My journey with breastfeeding was a difficult one, but also so rewarding. As I started to wean my son, I was searching for a way to commemorate this journey of ours. I stumbled across breastmilk jewelry and fell in love with the concept.

Because of severe preeclampsia, I had an emergency cesarean section at 34 weeks gestation. My son was taken to the NICU while I had complications from the surgery. I started pumping before I was even able to hold him in my arms. Because of my own struggles with healing, I knew that I could not take care of him at that time, but the one thing that I could do was provide him with milk. I pumped every two hours around the clock. Once we were finally able to bring him home from his stay in the NICU, he was still too small to latch correctly, so I pumped some more. Finally after 6 weeks, he latched and our bond grew beyond words! I loved those sweet moments. But then my supply started to drop. We were supplementing with formula just to get him through the day. This had to change when we discovered his intolerance to dairy and soy, and his dislike for hypoallergenic formula. After going dairy and soy free for many months, we made it to my son’s first birthday. We worked together on this unforgettable journey of ours and it created an inseparable bond between us. (I must also mention my wonderful husband and all of his support. I could not have done it without him)