![]() Before having my son, my favorite sound in the world was birds chirping first thing in the morning. I loved waking up to a new day and hearing the birds singing outside my window. Now, after having my son, my favorite sound has become his laughter. It is simply the most beautiful sound in the world! With a child’s laughter also comes a certain level of chaos (to put things mildly). I like to be organized, scheduled, clean, on-time and quiet. None of that organically comes with raising children. As a type-A person, it has been difficult at times (many times) for me to adjust to his “toddlerisms”, which include: mess, noise, emotions, stickiness, rushing and unwavering energy. Sometimes it seems that just as I crush my type-A urges and give way to his toddlerisms, he switches it up on me. For instance, the second I begin to enjoy his clinginess and look at it as extra snuggles, my little one swiftly turns on independent mode and pushes me away. I can almost guarantee this will happen during an occasion that could prove to be dangerous, like walking up or down a flight of stone steps (aka in or out of our church!!) or if we go for a walk outside and I bravely forgo the stroller. While I know that his independence is necessary and natural for him to learn and grow, it still stings when his chubby hand pushes me away as he fiercely yells “I DO!” Instead of looking at my type-A as a curse, I consider it a blessing from God—if I keep it in check. Being type-A allows me to keep our family mostly organized, scheduled, on-time and clean. The key is not to let the chaos disturb me even when overwhelmed. To do this, I rely on the following techniques, which I think can benefit all parents, whether they are type-A accursed, I mean blessed, or not. 1. To-do lists. I love my to-do lists and truly can’t say enough good things about having to-do lists. To put it simply, I feel the same way about to-do lists for my personal and professional life as I do about the Rosary for my spiritual life. Bearing the risk of being judged immensely by the world wide web, I will share that I use Microsoft Excel for my to-do list. Since delving further could quickly turn into a lengthy thesis on using Excel for to-do lists, I will save those intricacies for another blog post (which I imagine no one but me or other type-A individuals will want to read.) 2. Take each step, one at a time. Just as I instruct my toddler to be careful, go slow and focus on each step that he is taking, I have to do the same thing for myself when I get overwhelmed. When I begin to feel the crushing weight of having to fold four baskets of clean laundry, clean the bathrooms, finish my to-do list for work, manage to get dinner on the table, all while making sure my little love is mostly content and not in harm’s way, I tell myself that I can’t do everything at once. I begin with one task first. To keep my mind from going on overdrive, I like to perform these mundane tasks while praying the Rosary! Focusing on the mysteries helps me to stay calm and not think of the countless other things that are waiting for me. 3. Tackle the biggest obstacle first. When folding these four baskets of laundry, for instance, I find that if I fold the largest items in the baskets, the pile begins to look smaller faster. The same is true for my work. I arrange my to-do list with the priority items at the very top and then include the items that I really don’t want to do immediately after. As I begin to complete the priority and “I don’t really want to” tasks, not only does my to-do list become more manageable, but it also leaves me with tasks that don’t cause as much stress. 4. Try to stay calm. I once read that regardless of what your child does, never let them affect your calm. At first, I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself, thinking this person clearly has never had children. But I then began to think of Jesus. In the Sorrowful mysteries, we mediate on the sufferings Christ endured up until the Crucifixion. Never once did Jesus waver in His love for us regardless of the torment, pain, anguish, loneliness and sufferings that He experienced. He didn’t say, “Sorry, I can’t handle all of this suffering. You all are going to have to deal with your sins on your own for all eternity.” As a Catholic, I am called to be like Jesus. This means that I should stay relatively calm when my son bites my trapezius or when he empties the recycling all over the kitchen floor. I can’t allow his toddlerisms to make me say or do something that could be hurtful. Plus, I try to remind myself of how patient and loving has Jesus been with me despite all of my sins and transgressions. 5. Try to enjoy the chaos. Before you roll your eyes at me, laugh and imagine that I don’t have any children; I said try. Obviously, there is nothing enjoyable about a toddler biting you or causing large messes. However, children do bring happy moments and there are plenty of them. So, what I mean by enjoying the chaos is that while I clean up these large messes, I try to think about my toddler’s infectious laugh or how angelic he is when he falls asleep. Someone once told me that the days are long but the years are short. Boy is that true! Since I don’t want to realize this in hindsight, please excuse me while I go tickle my little love’s belly and revel in his laughter. What are some ways that you manage the chaos? Please share with us on Facebook. As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
0 Comments
