The Attached Mother

This post is for the Carnival of Breastfeeding. Welcome readers!

When my oldest was born my milk was a plenty. In those first few, hazy days we were not yet sure if I would return to work or not. So just in case we got an electric pump. It was bad! It was a cheap model from some brand I had never heard of, and used. At the time it was the best we could afford so I made due.

Luckily, my breasts seemed to love that cheap, loud, almost painful pump. Each day I hooked myself up to the thing, feeling like a cow at the dairy farm, and worked towards a stash of milk that I hoped would keep my son nourished should I return to work. Just as my maternity leave pay was ending we made the decision that I would stay home instead.

I cannot explain the sadness of seeing those bags and bags of precious milk going to waste. A few were used now and then when we went on trips out, before I was confident enough to breastfeed in public, and a few others on those rare dates without the baby. But for the most part I was only counting down the days on the bags, watching all that work go to nothing. It was by total chance that I read online about a woman who had had multiple infants and was unable to nurse them all. The article talked briefly about her trying to buy milk from a milk bank, but the costs were high and the supply was low. It was like a light switched on in my head.

The next week I had faxed in forms and was eagerly awaiting my blood test results. Though I could not donate the bags of milk I already had I could put my breasts to good use for babies I would never see.

I was fortunate to have a good supply already established. I could nurse my own son and still pump 5 - 8 ounces per feeding. It was an amazing feeling to know that I was helping other mothers and children each time. Somehow it made the pain of pumping lessen. Though I was only able to donate milk for a short while before time and other issues became a problem, that short time was amazing. I still keep on my fridge a magnet for the National Milk Bank to remember the time when I could give to more than just my own children.

Be sure to visit all the other people joining in the fun:

• The 17th Carnival of Breastfeeding
• The Adventures of Pumping: Don’t Spill That Liquid Gold!
• The thrills and chills of person-to-person milk donation
• Exclusively Pumping and Cleft Palate
• Electrify Me!
• I’m in here… uh… busy!
• I was ‘Pumped’ To Launch
• Enter to Win A Medela Freestyle Pump

breastfeeding, milk banks, pumping