Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Breastfeeding...might be TMI

     So breastfeeding. With Raelee, it was easy breezy once my milk came in. Never had latching issues or sore nipples, or all the things that make breast feeding so hard. I never had an abundance of milk, so that was a bit stressful. You can be sure I was super paranoid to never, ever spill any. Raelee nursed until 15 months, never receiving any formula supplements. I am extremely proud of this due to working full time as a nurse doing 12 hour shifts. It is not easy to find time to pump to keep the supply up, but I made it. And loved it. It was soooo easy to go anywhere with her, and never have to worry about bottles and formula, etc. So I expected breastfeeding to be easy breezy this go round too. Guess again. The first day was great. Fenway latched and fed a ton in the first 12 hours. Then around 2am, he totally forgot what he was doing and starting biting and tongue thrusting. I did not let him nurse that way, but with all the off and on, I still ended up with sore, blistered nipples. Fun! By the next day, he was latching correctly again. Super weird. My milk came in on day 3. I was really happy, because it didn't hurt like it did with Raelee. Fenway was back to his birth weight by day 5. By then end of week two, things were not going so well. Fenway was still latching great, but my milk came in again(?) and hurt like the dickens, still does with let down. It feels like knives going from my armpits out my nipples. This happened for a week when my milk came in with Raelee and is still happening with Fen. There was waaayyy to much milk for Fen to handle, he would choke and scream, milk spraying everywhere. Once I pumped after feeding him and pumped 9 oz's...after he'd ate! A few times he went on nursing strike. I couldn't get him to latch no matter what. He'd scream bloody murder for hours every night, he was super gassy and fussy. It was a very stressful time. After a few weeks of block feeding, and letting the milk spray out before latching him, and not drinking any caffeine or consuming dairy products, and trying not to pump unless I was dying,  we have our sweet baby back. I finally feel like I can nurse him if I'm out and about, even though he is a noisy eater. AND I went shopping for a dress for church, since I am very far away from my normal clothes and I found a super cute dress, on sale, that zips down the front. The front people! I was so excited when it fit. It made nursing at church so much easier. I've always found church the hardest place to nurse due to the fact that most dresses are not breast feeding friendly. So finding a front zipping one was a big deal to me :) Fenway will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. It's been a very stressful and tiring 6 weeks, but I feel that we're normalizing out now. I'm not as fatigued. I hoping once I'm off the Lovenox, I'll be up for more strenuous workouts.Tonight is the last Lovenox shot I have to take( insert happy dance). When all the bruising on my stomach goes away(along with the fat please!) I'll be ecstatic.


1 comments:

Tanya said...

Ah, that sounds so not fun! The first 5 or so weeks were really rough for us, too! Oversupply, exclusive pumping... fun stuff.
I can't believe you managed to pump for 15 months with Raelee with your work schedule. That's amazing! I'm weaning myself off the pump now, and I'm pretty excited!