I am 23 years old, with two children of my own. One is 2 years old, the other is 2 months old. Thankfully I’ve never struggled with low supply for either of my babies. And as of right now from my 2-month-old, I have 1000 ounces stashed in the deep-freezer. My mom, Trisha Hernandez, felt her water break yesterday at 11 a.m. and my little brother, Mr. James, was born at 10:27 a.m. today.
Because I had been there at the hospital with my mom laboring for nearly 24 hours, I of course had to take my pump with me. I pumped 21 ounces the whole time I was there.
Ladies, my mom asked me if he could have some of my milk. My heart melted and I felt so special. I got some milk around quick for him, warmed up and in a bottle. I went to hand the nurse the bottle and she pointed to my mom so I tried to hand it to her and she said, “Why don’t you feed him?” I COULD HAVE CRIED.
I’d thought about saving some of my frozen milk stash for her just in case she had any issues producing later on but I’d never thought about feeding him my freshly pumped milk just an hour after he was born.
The moment was amazing. Of course I’d do anything to help her and my new little brother. I personally do not like hearing babies “pain” cry and I knew an IV would make him hurt. I especially didn’t want him to have to be taken to the NICU because I couldn’t imagine having to be separated from my own babies. It was just instinct. I didn’t have to think twice. When he started eating, he looked up at me and I swear I felt my heart get a little bigger. I knew I was doing something right.
I have a 2-year-old and 2-month-old. My oldest brother is 5 and then there’s newborn baby James. My 2-year-old son and my 5-year-old brother LOVE each other so much. They play together so well and it’s awesome seeing them grow up together. I’m sure my youngest boy and James will be the exact same!
A big misconception would be that my milk wouldn’t be safe for him because it wasn’t tested prior. I am very healthy and I have two extremely healthy babies. Obviously my mom had no problem with it and neither did I. His sugar did in fact come up and they avoided NICU. Happy ending. I hope people consider donating their milk because them doing so could save a baby like my little brother some day. Maybe even save a baby born way too early. You just never know.
This post was written by Ofelia Hernandez and printed with permission.
