Breastfeeding: The Journey (Part II)

So I pumped 12pm, 2pm, and now 4pm. Still not much at all. Like .25 oz not much. So disheartening. I tried to nurse Corbin before I started, he screamed in my face at the injustice of asking him to nurse when I had no milk! That too makes me want to cry.

So I fed him a bottle of formula and sat down to pump. We have community group tonight and it might mess up my pumping schedule. My next pump would be at 6pm, 8pm, 10pm. But group is from 7pm-9pm, we usually get home around 9:30pm or later. So it will be more like 4 hours between pumping instead of 2. Ugh. Even when I try, I still can't get it right.

And tomorrow is Conversational English for 2 hours (9:30-11:30 + drive time).

Okay, well we'll see. 4 hours...and only .5 of an ounce. Sheesh have I got a long way to go.

Got home and was able to pump at 9:45. I got .5 of an ounce. Of course it was almost 4 hours since the last pumping, so I don't think that can be considered an increase. Argh.


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It's the next day (Wednesday) and so far I think my pumping has gone from only .25 of an ounce to .5 - so that's a 100% increase right? Still is only half an ounce, but I can deal. Just keeping pumping along...

It's 10pm, just pumped..again...still only .5 of an ounce. But I suppose that's more than I was pumping yesterday.

It would be nice to have 100% increase each day. That would make:

Thursday: 1 oz
Friday: 2 oz
Saturday: 4 oz
Sunday 8 oz

Considering Corbin drinks around 6ounces this would be awesome to produce 8!!! That would give me like 2 oz to store!! Haha, ok I'm dreaming now. To think of having extra would just blow my mind. Right now I just want to feed my baby.

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It's Thursday morning and I pumped .5 of an ounce. No increase. Argh!! I was hoping for maybe an ounce. But in positive news I did nurse Corbin back to sleep this morning at 6am. I haven't been doing that lately because of the milk supply. So I at least have something that can comfort him.

It's 3:56pm and I finally pumped 1 whole ounce! So that's a 200% increase from the start. I was beginning to get discouraged, especially when I only pumped a little less than .5 of an ounce at 1:30pm. I think I figured out a combination of settings on my pump that work well. I basically have to start it at one setting, then change it after the let down. Why does this have to be so complicated and why don't my boobs come with instruction manuals?

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This morning I woke up slightly engorged - that's new! And I even nursed Corbin his first feeding. Something else that hasn't happened in a while - when I was nursing on one side, the other side started leaking. That seriously hasn't happened to me in a long time. My milk supply must be increasing.

Today I had a lot of fun making cookies with one of my best friends. Our kiddos played and we chatted - it was great. Unfortunately, my pumping took a backseat to that. Pumping with someone there or even with just Hayden running around is hard for me. I have to be completely relaxed and that was not going to happen. So I didn't get to pump until 2pm and only got 1 ounce. We'll see how the next pumping goes. But was encouraged by my successes this morning.

I think I'll end this post here and pick up in a part III edition.

Feel free to ignore these posts if breastfeeding wigs you out. This is just my life right now, so my blog shows it.