DAY 5: To this 4 days later (again 2 pumping sessions):
I tried Exclusively Breastfeeding (BF) Nathaniel when he was first born and did that for the first day and a half and he would NOT stop crying so a nurse convinced me to bottle feed him since I was very weak and tired from the blood transfusion. So I listened and did it and it was amazing to see him finally sleep! So throughout my stay in the hospital I would BF Nate for up to an hour then give him a bottle of formula. He'd guzzle down about 1oz-2oz. when I'd give him it and that also happened when I came home till he was being super gassy and irritable. I started to think maybe it was my Metformin so I spoke with one of my doctors and he said give him all formula and see what happens. Well, all the fussiness STOPPED, so I came to the conclusion that it was my medication and stopped BF-ing him. I felt really guilty in the beginning but then didn't care the next day since he was finally sleeping. So I did the whole suffering thing to dry up (intense breast pain, engorgement, night sweats and fever) for mostly 2 days then the third day, no more pain or anything and I started to feel a little bad that I was "DRY".
This was about 4 days after I stopped BF him I was watching a video on You Tube about a girl that pumps and she was making LOTS of milk. We didn't want a pump cause they were super expensive and I didn't want to buy something if I wasn't going to be successful at it. Well...I got to thinking and started to feel bad for giving up so fast that I tried putting Nate on me to nurse and he latched on perfectly! no nipple confusion AT ALL! I felt excited but then remembered the medication and the drying up thing. So once again I called my doctor and he said since I had lost a lot of weight and my numbers (blood sugars) have been good that I can stop the medication. I stopped it instantly and started BF-ing again, I knew I would have little to NO milk of course I had to keep giving him formula on top of the nursing sessions but then I got curious to see how much milk I was actually making. So I went out and bought a manual pump, I used it and go almost nothing out. I started using it faithfully and Naty seen how determined I was to bring back my milk that he decided to get me an electric pump. We went out and got it and after sanitizing everything I connected myself right to it. I was amazed to get triple the amount I'd get with a manual one which was only 2oz. So the next day I started logging and pumping like a mad woman and here are my numbers so far:
Day 1: 5.5 ounces
Day 2: 6 ounces
Day 3: 6.5 ounces
Day 4: 8.5 ounces
Day 5: Is today and its about 6:45pm and so far I have 6.75, I'm praying to go over the 8.5 mark so that I know I'm getting more and more milk.
This has been an uphill battle that messing with here. I hear about ladies getting up to 20 ounces in ONE SESSION! I'd really be happy with making only what Nate eats in a day. Which be about that amount that people make in one session! I'm doing lots of things to help my supply like taking fenugreek, drinking loads of water, eating oatmeal, limiting caffeine, massaging, power pumping and even had the glass of wine. And it seems something is working but not fast enough. I know I need lots of patience and dedication to make this possible.
Anyway, I've gotta go pump again!
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