Sarah’s Journey of Oversupply, and Divine Timing
Our story this week comes from Sarah. She’s got a beautiful story of triumph and heartbreak, with a healthy dose of divine timing.
I’ve been lucky enough to carry two babies now and each boy gave me a very different breastfeeding journey.
My first son was born in September 2017 and the plan was to give breastfeeding a shot. I’d always heard how amazing it was and how it was a bonding experience like no other. However, once he was born breastfeeding proved to be very difficult and a lot harder than I initially expected. I didn’t realize until way after I stopped breastfeeding him that he’d had a tongue tie and no one told me it was possible. His latch would cause me so much pain and he never seemed satisfied. We tried to stick it out and we ended up getting about three months of breastfeeding in. During that time, I would often become engorged due to my body trying to produce enough milk for him. So much so that I ended up over producing. Towards the end of my breastfeeding journey with him, I donated most of my milk stash. I wish I’d saved one bag from my breastfeeding journey with him. I had to realize that fed is best and tell myself that I wasn’t a failure for not wanting to breastfeed him anymore.
My second son was recently born in July 2020 and this time around I was adamant about not breastfeeding at all since my first experience had been so awful and hard on my body. After I’d delivered him I was so drugged up on pain meds and so tired from labor that when the nurses put him to my breast I barely noticed. Obviously that triggered my body to start producing milk and I became engorged the day after we left the hospital. For the first week of my new baby’s life I was in pain and trying anything I could to stop producing milk. My fiancé was beyond supportive and did so much research and bought every ice pack to help me cope. I developed mastitis rather quickly and spent nearly every waking hour in pain. My second baby is now a month old and things are much better. While trying to dry my supply up, I built up a huge stash of breast milk I pumped trying to clear ducts. My second baby developed a high fever and was taken to the ER. While we were in the hospital he needed to have tests done but the nurses wouldn’t provide me with formula until the tests were complete. I felt helpless and refused to let my baby starve. I ended up breastfeeding him that day and for the first time ever, it felt right. His tests came back normal and we were sent home a few hours later.
We are now breastfeeding once a day and he drinks a combination of formula and frozen breast milk the rest of the day. I’m now able to pump once a day as well without becoming engorged. We are all happy and healthy and no one is in pain.
I hadn’t heard of breast milk jewelry until this time around but I wish I had before. I wanted something to have to remind me of how powerful and strong my body is. I'm beyond excited to receive my THREE pieces of breast milk jewelry and they will be my most sacred pieces I own.
I feel very empowered being able to nurture not one but two babies with my body. Although each breastfeeding journey was different and came with its own set of hardships, I wouldn’t change either of them for the world.
What do you think of Sarah’s story? Thanks for sharing Sarah!
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