Saturday, July 10, 2010

10 Years and 3000 Ounces!

Today, I'm going to celebrate a couple of my milestones, instead of Claire's!

Ten years ago today, I started working for an insurance agency, and while I enjoy my job, I never really figured I be in the same place for ten years!  The anniversary kind of surprised me since we'd been so busy with Claire's surgery, but now that I think about it, it almost wouldn't surprise me if I'm there for another ten years.  We don't have any plans to move, and in a small town like ours, there really isn't any where else I'd rather work.  It's a small office and it's been pretty much the same staff for all ten years.  After this long we're not just co-workers, but friends too.

While ten years at a job is impressive, I'm even more excited about my 3000 ounces...of breast milk in the freezer! Claire has never nursed.  She's always had a great suck, but wouldn't latch well.  I could get her latched and sucking for only a few seconds before she'd let go.  The doctors really wanted her to gain weight well, and with her OHS looming, pumping was the best solution for us.  I'm very thankful that I've been able to exclusively pump and provide her with milk, but man, it's a lot of work!  I could have done without the extra steps of pumping and washing bottles. 

My original goal was to pump for six months, and I've made that.  The milk in the freezer should get me through about three months, and now my goal is to get Claire through her first year on BM.  While I'm looking forward to the end of pumping in the next few months, I'm almost not sure what I'll do with another three hours a day!  ;)


This small freezer in our house held all of the small bottles from her NICU stay when she was born.  I've used most of them up since she'll be six months old next week.  We have more space with the small bottles gone, but we did have to purchase another chest freezer to hold all the milk!

8 comments:

  1. Hey! I found you! May I just say that you are a saint? My daughter wouldn't latch either, and I pumped for about three months. Horrible, horrible. Having a super charged double pump helps (I assume you have something similar with 3000 ounces in the freezer) but still.

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  2. You go girl!!! You are a "SUPERMOM"!!

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  3. Those are definitely milestones to celebrate!! That's an amazing amount of BM. GO YOU!

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  4. Wow, that is a lot of milk! I loved having a high-tech pump with Jax. I was able to get more breast milk than ever before! And he couldn't breastfeed either, he just didn't have the energy! Then when he spent four months on the vent I knew he would never eat by mouth again. Thats when I gave up the pumping. He was 9 months old when he got the last of my breast milk, more than any of my other kids!

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  5. WOWOOOWOOWOWOWOWWW that is amazing amount of milk, you could really go on a date night times ten~ lol. I am just able to get just enough per day for Grady the days I exclusively pump. So proud of you, what an amazing mom! go you!

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  6. Hi Melissa! I got your comment on my blog...I am from Falcon, a little town just outside of Colorado Springs. Where are you in CO? It would be neat to meet up!

    Your little girl is SO darling! And WAY TO GO with the pumping! That is awesome. I pumped for Faith for her first 4 months, then she got the hang of nursing and we've been nursing ever since. What a fantastic thing you are doing for your baby!

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  7. That is a lot of milkshakes in there!!! Ha, and I thought pumping 800+ times was nuts ;-) I hated pumping, you are amazing.

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  8. Oh, you rock! Way to go!

    I pumped for 18 months -- and supplied my daughter's milk needs for a full two years.

    She is one of the healthiest children I know of, despite the Ds, and I *know* I get some of the credit for for that.

    Congrats.

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