Food, Sex, and Ewe

To follow up on the long-promised breastfeeding/weaning/whatnot post:

I had a very interesting Tuesday last week. In the morning I had my first non-baby related Pap/gyno appointment since December of 2004. And by myself! I asked my doctor, who is also the Manling's pediatrician, my obstetrician, and Mark's general doctor about my amenorrhea, a condition that in the past I have indeed felt like "Amen" about, haha. This time I know it's because I'm breastfeeding.

I told my doc that I really want another child. He told me a few things:

• I could possibly, but probably not, have a thyroid problem or something wrong that makes me not ovulate. So they drew blood, and now that I think about it, I haven't heard anything back. He said I needed my cholesterol numbers anyway. I thought: "you know I couldn't give a rat's ass about my cholesterol right now," but I digress.
• From the look and feel of the environment in my vag (to avoid "prono" Google results) that it's very very very unlikely I'm ovulating now.
• We can "force Nature's hand" as he said by prescribing birth control pills for a few months to get my hormones back into line. This idea I'm not so keen on because the last thing I want is synthetic hormones in my body (or in the Manling's) as well as contraception.
• He said that I probably need to stop breastfeeding altogether if I want ot regain my fertility.
  

I have numerous problems with that. At 14 months, give or take a week or so, the Manling
is a great eater. He eats almost everything you put in front of him. He doesn't seem to like peaches, but that's about it. Recently, he's been unhappy if I try to feed him purees, and likes to eat more solid, grown up foods. He breastfeeds only about 3 times a day, sometimes 4. Typically, a wake-up session around 5 or 6am, where we bring him to our bed, after which he returns to his crib. Then, before napping a short time, and as of these last 2 weeks or so, naps are down to one long power nap of about 2 to 3-1/2 hours around 1pm. At bedtime, which is around 8-9pm, he'll nurse anywhere from a minute to 30 minutes until he's drowsy. Other than that, unless he's hurt physically or upset emotionally or something unconsolable by other methods, he'll pop on for a very short time. So there's a huge break at night of at least 8 hours nightly.

I don't know if I should go to a LLL meeting and ask them; I've read a bunch of their books but none of them really address not ovulating AND trying to get pregnant. I'm fully prepared to nurse while pregnant, and am thinking that I might hope for a beginning of weaning around 21 months at the earliest. I'm afraid that if I wean the Manling that I won't get my fertility back right away, anyway. Other than Mark's wish for massive amounts of "buckle-rubbin'," I am in desparate need of advice, suggestions, and understanding. I'm just so frustrated and everyone I've talked to says blithely, "just wean the Manling." People, it's just not that easy!