WTFT (What the french toast)?!?!?!

Good evening, friends! Tonight we're going to play a little game I like to call, "Tell Me About the Craziest Thing That Happened to You on April 24, 2012, the 3-Month Anniversary of the Birth of your Sweet Lilly." It's a fun game, just you wait and see.

I have blogged before about what a pain it is to maneuver around my pump when caring for Lilly. I typically try to time it and pump right after she eats, so that she's happy or sleepy and my life will be easier. It's hard to pick her up, change her diaper, etc. with cone boobs. So yesterday, she ate and was laying beside me on the couch playing and drifting off to sleep, when all of a sudden Layla started barking at something outside. Layla's barking startled Lilly, and the child started SCREAMING and crying the most pitiful cry ever - almost as pitiful as her cry was when she got her 2-month shots. There were huge crocodile tears - lots of them - and she was crying so hard she kept gagging. She has never done that before, and it was truly so pitiful that my eyes watered for her because she was literally inconsolable - nothing I did helped.

I tried everything, and finally got tired of trying to maneuver around my pump so I gave up and took it off. I didn't get dressed or anything, just went to pick her up to try to comfort her, and you will NEVER. GUESS. what this child did. SHE LATCHED ON AND STARTED NURSING. Let me let that sink in...

Yep, you read correctly. My child, who had a perfect latch until her pediatrician made us supplement with formula and after that absolutely refused to nurse, latched on yesterday. Three months later. After I spent the first month and a half of her life in tears at every. single. feeding because either her latch was so terrible I was bleeding, or she was just over it started screaming and refused to breast feed any time I put her near a boob.

I was baffled, to say the least. I was so surprised that I just sat there for a minute with my jaw hanging open. I immediately texted Stephanie. I also responded to an e-mail from Elisabeth about something totally unrelated with the news, because Elisabeth spent several hours trying to help us before I gave up and went to exclusively pumping. My question to both was: what in the H@%*?!?!?! Is this just a freak thing? Probably it's just a freak thing. If I try again at the next feeding, no way she'll do it. Should I try again at the next feeding? What do I do?!?!

The only thing I can figure is that (TMI coming your way, skip this part boys, sorry Dad!) pumping makes your nipples really big, and it was more like a bottle nipple and she just went for it? Because it wasn't even time for her to eat yet - she took 10-15 pulls and then fell asleep. So, when she started to wake and around the time I knew she'd be hungry, I held her off with the paci and pumped for two minutes to get them big again and by George, the child nursed...again. Twice in one day.

I am still in shock. I didn't want to blog it yesterday in her "developments" because I didn't want to jinx it, but she has nursed for every feeding with the exception of one (tonight when I went to the gym, Dan gave her a bottle since his boobies aren't full of milk, ha!) for the last 24 hours. Her latch is perfect, and it doesn't hurt me one bit. The only thing she's trying to get the hang of is when to stop - twice today she spit up from eating too much. At first I kept thinking, GOSH this would have been SO MUCH EASIER if you had done this from the beginning. But then I started thinking, maybe this is how it was supposed to be. I honestly think that this was God's way of teaching me another lesson in patience.

I am so excited about this development that I wasn't even mad when she woke up at 4:30 - she went to bed way earlier than usual last night and I couldn't get her to wake up for the dream feed, so I figured she'd be up kind of early anyway and was, for once, excited about it. It was so easy and so much quicker and less of a pain than coming downstairs to heat a bottle. I fed her right in her room, still in her swaddle, and she was back asleep in less than 20 minutes.

The benefit to all of the pumping I've had to endure is that (1) I have 300 ounces of milk already frozen in case I need it in the future and (2) I'm already used to it for when I go back to work. I am still trying to get the hang of knowing when the ladies are empty in order to keep my supply up for when I go back to work. For example, I know I always get 16-20 oz first thing in the morning, and I knew there was no way she ate that much this morning, so I pumped after she ate and got 10 ounces or so in 12 minutes.

Anyway, I thought this was exciting information and worth sharing considering how supportive and encouraging you have all been. The moral to the story is: have patience, and don't give up. And my child is stubborn as all get out and has been holding out on me. Wonder where she gets that from? I say her Daddy. ;-)

Happy Hump Day! Stay tuned tomorrow for laundry tips & tricks and how I got the stain out (!!!) of her baptism dress!

Sarah

PS - Did you vote today?