![]() There is certainly not enough time in this quiet moment in which my son is napping and therefore, allowing me to write this post, nor are there enough hours in my lifetime to allow a full and detailed explanation which gives justice to why I love the Blessed Virgin as much as I do. Simply, I love the Blessed Virgin Mary because Jesus tells me to. “Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.…” Before he was crucified, Jesus told his disciple, John, to take His mother as his own mother. As Christians, we are all called to bear the image of God and to be disciples of Christ. Jesus loved His mother and therefore, I love her too. But that isn’t the only reason. The Blessed Virgin Mary was a human just as I am—just as we all are. Our Blessed Virgin Mary is the epitome of a strong, faithful, loving and inspirational Catholic Mother. Motherhood is wonderful but, at times, can be trying. I often think of Mary as a mother herself and pray for faith, hope and love. Entrusting myself into her care allows her to inspire me when life is difficult but also to celebrate all the joys in my life as well. The Blessed Virgin Mary is mother to the entire world and to each one of us. One week ago today, I made my Total Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfort. The book that I used to make the consecration states: “Through Mary salvation came into our world and through Mary we can experience the fullness of this same salvation which is nothing less than a total sharing, a profound participation, in the life of Jesus Christ. In the words of Father de Montfort, no one can truly be a child of God the Father without also being a child of Mary.” Who was more of a faithful and dedicated follower of Jesus Christ than Mary, His mother? The Blessed Virgin Mary was with Jesus from the moment of His Incarnation in her womb; to when she and St. Joseph found Him in the temple with the priests, to when Jesus performed the first of His miracles at the wedding at Cana, at His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. I strive to be more like the Blessed Virgin Mary in staying close to Jesus Christ throughout all my life, regardless if I am going through a difficult time or if I am celebrating happy moments. How could one not love the mother of God? Growing up, I remember that my grandmother had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I believe that is what laid the foundation for my love and devotion to Our Lady as well. My grandmother always blew a kiss to the Blessed Mother upon entering and leaving our church and I always did the same. I still do and now, my son does the same to all images and statues of Jesus and or the Blessed Mother. It is wonderful to witness and brings fond memories of my nonna each time he brings his chubby hand to his mouth. “The strongest tendency of Mary is to unite us to Jesus Christ, her Son, and the greatest desire of her Son is that we come to him by means of his most holy Mother.” ~St. Louis Marie de Montfort. “Mary’s greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself.” ~Pope Benedict XVI TOTUS TUUS EGO SUM I am all yours, O my Jesus, And all that I have is yours, through Mary, your most holy Mother. ~St. Louis de Montfort One more quote, I promise! As St. Maximilian Kolbe said “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” What are your reasons for loving the Blessed Virgin Mary? Please share with us on Facebook! Click here. As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! Sources:
![]() Like others today, my little love and I will be enjoying the Great American Solar Eclipse. From his toddler perspective, today is just like any other day, which will consist of eating, playing, praying, napping and more playing. But for me, I will treasure the Solar Eclipse as another great moment that I am blessed to share with him. In Rhode Island, the Solar Eclipse will begin around 1:27 PM and will last until roughly 4:00 PM. While I did not purchase any specialty glasses to view the eclipse, I do plan on celebrating it in a special way. Since today, August 21st also happens to be Pope Saint Pius X’s Feast Day and the vigil of the Feast of The Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Queenship of Mary, I will celebrate the Solar Eclipse by praying the Holy Rosary with my son. I invite you to join us by praying the Holy Rosary during the timeframe of the Solar Eclipse. Whether you are outside, safely enjoying the Solar Eclipse first-hand or inside, like us, enjoying photos and videos from the professionals and whether you are by yourself or with family or friends, please consider praying the Rosary with a spirit of faith and love. You may also include your own special intentions. “The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.” ~Pope Saint Pius X For more information on how to Pray the Holy Rosary, please visit: catholicmomri.weebly.com/rosary.html Please share this post and invite your family and friends to Pray the Holy Rosary today during the Solar Eclipse. As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! Sources:
![]() As children and families are preparing to head back to school soon and as some schools have already begun to welcome students back, we would like to share two prayers to help celebrate the beginning of the school year. Whether getting ready to step into the classroom for the first time as a preschooler or as a high school senior anticipating the first day of the last year of their primary education, staring a new school year can be exciting and sometimes, daunting. It is important to turn to the Lord and ask for His comfort, guidance and care as children embark on another school year. The first prayer is from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is a wonderful prayer for adults in the family to pray. The second prayer is from CourtneyDefeo.com and is perfect for students of all ages to recite and remember not only during the first days of school- but throughout the entire year. Please feel free to share these prayers with your family members and friends. St. Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of students, pray for us! Prayer to Begin a School Year God of wisdom and might, we praise you for the wonder of our being, for mind, body and spirit. Be with our children as they begin a new school year. Bless them and their teachers and staff. Give the strength and grace as their bodies grow; wisdom and knowledge to their minds as they search for understanding; and peace and zeal to their hearts. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Back to School Prayer for Students Dear Lord, use my eyes to see new friends. Open my ears to hear my teacher. Open my mind to learn new things. Let my heart remember you are near when I'm afraid. Help me to love others like you do. I want to shine your light so bright in my school. Amen. As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! Sources:
The Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God is August 15. Pope Pius XII stated on November 1, 1950 that as Roman Catholics, “we pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.”
