To the outside world, I have given up so much for this journey. The ability to wear “normal clothes,” a bra completely (because why bother?), the ability to leave my babies more than a few short hours, sleep, so many things….. But…

“My son was in the NICU the first day, so I didn’t get the chance for the ‘golden hour’ of spending time with just us. When I tried to latch him, it was very difficult and it left me feeling frustrated - I almost gave up.”

Becoming a mom has been a challenging and exciting experience and I’ve learned that not everything goes according to plan. My number one focus is his health and happiness and I’m much better at that when I am healthy and happy too!

I’ve had oversupply, forceful let down, engorgement and sore cracked nipples in the early days. I’ve navigated breastfeeding while baby is on oxygen, biting, recurring clogged ducts and mastitis. With my last two I’ve had mild DMER (dysphoric milk ejection reflex) which for me felt like extreme fullness/disgust for a minute prior to letdowns.

None of these things have discouraged me from continuing (stubborn, remember) and while it sounds like a lot of negative- for me the positive experience of breastfeeding FAR outshines the struggles. I love nursing!

She crosses her a little ankles. She has to be holding onto a handful of my shirt. Sometimes when she is really sleepy, she’ll start making a humming noises until I start singing or humming back to her. And if I take too long to do that, she’ll slap my chest to make sure I’m paying attention.

The midwives at Planned Parenthood would tell me that the size of my breast didn’t matter, but I couldn’t help but still be nervous. Then, once she was born I had absolutely no problem producing, and my breasts grew so large that I was gifted this sun ray pattern.

Milk was spraying everywhere, my boobs felt like concrete and hurt like hell, and my baby felt like he was fighting me every time we nursed! Of course, now, in retrospect and with my experience and knowledge as a birth worker, I know all the little things I was doing that overcomplicated things and it could have been so much easier! But in the moment, it was really awful.

“After 3 babies, multiple lactation consultants, herbs, and meds I felt like I had finally achieved a huge dream. He's now 15 months old and It's still his favorite thing!”

The project welcomes all mamas who are pregnant and plan to breastfeed, breastfeeding currently, pump, donate, wet-nurse, use donor milk or any combination even if that combination includes formula or table foods. Want to share your story?

Daniel Carmichael Park is next on our list of playground adventures. We really enjoyed a few things from this park, read the blog and find out what.

Pumping and co-sleeping can be heated topics in the breastfeeding world. Learn about how this Colorado mom does it.

Breastfeeding is hard to most moms in the beginning. Learn about this beautiful mama's beginning with her first daughter and how she is doing now. 

Earlier this week I posted about some of my own feelings on being touched out. This blog will give a little insight into what may help you when these moments come.

As mother's we love our children 'to the moon and back' but that doesn't mean being a mom isn't hard: physically and emotionally. In this blog you will read about one of those mom troubles: when you can't stand the thought or feeling of anyone touching you. This is called being touched out.

Becoming a mother again, I thought I had breastfeeding all figured out, it only took an hour to see that I still had some learning to do. 

Breastfeeding takes a lot out of both mom and baby especially when they are going through a growth spurt. Having thoughts that you don't have breastmilk or feeling touched out is very common and totally normal.

Thank you for an amazing 31 Days, 31 Stories year! I can't wait to continue to share your stories!

It took going home for this sweet mama to figure out what positions worked for her breastfeeding journey with her new son.

After three boys, this mama knew what to expect with her little girl but there were still some differences in the transition from nursing a mobile toddler to a sweet newborn.

After concurring the growth curve, Kim had one more fear - teething. Learn about how she is handing teething either her daughter in this extended story.