Milk Bonanza

Long ago...long before Audrey was even a thought I said to myself, "No way would I want to breast feed...that is so gross and your boobs get disgusting."  I still thought about what I wanted to do as far as feeding my child when me and Elijah started thinking about having kids.  Fast forward to the pregnancy and I decided that breastfeeding was a good option.  Elijah was really against formula feeding and it really is more cost efficient if your child breast feeds.  If for some reason we tried and it didn't work out...I wasn't producing enough or she didn't like it, or whatever, then we would switch to formula.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with formula and it was made for a reason!  Audrey didn't take very well to breastfeeding and I had no idea what I was doing.  I actually had to use this thing called a nipple shield just to get her to feed.  Audrey is also known as a "grazer."  This means that she will sit and eat for 3 hours, if not longer.  Suck, suck, sleep.  Pull her off...cry.  Put back on. Suck, suck...nap time.  This would go on forever.  I thought babies just liked to eat a bunch in like 20 minutes and be done.  This is not the case, at least with my baby.  I started feeling trapped as I watched my husband wander around the house and go on the computer while I was stuck on the couch with my little cow grazing on her pasture of boob.  Then I thought, hey I have a pump...I'm going to use it so someone else can feed this kid.  I sort of felt guilty that I was giving up feeding her because you hear all about the bonding and time with your baby.  I am one of those people who is "go, go, go" and does not enjoy just sitting for hours on end.  She is still getting breast milk, just in a different way, and the upside is, I know exactly how much she is taking in.  So here starts the journey of pumping.  I did still breast feed her, but then she got smart and preferred the bottle because it didn't require work from her end.  So, it made us both happy (even though pumping can be painful!).  I pump every 3-4 hours, like clock work.  I have scheduled pumping into my work day, which does stink at times because you are immobile for a 15 minute period of time and can't really get anything done, but I wouldn't change it for the world.  Now here's the dilemma.  I am a milk machine.  I can push out anywhere from 5-15 ounces in one sitting.  Those 15 ounces have just started happening when I pump at 9:30 and then wait until 5:30am to pump again.  But overall, I average about 7-10 ounces in 15 minutes.  I bag it all and when I am home I set aside a fresh bottle for the little one.  Because I pump so much our deep freezer became full....fast!!  My dad was kind enough to buy us another deep freezer to house all the "boobie juice" for his dear Granddaughter.  Before we got this freezer, the side by side in the house was slowly being consumed by that weeks milk.  It couldn't have come fast enough.  Here is a picture to show you just how tall these 2 freezers are!

As you can see we spend a great amount of time organizing the milk so the oldest bags are on top and the newest on the bottom.  Elijah even constructed nifty boxes that we can flip over to put the newest on the bottom without taking all the bags out!  Here he is making a new smaller box for the new freezer.

As we look at all the milk I have produced in the last 3 months, you would think that I had been saving for a good 7-8 months.  Now I wonder how we are going to calculate when I can stop pumping and get her to a year of breast milk ONLY.  I guess we will just have to add up how many ounces we have and how many she will eventually eat and take an educated guesstimation.  By the looks of things I may be able to stop pumping here in the next couple of months.

So the freezers are organized by size so it's easy to get out what you need.  Remember that these freezers go up to the top of my legs, which are long...and I am 5'7".  And to think that I never wanted to breast feed way back when.  I am now, officially, Bessie the Cow and produce enough milk for Audrey to have until her 16th birthday, plus a few friends, dogs, cats, and people along the way!!