Not a great day...

I have had some brilliant days over the past seven and a half months - days when everything flows smoothly, Tabitha is happy and giggling, I get time to bake and read, and The Daddy and I have a long relaxed dinner with a glass of great wine.

Today was not like that!  During last night's frightening, awe-inspiring storms across Melbourne (flooding is so dreadful that cars were swept onto their sides on the freeway), our two Burmese cats, Pudding and Possum, went absolutely crazy, leaping in and out of our bedroom window all night (The Daddy was less than thrilled to be woken at 3am by 5kg of wet cat landing directly on his face).

On top of that, Tabitha was incredibly restless throughout the night, and woke at around 4:30am absolutely beside herself.  We brought her straight into bed with us, but she was so upset - she didn't want to lie down, or be cuddled, or sit up, or stand up!  She wanted to throw herself across my neck, burrow her face into my hair, and wail.  Poor little mite's face was so red, puffy, and all screwed up with tears.  For nearly two hours, we couldn't do anything but try and hold her while she cried and cried.  We finally got her back to sleep at around 6:30am, and she slept solidly and soundly for two and a half hours.  I believe it is her teeth that are bothering her - she has six already, with a couple more coming through.  She was generally okay today, but still had some moments of becoming very distressed.  Heartbreaking.

With both The Daddy and I exhausted from less than a few hours sleep (with the storm, the cats and the baby!), and Tabitha sore and sad, today was a loooong day (with The Daddy at work, poor man).  At around 5:30pm, I had Tabby in the Ergo (the only way to keep her happy - she never, ever cries while being worn), and suddenly she became very pale, quiet, then vomited ALL over me - for a couple of minutes, I just stood still while she covered me, the Ergo and herself with curdled milk!  She seemed happy enough afterward, so I piled us both into a warm bath, where we splashed around for 45 minutes until The Daddy got home.  Thankfully, she fell asleep easily tonight, and now we are enjoying some takeaway and watching a DVD.  What a day!

My exciting new volunteer role

Because I am not returning to work, I had always planned on taking on a volunteer role once Tabitha was past her infancy.  I'd thought vaguely about becoming a volunteer zoo guide, since I adore animals, and teaching.  I'd also considered becoming involved in the programs set up to teach English to refugee families.  Once I joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association, however, I immediately knew that I wanted to become involved on a deeper level - helping women to breastfeed their babies, and helping raise community awareness about breastfeeding, are areas I am incredibly passionate about.  My breastfeeding journey was, like so many women, initially fraught issues including mind-numbing nipple pain from deep cracks, bleeding, mastitis, engorgement, oversupply and blocked ducts, and the support I received in the initial weeks and months (from my independent midwives, as well as the ABA) was so helpful to me.  Giving Tabitha artificial milk was never an option for me, but there were days when I cried and cried from pain and hopelessness - still, getting through those initial challenges was so incredibly empowering and I feel like it helped me form my identity as a mother.

Initially, I helped out with my local ABA group whenever I was asked - I volunteered as a 'demo breastfeeding mum' with Tabitha a couple of times for the prenatal breastfeeding education workshops that the ABA runs for pregnant couples;  I was also a 'demo mum' for a talk on breastfeeding at Canterbury Girls' Secondary College; Tabitha and I posed for a newspaper article on World Breastfeeding Week; and we attended every fortnightly local meeting we could.

After a while, with some encouragement from my local ABA region leaders, I started thinking about training as a Breastfeeding Counselor - a voluntary position, this is a Certificate IV qualification, involving roughly 1-2 years' of study, and ongoing training and professional development.  I am now thrilled to say that I am officially a Trainee Breastfeeding Counselor!

Tabitha and I are going to Ballarat next weekend for the annual Victorian ABA Conference, which will include some fantastic workshops and panel discussions, including one on the ethics and issues surrounding milk donation (after donating literally litres of milk myself to other babies in the initial weeks, I am incredibly passionate about milk donation).

I have a lot of study in front of me, which I can do at my own pace, but I am so excited about getting to the point where I can go and help women and their babies with their breastfeeding challenges.  Also - one of the best parts about volunteering and training with the ABA is that, of course, Tabitha is welcome at every training session workshop, conference and event!