As a mom of a large family, I have made it a priority to breastfeed from the beginning. There was never a question of what kind or if we would need formula. I believe that God designed our bodies to meet a baby’s needs, and that human breastmilk is the best food for babies.
Our first child, Philip (10), weighed in a 9 lbs 2 oz, had no issues figuring out what to do. He latched on with little help and for the most part we never looked back. I had a little trouble with overproduction and struggled with several bouts of Mastitis. Philip could not keep up for many months, but I wasn’t going to give in, so I pumped for a long time. He self-weaned at 10 months, much to my disappointment.
By the time Philip was two, Brad and I wanted another baby. Soon I was pregnant and Lora was bron just thirteen days shy of Philip’s third birthday. She again, was a great nurser. I did not want to have to use the pump, like I had with Philip, so I attended La Leche League meetings, where I was taught that pumping only increased my problems. So, with their guidance and help, I stopped using the pump. Lora nursed, and nursed and nursed. We didn’t start solids until she was 18 months old. She continued to nurse and just three months shy of her second birthday we were again expecting. I continued nursing Lora, but I was sick, very sick. I ended up needing gall bladder surgery and had it when I was 15 wks pregnant. Lora nursed for the last time the night before my surgery at 25 mos and 2 wks of age.
When Heidi was born she had hypoglycemia. This threw us off kilter for just a bit. She was on Ivs for several days, and then my milk came in good and strong. Her blood sugars stabilized and we were able to come home. She nursed very well, and we had no further issues. When she was just 4.5 mos old, I again was pregnant. Because she was so young, I became determined to nurse through the pregnancy. When she was just 12 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days old, Noah was born.
Noah was a big boy weighing in at 10 lbs 7 oz. He never did lose any weight after he was born. Heidi and Noah nursed together well. When Noah was just two months old, I developed a bad case of Mastitis that nearly landed me in the hospital with a 105 degree fever. I was sick off and on for several more months with various stuff, but continued nursing through it all. We again found out I was pregnant just as Heidi turned two and Noah was ten months. They both continued to nurse through a bad case of stomach junk. Shortly after that, they both weaned, Heidi 28 months, Noah 15 months.
Just three months later Isaiah was born by emergency c-section. I nursed him in the recovery room and he did great. At seven weeks, he became sick with RSV and was hospitalized. We nursed through his short hospital stay and through his struggles with failure to thrive, caused by sugar mal-absorption, caused by the antibiotics he received when he was so sick. We over came the failure to thrive just in time to find out that I again was pregnant with Hannah. Isaiah was just six months old. He nursed through her pregnancy and Hannah was born when Isaiah was just fourteen months old.
We left Isaiah with lots of milk at a friends house as we left for the hospital to have Hannah. Hannah again was born by planned c-section due to transverse presentation. She appeared to be fine and her apgars were 8 and 9. However, everything changed in the recovery room. She refused to nurse when I tried, she started grunting and it was soon found that she was in respiratory distress with low blood oxygen saturations rangin from 18-24 %-Normal is 97-100%. She was rushed to the NICU and would be unable to nurse for 2.5 days. I pumped like crazy to get milk stored up for her, for when she would be able to take milk through a tube in her nose. She would receive all I had for her, and only got 4 mls of formula. By day 3 I was able to begin trying to nurse her, but she was still VERY weak and could not take in a full feeding, so she continued to get breastmilk through the tube in her nose. By day four however, she was able to take full feedings through nursing, though it left her very weak between feedings. We were then moved to mother baby rooms, and able to room together. This gave us time to learn to meet her special needs. We spent six days here.
Eleven days after leaving Isaiah with our friend, we picked him up. I was unsure whether he would go back to nursing, but he did and is still nursing strong, with no end in sight.
Hannah is still just strictly nursing at just 12 days shy of 12 mos. I am not expecting yet, and we believe God knew that Hannah would need a nearly unlimited supple for a longer time then what my body can supply during pregnancy.
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