I’m Going to be a Mom
My Journey to becoming a mom started shortly before my 30th birthday, when it hit me, I did want to be a mom!!! I was ready for something that for years I said probably wouldn’t happen! When I found out I was pregnant, I did what I do best research. After hours of blog reading and YouTube videos I had a good plan for breastfeeding. I like to have a plan and in my mind Breastfeeding was something natural, cheap, and easy right? We make milk, baby drinks, milk how hard can this be? Apparently I didn’t do enough research on that. I assumed I would breastfeed and in-between I’d be breast pumping and have an amazing freezer stash like “everyone.” Lets just say that I am not one of those women, Call me a “just enougher.”
I’ll Just Breastfeed
I had a good pregnancy, once the morning sickness subsided, and then Baby Beatrice was born! Along with the first hit to my plan, a C-SECTION. I was informed that it might take my milk a little longer to come in, but to continue to Breastfeed. “HELLO can someone help me,” is what I was thinking. The Nurse handed me my baby and then left me to figure motherhood out on my own. After a few hours, she returned and proceeded to tell me my boobs were too big to breastfeed. I was already upset from having a C-section, nervous because I had zero idea what I was doing, and now I was insecure about breastfeeding, great this is not how I planned it. (Second Hit to my Plan)
The Struggle is Real
Over the next few days I fed my child every two hours, even though my milk was not in. After 3 days I was sent home with very little instructions. When I got home I struggled, I worried she wasn’t getting enough to eat, and I cried not knowing. There would be 3 days before she saw a doctor again and I remember sitting in my living room with Beatrice crying not knowing if I should give her formula.
I had a feeling I needed to do something and there sat one of those sample formulas that I never planned on using, Third Hit to the Plan, but it worked. I broke down and cried because I felt like a failure, I had my very supportive husband reassuring me its okay, the formula calmed the baby. However, I felt worse because now I felt like I was starving my baby. I needed to fix this, so I started to do research, at this point questioning why wasn’t my milk flowing like I thought it would and why weren’t my breast leaking, not that I wanted my breasts leaking but every bit of research i did talked about your other breast leaking at let down, catching the milk with a Hakka, bottle or one of many pumping products out there.
This Has to Get Easier
I decided at this point to start breast pumping every 2 hours, I remembered reading something about supply and demand, so I pumped, pumped and pumped every two hours. However, after doing all this pumping I was barely getting an ounce out of both breasts, again at this point I felt defeated, not only was my milk barely there, l had C-Section complications.
The day the Dr. took out my staples, I went home and noticed a trail of blood and blood on my arm. Now i really questioned how i managed to get blood everywhere and was actually grossed out. Then I realized it was coming from my incision. I remember calling for my husband who at this point was mowing our lawn. We ended up calling my doctor and she had us come right back, turns out the blood thinners I was taking for my Factor V clotting, made my blood too thin and it pooled in my wound. The Dr. informed us she would have to open half wound and pack it until I could get wound care at home. Now all this was done with no meds to numb the pain. Talk about painful, stressful and emotionally draining but that’s a whole post in itself.
At this point I realized my whole plan was out the window. There were definitely some obstacles I needed to overcome, however I was up for the challenge. I figured it couldn’t get any worse…that’s until my baby stop latching completely, (Sigh) I don’t know if it was because she could sense the wound, or that I was in pain, but I was still very determined to somehow get her breast milk.
The Beginning of my Breast Pumping Journey
This is when I discovered exclusively breast pumping, and what a journey! I exclusively pumped for 12 months!!! Over that year I learned a lot of tips, tricks and essentials that helped me be successful! I’m so excited to share with you all of the things I believe made me successful, like how I built my supply, foods I ate and everything in between.
I hope my story resonates with you. Even if only one person gets one thing that helps make their breast pumping journey a little bit easier and enjoyable, I will consider this a success.