Pump It Up! Nursing Twins--Part IV

I had no idea these nursing posts would take so much energy and focus to get out. Every time I write, I think, "This should do it." Then, I start writing, and paragraphs later, I realize there's so much more to the story. I hope this is inspirational to someone that is thinking about nursing, or who has tried nursing, or who is nursing (whether one or more children), to know that your frustrations, fears, and anxieties are normal, and that you are doing what's best for you and your child(ren). If you think nursing sounds easy compared to all the gear and prep time bottle-feeding your child, I hope you'll keep this series in mind the next time you tell your nursing friend how lucky she is that she can just "do it anywhere, anytime."

Here is the next in the series. I plan to only have one more segment, although we'll see how that turns out when I get to the end of the next one. Here are links to Part I, Part II, and Part III so you can see how this journey started.

By God's grace, we all survived that first night at home. The next day was our newborn appointment with the pediatrician at her office, so I had set my alarm (not that I really needed to; the boys woke up hungry just in time) so we could leave on time. We fed the boys and packed the diaper bag, dressed ourselves (in sweats, of course), and packed our family in the car. Or, I should say, my hubby did. Since I had a c-section, I wasn't allowed to carry anything except the diaper bag for the first six weeks.


We arrived at the pediatrician's with 4 minutes to spare, and in my adrenaline/exhaustion state, I was satisfied that we had made it at all. I was on the verge of tears after our confusing night of trying to incorporate all the advice we had gathered at the hospital in the previous days, which caused me to be able to sleep no more than 45 minutes in a row. We checked in the boys, who were sleeping soundly, and got to rest in the waiting room for a few sweet minutes before being called back.

First trip to the pediatrician's! That is my best attempt at a smile with so little sleep.

Even after all of the nursing, pumping, and formula-feeding, our boys had both lost even more weight. They seemed so tiny to start with, I couldn't imagine how they could be any smaller now. The doctor came in and spoke with us, and she was such an encouragement! She asked how the first night home had gone, and I'm sure the looks on our faces and the circles under our eyes were all she had to see to know how we'd been through the wringer.

I had been so scared about my milk not coming in, or not having enough, that through the night, I even felt like I should have been pumping when I needed to sleep. S had made me so anxious about nursing and how every little thing affects your supply, that I was afraid to not try to follow every bit of advice to a "t." This included not supplementing with formula, even though our boys had lost over 10% of their weight in the hospital, where they had been supplemented.

We tried to describe what we had done the following night, after which the doctor nodded her head and said, "That sounds exhausting. Let me give you some advice." She proceeded to tell us to throw out all the advice we'd received in the hospital, even from herself, and to try a couple of things. If they weren't successful by the end of the weekend, she would see us on Monday and give us a couple more things to try. We left that appointment with so much more clarity than we had the previous day and were so thankful for it.

We had to come back the next Monday (our appointment was on Friday) for a weight check, but in the meantime, we were going to: 1) nurse each boy for 15 minutes to stimulate milk 2) feed each boy formula every feeding. So that was our mission for the weekend. She said that with only trying to feed milk, which hadn't even come in yet, the boys were hungry, so they weren't able to get to sleep, which caused them to be so fussy that we couldn't sleep either. By giving them enough formula, we were able to fill their tiny little tummies and satisfy them for a little while, which allowed us to rest a bit more that day.

I was still pumping after every feeding, which was about every 3-4 hours now, and was getting miniscule amounts of colostrum. I kept a written record, and we were able to feed each child 30 cc that afternoon. Pumping was exhausting. I felt so helpless, not being able to get up and change the boys, or get food ready for us, or bottles for them. I have a glider in the nursery that I had my pump and my Bible and iPod set up next to, so I spent most of the first few days in there, nursing and pumping. I started out with these teeny, tiny little containers that came from the hospital kit and could just barely fill the bottom of them. I think they measured 1.5 oz each. I thought that I would never be able to feed two kiddos with that!

My mom came that night to stay with us, and as soon as she got there, I was pumping, and to my absolute amazement, my milk had just started to come in!!!! Instead of slow, small drops, there were sprays of milk hitting the back of the container! I distinctly remember calling my mom over to show her and being so happy I was crying! From then on, I felt so much more confident, even after the disastrous start to the week. My body knew what to do!

From then on, we were on our way. We tweaked our method slightly the next day, by switching which child I nursed and which one took a bottle. I fed him on each side while Daddy or another family member fed the other boy double what we had been giving them. This seemed to work all right. I wanted to stimulate as much milk I could, so I decided to start pumping, just for 10 minutes, every 2 hours, as well as feeding one boy along with that. Soon, I was filling up those tiny little containers with milk and needing to dig out some larger ones. I didn't dare pull out the 5 oz bottles yet, though; that was an impossibility! I was getting about 2 oz every 2 hours, and that was plenty for our boys.

Today's encouraging verse: Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings; because we know that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4