Boobie milk memory's- Gods great gift

This post captures one of the very awesome gift God has given to Mothers world wide...the gift of boobie milk!!!
There is nothing quite like the bond between Mummy and bubba during that special time, that tinny being relying on the milky goodness you yourself have created....and through Gods amazing set up it's all that baby needs to remain strong, healthy and happy :)



The last few days have been a bit on the emotional side for me as a Mummy, I have successfully fed both my baby's with 'human milk' for 12 months or there abouts and loved it, as did they but Thalia no longer has boobie feeds.
It is a bitter sweet moment for me, I know I have done the right thing in feeding them all this time and support breastfeeding for all Mothers...why give little human baby's anything other than 'human milk' for their first years...a calf drinks 'cow milk',a piglet -pigs milk and so on.
It's just harder to wean this time around knowing that I might never breastfeed again unless we have another bubba in the future.

My beginning of the breastfeeding journey was a sore one...

Declan was born on the 19th July 2007 and after a shower birth in my hospital birthing suite I retired to the bed to have our first breastfeed...I must admit I hadn't done to much research on breastfeeding, I don't know why, I just guess I thought it would be pretty straight forward, easy latching and away we go (lol how naive was I!!).

The midwife came and helped him latch on and our first feed was a good one (1/2 hr of examining and being in awe of this tinny being in my arms...felt so right).

Declan and Mummy enjoying some quiet time having the very first breastfeed after the roller coaster ride with a ring of fire exit

The next few days we both had a bit of trouble latching on and getting all the bits right :D

Mummy got quite sore with a bit of bleeding but we got there!!! by the time we left the hospital I felt confident, my milk was beginning to come in and my boobs were tripling in size!!!! (o)(o) :O

Within the first month the first wave of mastitis came and the ouchies began.

Luckily I realised quite soon what was happening as I had seen a friend go though Mastitis only a year prior, so was fairly familiar with the symptoms.

After a frantic call to a close friend I decided that it had hit so suddenly no massaging, hot showers, expressing and stripping boobs was going to help much so to the Dr we went.

I was put on antibiotics and continued to cringe during feeds with the pain....there was no way I was giving up breastfeeding my baby!!

We slipped back into nice relaxing feeds and comfy boobs, but throughout Declan's breastfeeding days we battled 3 more mastitis monsters and fought the fight in all cases before needing a Dr.....thanks to the support of my friends and the help of the lovely ladies at the ABA.

I fell pregnant with baby # 2 when declan was 9 months and continued to bf through the first trimester to reach our 12 month bfing goal.....by 11 1/2 months my boobs were going through so many changes and every time Declan latched on it nearly made mummy yelp :o.

I thought about it for a long time and decided that we would say goodbye to the (.)(.)'s and pack them away after a precious 11 1/2 months.....it was close enough to 12 months for me to be happy and Declan wasn't that interested in boobie by then after all (probably due to my milk taste changing due to pregnancy).

So Declan went onto cows milk after having the remainder expressed milk via sippy cups.

I did feel sad giving it up but I know it was the right decision, the little blighter didn't even flinch when the boobies disappeared as if nothing had changed :(

That gave me some reassurance that Declan was truly ready ,as where my boobies so it was a job well done all round.:D

this is a statue I admire of a Mother with her children.

I would like to acknowledge those Mothers who tandem feed and say Good on you!!!! wow amazing women and much admired.

After the inevitable deflating of the boobies after Declan began to wean, it was nice to see them growing and beginning to ripen as baby #2's due date came closer.....anyone who knows me would know if you take breastfeeding and pregnancy out of the picture Shell is just about flat :(

The day came and Thalia just couldn't wait, she plunged into this world a day early and made her dramatic exit greeting us with screams and a screwed up face :) thus screaming, squealing and all things loud became her motto.