A dogma of faith means “a divinely revealed truth, proclaimed as such by the infallible teaching authority of the Church, and hence binding on all the faithful without exception, now and forever,” Cardinal Avery Dulles states [The Survival of Dogma, 153]. As Catholics, we observe this day as a Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Dormition, or “falling asleep” of Mary as she was assumed or received into heaven. The site of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s passing has become a location for pilgrimage and the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary is located there. However, there are no relics of our Blessed Virgin Mary at all. In fact, “at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that "Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven."* “The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over.” Prayer for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "All-powerful and ever-living God: You raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul, to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory." Image: Ceiling of the Assumption of Mary in Santa Maria Immacolata a via Veneto, Rome | photo by Livioandronico As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! Sources:
Today, August 14, is the feast day of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a saint whose life was full of difficulties and sufferings, yet he continued to pursue and fulfill his vocation as a priest. St. Maximilian Kolbe was devoted to our Blessed Virgin Mary throughout his entire life and even up until his horrific death. The Franciscans of the Immaculate’s website for this inspiring saint explains that “only a saint can stand firm, with constancy and unwavering hope, throughout life’s many difficulties and sufferings. Only a saint can influence others to do the same, because only a saint knows that true and perfect peace is found in God alone. For the saint, trials don’t weaken, they fortify. Serenity and calmness amidst atrocities are not a sign of defeat but of victory, for love is greater than hatred!” As tomorrow is the feast day of the Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary, here are some of the most fascinating facts about the life of one of her most devout saints, St. Maximilian Kolbe:
As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! ![]() Sources:
My little love invented a fun new game recently. He walks to one side of the room, starts to yell and then runs as fast as his sweet, tiny legs will take him to the other side of the room. He was doing this game of back and forth for some time this morning as I was washing the dishes. I laughed as his delightful yell vibrated with each staggering run he made across the room.
