Saturday, October 6, 2007

Mom's milking!!!

I have the joy now, until my baby grows at least back to birth weight, to both nurse and pump so that if I feel that baby didn't eat long enough at a feeding, I can back it up by a bottle. Having grown up on a farm, I was pretty involved with barn chores, especially around milking time so one evening, as I was pumping at the hospital, I just felt this connection with my past as a farm girl. I thought, "Boy, if nothing else, I could feel like a farmer...milking his cow!" Then suddenly I thought, "The only thing is, I would be that cow!" So I of course had to share that with one of my friends when she came to visit me that night at the hospital, "With all this pumping, now I get to feel like both the farmer and the cow!" She could relate because she also grew up on a farm. It was so cute then when on the following day and I was at home pumping for the first time in the presence of my 3-year-old, she just stopped in front of me, staring in absolute fascination. Then, as my husband walked into the room, she turned and told him in a half-whisper, her voice in awe, "Look! Mommy's milking!!!" Now she has no farming history in her so I'm not sure where she would have even pulled the term up from! She was my longest nurser though, (she nursed until she was almost 2...I had to put a screeching halt to it when she would drop into the nursing position whenever she got into my lap, even in church, at the mall, at a restaurant..everywhere! She was to the point of verbally requesting a nursing, which I always vowed I would be all done with nursing if I ever had a child request to nurse with words!!) and would often point to me after a shower or when she saw me dressing and say, "There are your 'milks', Mama!" So I think that's how she put the connection of pumping to "milking"! Then I really felt like a farmer...and a cow!!!

2 comments:

Shellie said...

Boy can I relate! I had 4 champion nursers. One was 3 the other 2 when I rebelled and cut it off. But my milk just kept coming which made it hard. The twins I managed to wean at 1 yr. and C> couldn't suck good enough to nurse, but I nursed incessantly it seemed for 6 years of my life. In Spanish there's a childrens song called I have a milk cow. I used to go around singing "I am a milk cow" instead. I actually for the most part really loved nursing, but it takes a LOT of energy too, so sometimes I just felt like I had a barracuda hanging off my chest all day! Just try to enjoy the ride :)

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

hahahahehehehehahahehe! this is great! I have felt like that before, also. good luck and I hope she gains quickly!