breast feeding attempt number 127 (or so) - a bit graphic, sorry

Over the past few days Konrad has ben cranky...when I say cranky I mean CRANKY. He is, I believe, trying to drive me crazy...yesterday he almost succeeded...it's not him alone really, he is just constantly whining for some reason or another and wants to be held. He is in a growth spurt I think and he can't really stomach more than 3 ounces at a time so this means that he is hungry every 1-2 hours. This would be annoying but just fine if he were a singleton and since he is a triplet it is just stressful. His brothers are eating anywhere from 3-5 ounces at a time and handling it well. They are wanting to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. I hope they are not in a growth spurt or we will have GIANT babies. Anyway, Konrad is keeping me very, very busy and somewhere in the day I have to have time to feed the other boys (I don't really eat or drink anymore or at least not during the past couple of days). Crying babies are stressful. I don't always know what they want or need, sometimes they want to be held sometimes they just cry. I do everything from feed to change to hold to play but nothing seems to work. This has been my life for a couple of days now...not good...Because I am scrambling to feed the babies and just meet their basic needs I have not had time to pump. For those of you who have breast fed in the past or just been engorged, this is not a good feeling. I usually pump 60-75 ounces per day so when I have to go 6 hours or more without pumping I am in pain...lots of pain...which makes the crying babies even more frustrating because then I start leak leaking all over because my boobs are thinking "hmmm crying baby, full boobs, lets squirt some milk to feed him" and I, with my painful engorged chest am crying, soaking wet and wishing that I could actually feed them on the boob. happy boobies, happy mommy...or at least happier mommy.

This has led me to start really trying to get the boys to latch. This is no small mission. I have to have recently pumped or pump a bit first to get things primed and ready as it were. Things flow from me pretty fast no matter what but if I try to feed them when I am full then they get a HUGE rush of milk squirting all over them and it is like a hose spraying them and not a nice slow flow like the bottle...they are not pleased or amused. When they stop feeding or they aren't into it, I take them off and we both end up drenched in milk because I can't scramble to rearrange them and get myself covered up at the same time. It seems that breast feeding is a three person job and that three or four extra hands would be helpful to hold the baby and my chest and get all of it coordinated so that they can breathe under there and so that they don't get drowned as the milk flows too quickly.

I am told that breast feeding is supposed to be harder for the baby because they have to work harder, but it seems that it is harder for my boys because they have to basically be able to "bong" the milk that is rushing into their mouths from my spraying, eager boobs. Despite these challenges and the risk of drowning, both Konrad and Zachary have latched on and successfully snacked on the boob. It is not something that I can do all of the time yet because I have to catch them when they are ready to eat but before they are too pissed off to cope with me positioning them and trying to get them to latch...also it works better if they are not distracted by the other boys crying which lately is rare because someone is always crying...even though they will not latch on often I am still very pleased that they even latched at all and that I am starting to get some results from all of my attempts to get them on the boob...

June 13th 0900: Michael (the baby) was able to breast feed this morning, woo hoo