it's good to see an EPing thread! I'll give a quick synopsis of my story, and how I wound up EPing for 13 months:
I had my son on 11/30/04. He had absolutely no interest in breastfeeding at all, and didn't even have any rooting or sucking instinct. We had no idea why, and I was very insistent on breastfeeding. Unfotunately, like so many other mom's experiences, the nurses were absolutely indifferent to my problems and simply offered formula when the typical 2 minute attempt at breastfeeding failed. But for some reason, my son would violently vomit up formula. So I pumped, and for the next 3 months, I tried every 3 hours to nurse my son. It was the most traumatic 3 months of my life. The LCs were baffled, but were certain it was my son's problem, and I was doing everything right. We even went to a feeding specialist, who was also stumped.
And then, a few days after 4 months old, he began screaming constantly and refusing all food. After 12 hours of screaming, we took him to the hospital, thinking he had bad reflux or something. The or something would up being the reason he couldn't nurse - he had a diaphragmatic hernia and required immediate emergency surgery. He was truly a "miracle baby", since a diaphragmatic hernia usually means only a 50/50 chance of survival at birth. But according to the surgeon, my son was "pinching" his hernia shut so he could breathe. Unfortunately, this meant he didn't have enough strength to nurse. I'm glad he chose breathing! I'm also very glad I pumped, since the formula couldn't be digested because his small intestine was being "pinched" in the hernia. So because breastmilk is so quickly and easily digested, it's the only thing he was able to eat.
So I EP'd for 13 months for him. It took until he was a year old before he would take any solid food, so I kept pumping. Luckily I had a very serious oversupply (max. output was about 100 oz a day), so feeding him wasn't a problem. He's now 20 months old, and I'm finally down to the last box of frozen milk for him.
EPing presented many challenges. I stopped counting at over 100 clogged ducts, and I had 4 bouts of mastitis. I learned to pump anywhere and everywhere - airports, sitting on airplanes, in baseball parks, as both a passenger and driver in a car, you name it. But the obvious need that my son could die if I didn't pump kept me going. I tried nursing my son after he healed from his surgery, but he learned to "chew" on a bottle to get milk, and attempted to do the same on my nipple. After a few weeks of unsuccessfully trying to teach him how to suck, I gave up because my poor bloody nipples simply couldn't take the abuse anymore. It took weeks for those badly bitten gals to heal.
The worst part of it was, and still is, the mourning process. I'm still mourning the loss of a breastfeeding relationship with my son, and I hope and pray that #2, due in the end of January, will be able to take my milk "from the tap".
So good luck to all you fellow EPers out there - and "positive pump vibes"!
Rach
which I did for a year) but for some stupid reason I feel quilty when I leave my desk to pump. I've been real sad lately because I miss nursing and I did know we were going to be done. I was hoping at first she was maybe going thru a growth spurt or something and would settle back down but no such luck. I still offer the breast sometimes when I'm feeding her but she acts all offended and cries horribly. When it first started happening I looked for suggestions but because we needed her to still take a bottle I was told not to even try to get her back to the breast. Besides what was described to me was basically forcing her to take the breast meaning don't offer a bottle when she gets hungry. I hope to write more later. I am using a Medela Pump in Style.
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