Unfortunately, he went too fast on one of his departures, stumbled and fell to the floor hitting his head. I try to stay calm when he gets hurt, as it happens frequently. I’ve realized that if I address his pain with tranquility, comfort and reassurance, he will recover much faster than if I get nervous and make a big fuss (as I used to do when he was younger and each occurrence would send me into a panic.) He immediately stood up and ran over to me, crying and telling me in his frenzied baby language that he hit his head, holding his chubby hand to where it hit the floor. I sat down on the floor and he threw himself into my arms. As I kissed his head and soothed him, rocking him back and forth, I heard his sobs begin to subside and his breathing become more regular. He pulled his head off my shoulder, his eyes red and still full of fresh tears, and again told me how he fell and hit his head. He then started to smile as I assured him that everything was okay and that mommy’s kisses can make it all better and we both began to laugh hysterically as I kissed under his chin and softly tickled his belly. Twenty seconds later, he was off, laughing and playing again. Going back to washing the dishes, it hit me that what had just happened is an echo of the type of care that our Blessed Virgin Mary has for us, her children. Just as I will be there to comfort and console my son in any time of need, our Blessed Virgin Mary is there for us in all our struggles—big or small. She is our Mother and we should always run to Her to intercede for us. I find it equally important to bring moments of joy and triumph to her as she celebrates our successes just as much as she comforts us in our times of affliction. Praying the Holy Rosary each day is a wonderful way to stay close to our Blessed Virgin Mary and to always draw nearer to her Son, Jesus. Sometimes, a simple yet effective Hail Mary prayer will suffice. Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, said “Invoke our Lady and you'll be faithful." When my son first fell and ran over to me, in between hugging, soothing and kissing him back to his usual happy and playful self, I quietly said a Hail Mary. It is something that takes me a few seconds, but for me, praying the Holy Rosary or even saying a Hail Mary is the same as when I hug and rock my son when he needs some loving. Life is both wonderful and difficult, beautiful and sorrowful. As I continue this journey of life home to everlasting life in heaven, I thank God for giving us the gift of having our Blessed Virgin Mary to turn to in times of laughter and sadness, joy and suffering, triumphs and difficulties. One of my favorite quotes from Saint Maximilian Kolbe which perfectly describes the love of our Blessed Virgin Mary is “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! “Dear Nonna (grandmother in Italian),
Today is your birthday. I told my son, your precious sweetheart, that you are celebrating in heaven with Nonno, surrounded by God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, our Blessed Virgin Mary, all of the angels, saints and our family members and friends that have departed from this earth. While I’m not sure if he understands anything that I am saying, he smiles when I tell him about you. I told him how wonderful you were and how you loved people, to be in a group of family and friends was when you were happiest. Everyone who met you, even for a moment, loved you. Your laugh was infectious and I can still remember how comforting it was to hug you and lay my head on your shoulder. It may seem strange to others, but I miss the way you smell. Even the sweetest smelling gardenias pale in comparison. Exactly one week from today, it will be eleven years since you passed away. In Italian, to say “I miss you” it is “mi manchi", which literally translates to "you are missing from me.” That is exactly how I feel about you, Nonna. The grief that I felt when you passed away still consumes me and there are times when I double over from the mere thought of living out the rest of my life without you and Nonno. Memories of your love, life and legacy fills the voids and the only consolation to these sorrows is to pray that you have both been welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven and there will watch over us until we are reunited. While you are not physically on this earth, you will always be with me. You were both with me when we received the concerning news during my pregnancy, undoubtedly immediately kneeling before our Blessed Virgin Mary, imploring her to intercede to her Son and listen to our prayers. You were with us in the ultrasound room on the sixth floor of the Prenatal Diagnosis Center of Women and Infants for the Level II ultrasound which, thanks be to God, showed our boy was healthy and growing as he should. You were also with me when I first held that sweet boy in my arms after he was born and drew a little cross on his forehead, thanking God for His magnificent blessing. But you and Nonno are not just with me only in these life-changing, challenging, magical or exciting moments, I carry you both in my heart always and forever. Before his nap, my son climbed onto my lap with his favorite blanket. I continued my story of you celebrating in heaven and I began to tell him parts of your life. The usually rambunctious, energetic toddler, snuggled close and listened as I told him how when Nonno saw you for the first time, he told his friend that he would marry you. How you and Nonno were married before Nonno had to fight during World War II. How Nonno risked his life by fleeing his camp to see you during