Milk sweats

Apparently, angels do not sleep at night.

This is a good thing, until that angel comes down to earth in the form of a sweet little sometimes stinky bundle who wants to be with you. All. Night. Long. It’s the one time of day I can’t seem to put her down. She’ll sit in the swing for hours, have lovely little awake spells where she looks out the window and sighs contentedly, but once the sun goes down, she starts howling like it’s a full moon.

She wants to eat. And eat. And eat. And eat.

Unfortunately for me, I’m a blue ribbon dairy cow. This means that as long as a baby wants to eat, my body will magically supply the milk. So waking up the past two mornings, I find myself so totally engorged because my body is working frantically to up our milk supply because obviously, I’m feeding a litter of kittens.

The good news is that I’ve kept myself one milk sweat shy of a breast infection, and thanks to half a dozen nipple shields, I can feed her with no pain.

Also in the plus category, June Bug has been having these moments of insane maturity. Coming from a two-year-old that’s pretty impressive. The baby was on the couch crying today and there was nothing I could do about it (well, I did sweat milk, but you know). Suddenly everything got quiet. Fearing the worst, I poked my head around the corner, and there was June with Georgia snuggled on her lap happy as a clam. She looks at me and says, “I’ve got it, Mom,” like she’s some kind of fifteen-year-old wonder child. Held her for ten minutes until I was able to relieve her. Awesome.

So aside from my panic attacks and the seven times I burst into tears today, we’re doing fantastic.


Comments

  1. I do want to thank you for introducing me to nipple shields.

  2. Just remember, this too will pass! I have felt the same way with a new baby. Your milk supply will get normal again. I used the “purple stuff” to help keep me from getting sore. It wasn’t really purple, just the tube, but it works amazingly well, especially for those babies that want to suck all night long!! (of which all of my last three did!) Precious little girl who is growing up to me mom’s sweet little helper! You must be teaching her well! Enjoy your time with them. I used to read stories that made me cry, or watch a tear-jerking movie. That way, I could cry, blame the book or the show, and feel good about the experience! Remember, you ARE and amazing mom!!

  3. Aww, that’s sweet. Must be a girl/mommy-to-be-someday thing, ‘cuz my boys would never DREAM of picking up a screaming baby. They are more likely to try to rip baby’s arms off to try to get her to smile.

    Good luck with the milk sweats. Sooooo glad I’m past that point.

  4. Way to go June! That’s very sweet 🙂

  5. Oh the hormonal first weeks of a new baby’s life. So very fun. Hold on sweetheart, sanity is only about 9 months away, you’ll get there.

  6. Why…why can’t we just have babies and then life be nice? Why after 9 months of hell and then a delivery on top of that, can’t life just go smoothly? Seriously, it’s like one problem and on to the next. We can’t just make milk and feed our babies with ease, there always has to be some poop to deal with. I’m so sorry. Just remember that it all gets better…you know, in like a year…I know, that never helped me feel better either. I feel for you Annie. This is crap, yet so precious all at the same time. I look at Tyler now…who is over a year (can you believe it!?)…and I am so sad that I didn’t enjoy him as a baby like I do now, but you can’t when your body is hating on you so much! Rest up my dear Annie! I do hope things get better and better each day.

  7. Hooray for June Bug!

  8. Thank you for reminding me of a good reason for me to be okay with being done having babies. Can you believe I’d forgotten that I had udders, since mine are more like mosquito bites now (only not itchy).

    I’ve been meaning to stop by and bring you some goodies and get my baby fix. How’s Monday afternoon?

    • annie valentine says:

      Later afternoon would be great. I’m getting my roots done and won’t be home until about three-thirty or four. You know I’d love to see you!

  9. Do nipple shields really help? I had heard that it was hard to stop using them so I never tried them. But it suire would be nice to be able to nurse this next baby and not have that horrid pain for once

  10. My boobs are aching and I don’t even have kids. YIKES. Definitely not encouraging me to go the breast feeding route when I finally do procreate 😉

  11. Denys Gallentine (Brumbaugh) says:

    So, so, so glad you’ve got lots of milk. That was always my problem. Wonderful! I can’t believe little June – what a good big sister!

  12. Congrats on your baby! Hmmm… What are nipple shields!? I may need them…I am about done already

  13. Wait, you sweat milk? Like out of your pores? Sounds like little Georgia is gonna be a beautiful healthy baby! Was it you that told me you had to scrape a layer of cream off the top of your breast milk when it was in the fridge? Awesome! Maybe you could make me some brownies??

  14. you are my milk sweat hero. i abhor breastfeeding, have had one too many infections, the only plus side to them is the incredible weight loss that comes with those fevers!