I'm a Jersey Cow!

I have come to the realisation that I am a jersey cow...yep that’s right; I am a "small, honey-brown breed of dairy cattle that is renowned for the high butterfat content of its milk, as well as a genial disposition". Well not sure about the high butterfat content but definitely have the ‘genial disposition’.

Here’s a snippet of the last 24 hours...

We fed at: 3.30pm, 6.30pm; 8.00pm; 11.00pm; 3.30am; 5.30am; 7.30am; 11.00am; 3.30pm (would have been earlier but for a lactation appointment stuff up); 6.30pm (left side) and 7.30pm (right side) don’t think there was a lot of milk at this stage. It seems that Little Miss Lily likes to eat. And eat a lot she does.

I wouldn’t mind so much if it was all plain sailing, but as I have previously mentioned its not. We are still having dramas with that right side. With the vasospasm, mastitis and low supply it just seems to be an up hill battle with a little bit of wind resistance to boot.

Today, I was supposed to have *another* (note we have had 4 so far!) appointment with a lactation consultant to discuss further what I can do. It seems the lactation consultant and myself had a miscommunication which meant we couldn’t meet. No dramas really except Lily was somewhat starving. I spoke to her over the phone this afternoon and she provided some good advice. She suggested that it might be beneficial for us to see a paediatric chiropractor for some ‘re-alignment’. It was actually uncanny that she had mentioned this because I had read that it was beneficial for babies having some difficulty with feeding, and it was something that I wanted to raise with her.

She gave me the name a good paediatric chiropractor (cause lets face it, I wasn’t going to get ‘any old’ chiropractor to snap Lily back into line). After telephoning them, it turns out they had a cancellation for tomorrow so we are able to be seen sooner rather then later, which is great. Hopefully it will work. I guess tomorrow we will see.

In the meantime, I purchased an electric breast pump ($199 later). Whilst expensive, I consider it will pay itself off in due course – especially considering formula costs $20 a week. I figure I needed a little bit more help then the manual pump could provide me. Don’t get me wrong, the manual pump works well. It’s just with my up hill battle, plus resistance, I think I needed a little bit of push power so to speak, and push power it provides. I was able to express 125mls earlier this afternoon with no dramas, albeit I did skip a feed so it goes without saying there would be more milk then normal. Hey 125 mls is 125 mls and I'm excited (can't you tell I have a life).

Ok, so I am not exactly a Jersey Cow (durr) but I sure do feel like one at the moment...all in a days work I suppose and of course for a good cause.