the long five years at war, because he missed and loved you so much. How you and Nonno, among so many others, bravely left your home country of Italy to come to the United States of America—leaving your parents, siblings, other family members and friends in hopes of a better life not for them, but for your children, grandchildren and generations to follow. How you traveled from Italy to the USA on a cruise ship with Nonno and your young son while almost nine months pregnant. That here in America you worked mostly third shifts for 18 years in a General Electric plant as a press operator, which, when you were older, caused you to have a knee replacement, arthritis and sciatic pain. How you managed to make a wonderful life for your family with very little or almost no sleep. That during the day, instead of sleeping when you could have, you would take care of the family: cook, clean, wash, fold, run errands and even put up new wallpaper in the apartment. That you always made time for family and friends; saving Sundays for worship at church and then picnics in the park with friends who turned into our extended family. How you sacrificed in even the littlest things—you would take out the trash all year round, in the snow, rain or sun, so that my grandfather and uncles wouldn’t have to. This was all done out of love and complete dedication to your family. I explained to our son as his eyelids began to get heavy and his breathing slowed, that when I was little and my mother had to go back to work, you took care of me with Nonno and how I was blessed to spend my childhood surrounded by so much love. Nonna, thank you for everything that you have done for us. You loved us all with all of you—just as Christ loves us. I wish I had fully appreciated you when I was younger as I can now. However, I feel this ability to recognize and appreciate the full goodness in a mother and grandmother can only come after having children of your own. Your sacrifice and dedication to our family fully embodied Jesus’ vision and His love for us all. It was, after all, God’s plan from the very beginning to make us all like His Son, Jesus. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2 So as I close this letter, I want to wish you a happy birthday in heaven. I love and miss you terribly but am so thankful that you left such a lasting impression on me that you will never truly be more than just a thought away. I love you, Nonna.” As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! An average Sunday (or Saturday vigil) Mass takes about one hour. For those of us with young children, it can sometimes seem like much longer than an hour. Our child has been a blessing to us in many ways, one of which is that he is typically very good during Mass and other church celebrations. "But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 I like to joke that he is an old pro at going to Mass, as he has been going ever since he was in my womb. In fact, before I received a positive “Yes” on our home pregnancy test, we went to a special procession for St. Joseph at our church and I remember praying to God that if it was His will, to give us a healthy, happy and loving baby. I’ll never forget that Friday evening, nor the Sunday morning on the following week when we finally received a positive result. It just so happened to be Mother’s Day as well. Ever since, our child has attended Mass with, us except for the first few weeks of his life when he was still very little and it was in the height of cold and flu season, therefore, we wanted to shelter him from any possible exposure to illness. Going to Mass as a family is something that we look forward to each week and for the most part, our little love has behaved rather well. The wonderful priest that married my husband and me gave us some advice when I was pregnant. He said to try to avoid taking our child to the back of the church, or outside, or anywhere else when he fussed. He said that children can train their parents and if we removed him from the Mass each time he fussed, it would almost be like a reward. Instead, he suggested, we should try to calm, bounce, shush or feed (or all the above) right there in the pew. Of course, there are extenuating circumstance where we would want to remove him as to not disrupt the Mass or our fellow parishioners. There were only one or two instances when he really lost it and I raced to the back of the church to outside of the glass doors where he could recoup and get back to his happy self. Looking back, this was around the time that my poor child was cutting several teeth. Even though our child is an old pro at going to church, I still like to be prepared if he becomes agitated, hungry, thirsty or just plain bored because when he gets angry, he gets angry! So, I created a “Mass Survival Kit” that includes items to appease the savage, little beast, I mean my loving son.
Hopefully this Catholic Mass Survival Kit will help you and your family get to church and stay in church until the Concluding Rites. Do you have a survival kit? Please share any helpful tips or tricks with us on Facebook. As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! This morning, I pulled out a bag of frozen breast-milk for my son and realized that it was the very last bag in the freezer. Feeling the tears begin to well up, I tried to remind myself that I knew that this day would come when he would no longer have any breast-milk. I should be proud of the fact that he had breast-milk for so long, when so many other babies (me and my husband included) have had very little, if no breast-milk at all, for various reasons.
