Enough to go Around

I have gone back and forth about whether or not to write about this. I got an e-mail today that made my mind up for me.

As you probably already know, I breast fed Bennett for 14 months and I am currently breast feeding Cannon.

With Bennett, I had some problems with nursing. I frequently developed clogged ducts that were very painful. It never affected his nourishment or my ability to produce, but it was very painful for me. I was producing and producing and producing and it every once in a while it would all back up in me, causing severe discomfort. The problem was, Bennett was never completely emptying me.

Can I just stop here for a second and say - HUH?!? You mean this baby wasn't eating every last drop of milk that I had to offer?!?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. Believe it or not.

I remember calling my lactation consultant after about 3 months of nursing and asking her how to begin supplementing with formula. I had had it. I couldn't do it anymore. I had gotten to the point of crying when I would nurse him because it was so painful.

Well, she gave me the instructions on how to supplement, but encouraged me to keep trying. I also have a good friend that is a lactation consultant who offered wonderful and much needed advice and support during this time.

It was like all I needed was to know that I had the option to do something else, because after that phone call, it seemed to all get better. I swear, so many of our problems are at least partly psychological. I truly believe that stress is a huge factor in our physical health.

I did continue to get clogs here and there, but it was never anything that I couldn't handle.

When I had Cannon, I knew I wanted to nurse him too. Another good friend of mine had just stopped nursing her little girls when Cannon was born. She is so incredibly generous, and she offered to let me use her electric pump while I was nursing with the hope that it would alleviate some of the problems I had the first time.

I started nursing him, and almost immediately started getting incredibly engorged. I was already producing more than he was eating. So I called my lactation consultant and she told me to pump after the first feeding of every day, between the hours of 6am and 10am because that's when you produce the most milk. So that's what I did. And I began to accumulate a nice supply of breast milk in the freezer.

At the same time this was going on, Josh's sister Lauren was having not her first, not her second, but her third heart-breaking struggle with breastfeeding. Lauren is a wonderful person and an amazing mother and wife, but for some reason or another, she has not been able to breast feed her children although she wants to more than anyone has ever wanted anything.

When Mac and Rachael were born and she was going through this, there was little I could do other than offer my love and support. When Everett was born only days before Cannon, I knew I would have an opportunity to help if she was again unable to nurse. She tried for longer with Everett, and I kept my thoughts and desires to help to myself until I knew that she had given it all she had and would turn to formula.

We spent a good amount of time with Lauren and her family right after the two little ones were born, so Lauren and I would nurse together frequently. I always felt a little guilty for being able to nurse Cannon with no problem and then watch her struggle with a supplemental feeding system because Everett wasn't gaining enough weight and it was becoming obvious that, again, it wasn't working. And not only would I nurse with no problem, but I would then turn around and pump out even more milk, just so I wouldn't get all clogged up.

We were at the lake one day, early this summer, when I finally decided to present my offer. I had spoken with Josh and told him that I wanted to offer to pump and give my extra milk to Everett. We both knew it would probably be a delicate topic, since, not only is it not a common thing to do, but I also didn't want to make her feel like I was boasting about how much milk I could produce. Of course she would know that I would never be like that, but I was still nervous about bringing it up.

But I gathered some courage, and while everyone else had gone on a boat ride and the two of us were in the cabin nursing our babies (she was only comfort nursing at this point), I said to her,
"I know this might be a little weird, and if you are not interested, please don't hesitate to say no, but I want to offer my extra breast milk to you for Everett."

I don't even think I got all of that out of my mouth before she said, "I'D LOVE IT." She didn't even bat an eye. She's the kind of person that can make you feel so comfortable - you'll feel a little uneasy about a situation that you're in, but then she can relate and tell you about a similar situation that she encountered and all of a sudden you feel like you aren't the only one and it's totally fine. Does that even make sense? The point is, after talking to her about it, it seemed so silly to have even been nervous about it.

So, after that, all my pumping was for Mr. E, and I was so happy to be doing it. She wrote a blog about it and most of the comments she got said something to the effect of 'Oh, all that pumping - what a sacrifice' or 'Anyone that has ever pumped knows what a gift that is.' I don't look at it that way. It's just a part of my daily routine, and if it's to help someone else (especially a family member), I'm more than happy to do it.

So for the last several months, I have been nursing and pumping and sending coolers of breast milk to Augusta. And I haven't had the first clog. And don't you worry, Cannon isn't missing out:


Well, I have now decided to become a breast milk donor. I have applied and been qualified and hope to be able to donate breast milk even after Mr. Cannon and his lil' cuz Everett have moved on to solids.

The milk bank that I've joined forces with uses the milk to help premature and critically ill infants. They sent me an e-mail today advertising that November is Prematurity Awareness Month and Prolacta Bioscsience (their affiliate) is donating $5 for every new donor application received in the month of November. I know that I don't have a huge audience here, and that very few (if any) of you are nursing moms, but I felt like I should at least put the word out there if I really care about the cause I'm donating to.

So if you or anyone you know of is nursing or thinking of nursing, mention the possibility of donating breast milk to help those that are unable or the infants in need of the 'liquid gold.' Information on finding a milk bank can be found here: www.milkbanking.net or www.helpinghandsbank.com.