Many wars have been fought over resources and precious metals. In this case, it was gold, liquid gold.
It began when we arrived home from the hospital, delirious and sleep deprived. My “liquid gold”, otherwise known as breast milk, had yet to come in, but my little girl kept nursing in the hopes that it would. Wishing that my milk would arrive soon, I went to bed that night deflated. That morning I woke up inflated, literally. Where had these giant size D boulders come from and what did they do with my sweet little size A’s? And what was a 6 pound baby supposed to do with what must be gallons of milk?
The terms oversupply, engorgement, and hyperlactation, soon became a part of my daily vocabulary. Nursing was a painful battle that was waged every 2-3 hours. My infant would prepare for war by licking her lips ferociously, letting out ear piercing cries of hunger. I was pretty much defenseless except for after the battle had started with the initial latch on. As my milk “let down”, a vicious stream of milk would erupt causing my daughter to pull back in fright, milk spraying all over her unsuspecting face. As the battle climaxed and eventually subsided, both parties fell down in defeat amidst a battlefield of breast milk and burp cloths.
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The first several weeks continued like this. I wanted to give up and let my daughter declare victory, but with the help of lactation consultants and La Leche League cheering me on with their mantra “Breastmilk is the best thing you can give to your baby. It’s liquid gold!”, I pushed forward. I struggled to see how these hourly skirmishes could possibly be the best thing I could do for my baby- it was so painful and messy for both of us.
After 7 weeks of engorgement, I wanted to wave the white flag and surrender. My supply eventually diminished into a much more manageable flow. The two of us now meet every few hours for an even exchange of liquid gold: I have too much, so she relieves me of my stockpile. Upon leaving, she thanks me with a hearty burp and we part ways…until the next 2-3 hours. Liquid gold is now traded freely and peacefully across party lines.
