Nicole Hutchison
Joshua, TX
It would’ve been easy for me to give up breastfeeding in the first couple of weeks. Sometimes I felt like I couldn’t go on another day, another feeding. Looking back, I’m so glad I stuck with it!
I knew as soon as I got pregnant with Kamden that I wanted to try breastfeeding. I was not breastfed as a child and I am an only child, so I don’t have sisters, brothers, or cousins I’m close enough to talk to about breastfeeding. I did know that breastfeeding was good for the baby and good for the mom.
I attended a breastfeeding class at the hospital. There I learned that although it may not be easy, anyone can breastfeed. My lactation consultant was approachable, explained things very well, and was just fabulous – I still have her on speed dial!
Right after Kamden was born on December 19, 2013, he was place on me skin-to-skin. I was ready to breastfeed him, but I kept wondering, “Is he going to latch on, will he feed, will I have colostrum?” He latched on immediately.
We experienced a few bumps in the road the first few weeks. But, looking back, I think it was the exhaustion and stress I put on myself, making my expectations higher. I asked myself, “Should I be producing more? Is my baby hungry?” But, those worries were unfounded. He was getting enough milk, and he has the chunky cheeks and fat thighs to prove it.
I knew I’d have my gall bladder out in March, so I began pumping when Kamden was six weeks old. I wanted to build up a freezer stash, and by doing so, we realized I was producing more than Kamden was eating. My surgery went well; I was home that same day and didn’t have to pump and dump as long I thought I would because I didn’t need a lot of pain medication. I instead focused on resting and continued to nurse Kamden. I didn’t need to use the milk I had stored in the freezer!
In April 2014, I learned about the NICU Helping Hands Angel Gowns program. It is an amazing program! The stories I read about the volunteer seamstresses were heartwarming. As an only child and mother of a son, I knew my wedding dress would just sit in my closet, without any future plans. When I donated my wedding dress to the Angel Gowns program, the program coordinator, Natalie, told me about the time her twin babies had spent in a hospital NICU.
Natalie told me about the donor human milk they received from the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas. When our conversation was over, I left Natalie and drove straight over to the milk bank to get information about becoming a donor mom.
I then talked to my husband about the milk bank. After assessing our freezer stash, he gave me the option to either buy another freezer or donate our stored milk. I had frozen 1,000 ounces of breastmilk- we had no idea it was that much!
Since April, I have made monthly donations to Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas – and I’m still donating Kamden’s excess milk to babies in need.
Although I didn’t know about milk banking, I was looking for a mission project for this new period in my life. I’d previously served on multiple, international mission trips to Haiti. My time in Haiti was very important and personal and it made a huge impact on my life. Now, this is my opportunity to do something locally.
What better gift is there than breastmilk? It is full of nutritional value and it gives goodness to premature and critically ill babies. This is the least I can do to help somebody else.
Nicole Hutchison’s Breastfeeding Tips:
- I drink at least 200 ounces of water a day to keep up a good milk supply. I’m not a medical professional, but breastfeeding Kamden has encouraged me to make lifestyle changes to my diet and exercise. I only drink water now - no sugar, no caffeine, and I gave up my sweet tea. I stopped drinking sweet tea cold turkey the day after I found I was pregnant!
- I pump as many time as Kamden eats, plus once or twice more.
- I have an amazing support system. Nurses at the hospital, my lactation consultants, my family, husband, and others. It has also been really fun for me to educate my mom – it has been a learning experience for her too!