Milk...

So, things here have been crazy. Jason and the kids left for Charlotte on Thursday, which left me alone with the babies. If the babies were tandem nursing that would not be such a big deal. However, it still takes two people to feed the babies every three hours.

Thankfully, my sister spent the night Thurs, worked from here on Friday, and came back at dinner time on Saturday to spend the night again. In between those times, my friend/neighbor Sharon came over and helped me feed them. I am very blessed by wonderful family and friends.

What I usually do is nurse one twin with the SNS and someone else bottle feeds the other twin. I have been trying to put the twins on to nurse at the same time initially and then have someone take one twin to bottle feed after a few minutes so they don't forget what it's like to nurse. The problem is that they still have fairly weak sucks so they get on, but my milk will not come down. I tried pumping today right before I put them on, but it still did not help.

I have started to feel like Henry is really enjoying the bottle too much and has very little patience for nursing, even with the SNS. So the last few feedings I have done only SNS with him and no bottle at all. The SNS is basically an upside down bottle with a very thin tube that goes into the baby's mouth. So, I can see that he gets 2 oz, but he gets it while 'nursing'. At first Henry protested quite a bit, but the last two feedings he has done better and finished his 2 oz bottle via SNS.

Mary Catherine is much more patience and will try to latch over and over, but even when she does it to no avail because her suck is so weak. It's like a tickle. Hopefully it will not backfire that I'm concentrating on Henry so much.

My pumping is not going to well. I'm barely producing enough to make it to the next feeding. I only have four feedings worth frozen. I feel like the woman in the Bible who only had enough oil for one more loaf of bread. The Lord kept providing b/c of her faith, but I'm sure she was a little nervous at first.

Please pray that my milk production will increase and that the twins will begin to nurse well. I know once they nurse it will help my milk, but it's such an arduous task to teach them.

I'm going to a La Leche meeting on Th. If I don't feel like I get any help there, then I will make an appointment with another lacation consultant. I want to make sure we are doing things correctly.