The Breast Adventure

I've breastfed the twins fully for almost five months. Even though it's been mostly through the bottle, I do feel a little bit proud because it's been no mean feat to do that and still have surplus. It's been a love hate relationship because I get tired of my life dictated by my breast pump and boobs but I love the fact that the pregnancy weight plus some has just melted away somewhat effortlessly.

When I was pregnant, people scared me with stories about engorgement, bleeding and cracked nipples, nipple confusion and rejection, no milk etc. I didn't know if I was going to be able to breast feed, I didn't know if I was going to be strong enough to weather all the aforementioned problems and continue breastfeeding despite them all. At one point, I wasn't even going to buy a breast pump because I just didn't know. Thankfully, I was very blessed to not have had to go through all the above. Engorgement was minimal, probably due to the fact that I did have twins. There were times when I breastfed up to 16 times in the day so I think my mammaries really didn't have all that much time to fill up to the point of exploding on me. There were incidences of mastitis which required antibiotics but that was more the result of being surrounded by stupidity, where my breast pump got packed into moving boxes instead of being left out for me to use.

Anyway, having to produce milk for two, I have discovered, requires a great amount of discipline, a very thick skin and some creativity. I've had to express in some extremely bizarre places. Even when there were proper nursing/ family rooms, I've had to be very "un-shy" about it because I've had to share the rooms with other nursing/ expressing mothers. One ends up inadvertently making small talk to break the tension and the discomfort. But that's not the strangest.

When I went back to work, I would carry my backpack round the campus looking for an empty room, with a lock and no windows. It was an adrenaline filled hour long adventure everyday, driven by the fear that someone who bang on the door.

Then there was the attempt to keep up my milk flow while I ran off to Bali for the weekend. This required me to bring all my equipment and submit to a lot of questioning by customs officers who, even if their lives depended on it, couldn't identify what it was from the X ray machine. It was obviously much easier to explain to the Singapore side. On the Denpasar side, the same had to be done except in Bahasa, a language I have extremely limited, single word vocabulary. This meant a lot of gesturing, especially in the general vicinity of the boob. But I must say that the Balinese in general are a helpful bunch. The hotel accommodated my, what must have been quite out of the ordinary, request of borrowing their freezer space to freeze milk for the duration of my stay. This meant I appeared at the restaurant with a packet of milk every couple of hours. this meant I had my own container in the freezer with a fierce note on the top that said "Property Room 223. No Touch!" This adventure had to culminate with bringing breast milk home. This meant packets and packets of ice generously stuffed into a cooler bag and worrying that it wouldn't be cold enough. Thankfully, the milk stayed frozen and must have been ok because the offspring took it without any complaint.

But apparently, the most amusing of all was when I had no choice but to express while Packrat hurtled down the expressway to pick up my mother from the airport. On the one hand, I was somewhat embarrassed. On the other hand, I couldn't quite care less. The worst would have been a traffic cop pulling us over for my indecent behaviour but if he did that, I would point out it was only indecent if he had looked in and the car was my private space. Anyway, if he wanted to haul me into court, I'm sure the breastfeeding Nazis of Singapore would rise to defend my right to express in the car. They have to be useful for something. Even though, I suspect they might berate me for expressing rather than feeding direct.

So I guess if anyone blogged about seeing someone expressing in the car along the East Coast Parkway, I'm guilty as charged. But hey, my kids gotta eat.



Technorati Tags: babies, breastfeeding