When I was pregnant, I had planned on breastfeeding. While I am a proponent of “fed is best” and feel that if a baby is fed, it doesn’t matter if it comes out of a can, bottle or breast, I wanted to exclusively breastfeed. Understanding that there are challenges with regards to breastfeeding, I tried to equip myself with as much knowledge as I possibly could by reading as many books, articles and the like during my pregnancy. When my son was born, I started to breastfeed immediately. I had no idea what I was doing, but the lovely nurses at Women and Infants Hospital, where he was born, helped and I had visits from two lactation consultants. However, he would almost immediately fall asleep when he would begin to nurse. We would try to wake him up and he would nurse for a little bit and then drift right back into sleep. As with most parents of newborns, sleep was almost nonexistent for us in the early days, as our bundle of joy would wake up almost every half hour to nurse and then, as I mentioned, quickly fall back asleep. By the time we went to the first appointment at the pediatrician, only a few days after he was born, we were told that he had lost too much weight since he was born- over 10% of his body-weight. This sent me into a panic. When I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy, the baby was diagnosed with Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) which “refers to a condition in which an unborn baby is smaller than it should be because it is not growing at a normal rate inside the womb.” Our baby was born at 5 pounds, 15 ounces and hearing that he had lost additional weight was disturbing. The pediatrician recommended that we have him nurse 15 minutes on each breast and then give him one ounce of formula after that. She said that I should also pump for 30 minutes to help stimulate milk production. She also gave us tips on keeping him awake while feeding. We went home and followed the doctors’ orders. Unfortunately, he continued to snooze during mealtime. The doctor had instructed us that while nursing I should keep bright lights on in the room, talk loudly, undress him down to his diaper and if that didn’t work to put cold compresses on his body to wake him up. I wish I could say that any of this worked. But, it didn’t. Not even the cold compress worked and it just made me feel horrible doing it. We then decided to give him formula. He made the most horrific face and gagged the first time he tasted it and rejected it quite forcibly. After some time, he did take the formula, but always with repulsion. We continued trying to nurse (failed attempts I should add!), followed by formula. That is when my journey with exclusive pumping began. Not wanting to give up on breast-milk, I decided to pump instead of nursing. I started to pump around the clock. At first I pumped every two hours, all day and night. My husband would then give him breast-milk from a bottle as I still had hopes of breastfeeding and didn’t want to confuse him by me giving him the breast-milk. I’m not sure if nipple confusion is even real, as I am not a lactation consultant, but at the time I had too many odds against me in that department. I cried the first time he tasted my milk from the bottle. He first made his usual face of repulsion when the bottle hit his lips, but then when he tasted my milk, he opened his eyes and gladly sucked down the entire bottle. I pumped around the clock for the first three months, dropping to every three hours when he began sleeping for more than twenty minutes at a time. At my checkup appointment with my OBGYN, I told her that I was exclusive pumping and pumping eight times a day, she made a slightly perplexed face and reassured me that it would get easier. It did, sort of. I continued to attempt nursing on occasion but each time he would fall asleep, so I threw in the towel and stopped trying to nurse him around four months. It was around then that I dropped my middle-of-the night pump and only pumped six to seven times during the day. I did this until about six months when I had enough and dropped to five and then four pumps a day. It was also around then that I joined an exclusive pumpers group on Facebook that has some of the most wonderful women that I have ever met (on the internet, of course) and I am so thankful to them for sharing their knowledge and experiences not only with me but with the entire group. Eventually, I dropped to a blissful three pumps a day. I pumped in the morning, middle of the day and in the evening. Unfortunately for me, each time I dropped a pump, I had to add in more time to the other ones. I was pumping for an hour at each of the three pumps. It would irritate me a little watching him down an entire bottle of milk in ten minutes when it would take me an hour to express. But compliments to the chef, right? I didn’t drop to two pumps a day until he was almost one-year old. As a matter of fact, dropping to two pumps per day was my Christmas gift to myself. Since he would be turning one-year in a matter of days, I decided to give myself a bit of a break. My goal was for him to have breast-milk for a year and after surpassing that goal, I decided to go a little longer so that he would have some in the freezer. I am so proud to say that I made it to 14 months of exclusive pumping and saved enough milk in the freezer that our little love could have his mamas-milk (sporadically) until he was 19 months. While I am not here to say that exclusive pumping is easy or something that every mother should do, it is something that I wanted to do for my son. I endured painful clogs, blisters, cuts, sores from massaging while pumping and like other breastfeeding mothers, I had to be careful of what I ate or drank with regards to how it could affect my milk supply. (No peppermint tea for me!) My back ached horribly from sitting hunched for such long periods of time and my wrists still hurt to this day from the hours of massaging while expressing each day. My pumping schedule also meant that I missed out on some social events and other activities since I was not comfortable pumping in the car or out of the home for the most part. Producing breast-milk also meant that my body held onto the last 15 pounds of baby weight up until after I weaned. Not to mention the fact that in addition to pumping for an hour each time, I had to also take a good amount of time, multiple times a day to clean the pump parts, bottles, nipples and feed my son. However, it was all worth it and it was all for him. I must confess that I got some satisfaction this past Sunday when he was drinking his mama’s milk at church and he tapped the sides of the sippy cup when it was almost empty. But again, all for my little love. "And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it." 2 John 1:6 As always, thank you for reading. God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2020
Categories |