enough (or sometimes simply desperate enough) to have fed Linnea in all of these places. Breastfeeding and pumping for Linnea helps me to continually be amazed by my body and its abilities...it does what it has to do to feed my beautiful baby. And for that, no matter where and no matter when, I am grateful.