Breastfeeding Milestone Award Jewelry
Watching my daughter during her breastfeeding journey was more difficult than I could have ever imagined. It is not like I did not breastfeed my children to the best of my ability and it is not like I do not have experiences that I can share. There is a place for a mothers comfort and support. I did all that I could with my own successes and failures. Of course the first is always the hardest and I knew that from the get go. No pressure from this new grandma...all I could think of was just how proud I was that my daughter was trying so very hard. She struggled through a short period of time and as her milk dried up I could see that she was saddened that she was unable to go any further.
Taydon our first Grandson!
It wasn't long before this young couple in love were expecting their second bundle of joy, and we were all excited. She talked about breastfeeding with Taydon (her first born) she spoke openly about how now that she knew what to expect she was ready to dive in and try again.
We were in town one day and the worst of worst things happened. Something was wrong.....I rushed my daughter to the hospital (which thank The Good Lord we was nearby at the time). They starting taking her back to Emergency OR before I could even park and run up to her. She had a placental abruption and they stopped me at the door to give me the bad news. They were going to have to take the baby now. There was no time to let my child know I was there for her. There was no time to do anything. As the doctor said "moments" is all they had to try their best to save them both.
My daughter pulled though the emergency c-section and the baby was here. Although he was of good weight due to being so far along in the pregnancy he had a bit of trouble holding is O2 levels up on his own. So he was taken right to NICU. There is no other fear, no other heart ache than that a mother feels when their child is in danger or hurting. This was the case for both my daughter and myself. Fear was all that filled our minds.
Toby in NICU
We were so happy when she and her husband we're allowed to stay at the Ronald McDonald House at Scared Heart. This allowed her to be close to the baby and she was determined through it all that she was going to make sure that Toby had every drop of milk she could make. She pumped and pumped. She would carry her milk religiously to her sweet newborn feeding him everything that she could. She tried hard to keep her spirits up- as a mother I could see the worry in her eyes. and I had a heavy heart. There was not a single thing I could do to assist her at all. She struggled with the pumping experience- she was exhausted, sore, scared, and worried....but she refused to give up. She kept on no matter how little or how much she knew here baby needed everything she had to give and she made sure he had it. As her mother even though I was scared out of my mind from almost loosing my daughter and grandchild, I couldn't help but to take pause in all the craziness and stand in awe of her strength and determination through everything. She never was able to make enough milk to take care of all of Toby's nutritional needs....but she NEVER gave up - and for that I will always be proud of her!
When Toby was able to come home the doctors insisted that he was on a high calorie diet to get his weight up. Of course my daughter would supplement with every bit of breast milk that she could until her breast milk eventually went completely dry.
Toby on his way home!
Now my daughter has had her third child and has given us the first baby girl in the family. The pregnancy and delivery (a scheduled c-section) was wonderful with no issues at all.
Autumn Mommy and Daddy after delivery
Autumn and Proud Daddy!
She started breastfeeding right away determined that this time would be different and she would be able to breastfeed longer. She had already had some hard experiences but was still ready to try again. When Autumn was born she was pre-pared for the c-section pains, the latching issues, the cluster feeding and everything else. The baby soon found her comfort zone and both mom and baby was enjoying the experience. Josh my SIL stood by ready to go with anything that either of them needed to make the experience the best possible. He worked the room like an old pro. Even showing other new dads and soon to be new dads-that came to visit - tips and tricks for changing and making mom as comfortable as possible. WOW!! I mean reallly WOW!! They were both rocking this delivery, hospital stay, and breastfeeding experience! I so enjoyed watching each step of both of their success.
Josh is rockin the Dad Life!
This was going to my daughter and SIL's last child and again she was determined to make the breastfeeding experience last just as long as possible. And she DID!!! :)
My daughter only recently has stopped breastfeeding her precious daughter, Autumn. And I am looking forward to creating her very own Breast Milk Keepsake that will include not only her breast milk and a small lock of the babies hair....but also the Breast Milk Milestone Award that she so deserves. Every mother has their own trials and tribulations with breastfeeding. They each have their very own successes. Each of them deserve to be honored for the time, pain, tears, joy, love, and everything else that the breastfeeding experience takes and gives. For the moms who tried their best to the moms that have years of experience under their belt the Breastfeeding Milestone Awards were created with each of you in mind.
I am not positive, but from what I know the Breastfeeding Milestone Awards were set up by a woman in the UK to let each mother know that they should be proud of their accomplishments and that every accomplishment is a success. I was so excited when I found them and have been waiting patiently for my daughter to be ready for me to make her her very own- and now that she is finished breastfeeding I can not wait to get started (now we are waiting on Autumn to get a lil bit more hair so it can be included also).
I am not positive of the specific design that I will do for her, I want to make her something very special and unique....but of course she will definitely be getting the Pandora Compatible Bead to add to her bracelet that already carries a small lock of her oldest sons hair. Toby only just got his first haircut a couple of weeks ago- so his first haircut bead will be coming soon as well :)
Beyond creating her a Pandora style bead I def want to make something else....Do you have any ideas of what I can create for her? Leave your suggestions in the comments below and the one chosen will get a free keepsake of their own as well to honor all my daughters hard work.
