Crying Over Spilled Milk
by Heather
(Wilmington, Delaware, USA)
I'm TOTALLY Worth It Mom!!
When I learned I was pregnant with my first child, it came as a quite a shock.
My husband and I had only been married for about three months, and a baby was not in our plan yet.
It actually took me the whole first trimester to come to grips with the change and be excited enough to tell our friends and family.
I knew my husband was excited because he ran out the very next day and bought a little baby outfit, but I could also tell that the reality of our child brought him some anxiety about our school and work plans.
Eventually though we both came around and realized that having this new little person in our lives was going to be amazing!
The excitement built over the next few months, and we were overjoyed to see our new baby boy!
He was beautiful, minus the cone head and purple body, but who cares about that when you’re holding your new child right!?
He was perfect.
The day we brought him home was actually our first wedding anniversary. It felt like our little life together was just right, we could do this.
Then came the challenges of taking care of a newborn, the diapers, the sleepless nights, and the feeding, all seemed overwhelming at times.
We both had moments of frustration and exhaustion, most of which centered on me wanting to nurse our son.
I had decided that I was going to breastfeed our son for as long as I could, but it wasn’t the length of time that was the problem; it was getting started that was hard.
I struggled through hour long feedings as my son dozed in and out of sleep, my milk was not letting down when I needed it to, and I had a general feeling of failure concerning nursing most of the time.
I turned to pumping hoping to alleviate some pressure and smooth out the process.
One night I was actually able to get 2 ounces of milk, just two ounces mind you, pumped into a bottle. That’s actually a very small amount of milk, but it felt like a huge victory to me!
The problem was I stood up and knocked the bottle over, spilling the milk everywhere!
I literally just broke down in tears. I was so discouraged.
I was sad, but the victory came when my wonderful still newlywed husband pulled me aside, gave me a hug, and asked me if I was actually literally crying over spilled milk!
The way he asked so lovingly and teasingly turned my tears to laughter and turned a tough time into one of appreciation for what I had, my own little family!
