Lincoln Charles

When I found out I was pregnant with my firstborn,

I knew from the very start that I wanted to breastfeed. But being that this was my first baby I had NO idea where to start. I was reading books, watching videos, following social media pages, and doing everything possible to learn as much as I could before my son made his arrival. But let's just say, things did not go as planned. 

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At 34 weeks and 1 day, my son made his debut into the world. Because he was born 6 weeks early we didn't have the start to breastfeeding that I had imagined. He was taken straight to the NICU and I didn't see my baby for the first 3-4 hours of his life, let alone hold him until the next day. He was covered in tubes and wires and nowhere near ready to breastfeed. I went back to my room and my nurse asked if I planned on breastfeeding, I said yes. So she went and grabbed a pump and when she came back she walked me through how to use the pump and that's where my breastfeeding journey began. I set my alarm, woke up every 3 hours and pumped, and delivered the milk to the NICU because that was all I could do for my baby. I had never been so sleep-deprived in my life. When I was discharged I went home and continued that 3-hour schedule for the next 16 days while my son stayed in the NICU getting the care he needed. 

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Tuesdays and Thursdays at the NICU were my favorite days because that's when the Lactation Consultant was there. I remember the first time Lincoln latched and it was the most reliving yet scary experience ever. Trying to nurse with wires coming from all different directions was hard, to say the least, but my husband was a saint and helped hold all the wires and get me and Link as comfortable as possible while I nursed. We continued every day to try and align our NICU visits with his feeds so I could get as much help as I could before we took him home. 

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On March 28th, 2022, 16 days after Lincoln was born we finally got to take him home!! I remember feeling so excited yet so scared at the same time. 2 weeks go by and I call my mom saying I'm ready to give up or at least try just pumping. I remember feeling so touched out and exhausted. Being your baby's sole source of food is difficult, especially when they are cluster feeding. You are constantly being touched and needed at least every 3 hours by that precious little babe. I remember I took a break from nursing and just pumped so my husband could help with the bottles. After all, I did have to return to work eventually and I wanted him to be familiar with a bottle as well.

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Another 2 weeks passed by and I decided to start latching him again because, at this point, I was tired of being attached to a pump. ( I commend all the EP mamas because MAN is that work!! ) We ended up exclusively breastfeeding for the last 2ish months of my maternity leave and it definitely had its ups and downs but it was working out great!

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Then I had to go back to work.... Man, I wish I didn't have to work, but sometimes that's just what you have to do! I had my pumping room at work and every 3 hours I would lock the door and pump for 30 minutes. And before I knew it I had reached my first goal of breastfeeding for 6 months! I was so proud of us! We kept up the pattern of nursing when I was home and pumping at work, and we made it a total of 13 months of breastfeeding! I didn't think stopping would be so hard but I had my husband take a picture of our last nursing session and I cried SO HARD after I put him down. I did have a pretty good stash built up so he got my breastmilk until he hit 16 months when we switched him to whole milk.

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Looking back at my nursing journey with Lincoln and being able to see all that we

have gone through is such a powerful feeling. From the NICU stay to learning how to

latch, feeding at home and in public, clogged ducts, teeth (OUCH), all the tears

we shed, and the best part of all, all endless hours of snuggles together. 

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Jaxon Carter

When I found out I was pregnant with my second, I was still nursing my first and I

knew that I wouldn't be able to handle tandem nursing. About a month after I found

out I started the process of weaning Link so that I could have some of my body to

myself before I started my second nursing journey. 

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Having my first breastfeeding journey start out the way that it did, made me so

anxious, excited, and prepared yet also nervous to see how this one would go.

Every breastfeeding journey is different, but I think the thing that made me most

scared was the possible NICU stay, as I only made it to 34 weeks with my first. 

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33 weeks comes around and what do you know, my body goes into pre-term labor. Thankfully I knew what to expect this time around so I made it to the hospital early enough for them to get me on a magnesium drip (which by the way- WORST thing ever) which stopped my labor. By the grace of God, I went home 48 hours later and carried Jaxon for another 5 weeks, where he was born at 37 weeks on the dot!

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He came out fast and furious, but most importantly completely HEALTHY!! We had our hour of golden time where he latched right away and with no help at all! He was a nursing champion. I exclusively nursed him for 5 weeks while I used a haaka on the other side to build up a stash. Maybe this a controversial opinion, but I didn't have my husband wake up with me in the middle of the night only because this time around, we have a toddler who needs tending to during the day, and if I was exclusively nursing 24/7, there was no need to wake him up for a 2-second diaper change. I needed him to be well-rested to take care of Lincoln during the day. Then I decided that I should introduce a bottle so he became familiar as I had to go back to work in a few months. All my mamas understand this one but I cried so hard when he took the bottle from my husband so well! 

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4 months of maternity leave came and went and before I knew it I was back at work again... back to the every 3-hour pump sessions at work, but this time I only had 3 months of this before I separated from the Navy and could ditch the pump again! Those 3 months went by so fast, and before I knew it we were back to exclusively nursing! 

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As I'm writing this, Jaxon is approving his 1st birthday next week and I have been starting the process of weaning slowly and should be weaned within the next 2 months! (I am going slow because I'm ready to be done but it is also such a hard thing to stop when I know how much it comforts him) I thankfully have another stash built up for him so we will see how long that lasts him before he switches to whole milk as well.

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Breastfeeding journeys, whether they be 1 month long or 3 years long, are special and deserve to be celebrated in every way. It is the most challenging, yet rewarding thing you will ever do as a mother. I would love to hear about your birth story and nursing story so please feel free to send me a message! Every story is so inspiring and I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing them!!