The 2 midwifes that were attending to me during labour checked Thalia and myself and quickly went to the birthing suite across the hall to attend to the 'screaming one' who was shouting out "I CAN'T DO IT!!! GET IT OUT ALREADY!!!" mmm

this left Daddy, Mummy and a hungry bubba with nothing else to do but attempt the first feed :)

I felt good to not have midwifes prodding around trying to show me how it's done.....and although I had some confidence and the experience of a good bfing journey I was scared, not knowing what to expect, anxious and ready to learn all over again.....waiting for the sore boobs, latching trouble etc

the funny thing was as soon a Mummy got the gear out Thalia wasn't being told what to do thank you very much, she was a pro!!! She latched straight away with no probs without Mummies help and sucked for dear life.....that girl was hungry!!! I was shocked , amazed and excited.

Thalia's first feed:

eyes on the prize!!! :D

The midwifes came back to 'show me the ropes' to see us in the middle of our first feed...happy with how it was going they congratulated us and went on their way :D

Thalia seemed as though she had done a degree in feeding at womb school and got top marks, but in saying that she took it a bit far.

She though it would be a good idea to use Mummy as a dummy for sleep time for a while until Mummy twigged on and needed a sleep too.

Our journey together had begun :) the mastitis monster made a slight appearance in the first few months and again nearing 9/10 months (the worst monster ever!!!)- left me feeling almost cripple, unable to drive and lifeless yet still having to look after a 2 yr old and 9 month old :s

Thalia had been having only one feed for about a month and a half now, just before bed, on the lounge we would sit listening to Daddy read to Declan while Thalia feasted away.......unlike Declan at the same age, Thalia grew attached to the (.)(.)'s and had names for them, giggled at them, had one way conversations with them and 'duddles'...such precious moments but 12months had come and gone and Mummy and Daddy thought it was time...

Friday night we got the gear out and had the last feed :( On Saturday night Thalia was looking for boobie, refusing the sippy cup and crying nearly breaking my heart with every tear but she fell asleep and smiled at me in the morning.....thankfully didn't hold a vendetta against me

Sunday night she was a bit better, had some sippy cup, read a book and had only a few tears, hardly cryed before bed!!!! yay

But tonight she glanced at the boobie (Declan and Thalia both preferred the left) and after a "no Thalia" in a kind Mummy voice started looking though the book chattering away with giggles, drinking from her sippy cup and enjoying it :) she said goodnight to Daddy and Declan got a Big Brother kiss and came with Mummy to sing twinkle twinkle and get tucked in with Miss Cat.

Well to Mummy's delight Thalia looked at Mummy with a massive smile, gave mummy big cuddles with her little voice "duddles" and asked for cat......with cat in hand she got all snug in bed and waved goodbye.....mummy just melted, it was as if Thalia had just said "Thank you Mummy for the boobie you have given me all this time and it's okay, I am ready to stop now and I love you!! our bond will never end"

All I can say is I am truly blessed to first of all have 2 beautiful children and secondly I am proud to say that I fed both of them the milky goodness which is breast milk!! I did it, Thank you God for such awesome gifts of life and an amazing experience of breastfeeding!!!

Last week I went and purchased some normal (not maternity/feeding bra's) bra's and undies to congratulate myself on this achievement, not to mention the need for bra's now my boobs have went back to their deflating characteristics :(

So now I have my first new bra's after 2 1/2 yrs of Motherhood....a time I will always cherish.

I'll leave you with a few pics I like:

Although I think breast is best and think that 'if breastfeeding offends you, put a blanket over your head'....I also understand sadly that through issues and troubles not every Mother can breastfeed....please fight the fight and look at the info, listen to the lactation consultants, ring ABA and seek support before you give up the fight...give it a good go I say, it's well worth it!!!!

In this painting, Saint Bernard prays to the Virgin Mary and asks her to "show that you are a Mother" at which point, the statue comes alive and squirts milk into Saint bernards mouth.
This miracle is sometimes called "the miracle of lactation"