My son Gabriel was born 6 1/2 weeks early. My body wasn’t ready to produce milk for him, yet I pumped like crazy to be able to provide him anything I could. I always read how breastfeeding is such an amazing bonding experience and I always wanted that. I also always wanted a normal pregnancy where I would give birth to him on my own terms, when my body was ready. I was hospitalized for two weeks then one morning a Dr (new to me) came in and said “today is the day. It’s time we take the baby out”. I had heard that every day for two weeks, so the fact that I heard it again I brushed it off until the actual delivery Dr came in to talk to me. That is when things got real. My delivery was nowhere near what I had imagined but I would go through it all over again to have my son. I ended having an emergency c-section due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around my sons neck. After he was born I struggled to be able to produce enough milk for him. I was not able to try to breastfeed until 3 weeks after he was born and even then was only allowed a couple times since he was only 3 pounds. So breastfeeding was a struggle from the beginning. We were able to finally take our son home a month after he was born. I grew to be able to breastfeed him two times a day which would be at night and he is bottle fed with breastmilk for the other feedings. We’re now seven months in and he has started to bite down on my nipple from time to time (ouch!😳). So I have officially decided to exclusively pump. I’m sad my journey wasn’t as expected but so grateful he is healthy and continuously growing. I’ve read so many comments about how us as mothers should be proud no matter how our children are fed, as long as they are fed. I have finally come to the understanding that this is so true. Who cares how our children are being fed, as long as they are getting the nutrients they need and are growing happy and healthy. I always read stories on here and I’ve never written anything but thought I would share a piece of my journey. This is my happy preemie baby 7 Months old yesterday 😊.