I warned you at the end of the last post, we were on to conquering pumping next...lol !!!
I had not put any thought into how we planned on feeding this baby. We hadn't discussed breastfeeding, nor had we discussed using formula...we still had 3 and a half months to go. Surely we would talk about all that fun stuff at prenatal classes...or not !!!
The morning after Liam was born, a lactation consultant came to see me. I didn't even know there was such a thing !!! This woman came in, and sat next to my bed...pulled up the table, and spread out a bunch of charts and reading material. She started to explain to me that it was very important I start to pump immediately. By the time Liam was born, any dignity I had left was gone out the window, so having some strange woman insist on demonstrating how to pump was really no biggie !!! On top of the fact that I was as big as a cow, now I really felt like one. She explained that it would probably take a couple of days before much would happen...my body had not been quite ready to have a baby, and sometimes a section can cause it to take a little longer. Pumping was honestly the most frustrating and PAINFUL thing!!! I almost gave up a couple of times. I would try to stick to the schedule they gave me, keeping track of amounts, and times, but those first few days were very discouraging. I remember the first time I got that little bit of colostrum...it barely filled a 1 ml syringe, but I was over the moon !!! They would give it to Liam through his feeding tube....1 ml over a matter of hours..seems crazy now to think about it !! I practically ran to the NICU, they must've thought I was mental !!!
I never did have alot of luck pumping...I did the best that I could until Liam came home, and by that point the amount he was eating was just too much for me to keep up anymore. It was frustrating some days, to see other moms come in with bags and bags of milk...it just wasn't in the cards for me I guess...but I'm happy I was able to give him that "liquid gold" for the first 3 months of his life.
I was amazed by how little was sufficient too. And Carter was full term. I remember the nurses praising me for 5 ml, and it took me ALL day to get those 5ml. But Colostrum is pretty spectacular stuff!
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem with Lee. It was easier with Owen. When Lee was in the NICU there was another mother who would literally be dripping and I would barely have a drop! I just persisted and ended up nursing both our boys for 11 months.
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