put a boob on it

Once upon a time, I had a beautiful baby girl. I gave her milk from my breast and love from my heart and lots of snuggles. Then I went back to work. And I still gave her love and milk, but not only from my breast anymore but also from a bottle, produced by a pump in a little closet with a broken chair. I loved that girl, and I loved nourishing her, but I did not love that noisy machine or the three times a day I spent with it counting ounces. Still, I kept at it, and she grew, and one day holding all the love in her heart stopped drinking from the breast (and the bottle) and went outside to play.

I was proud to have been able to put a boob on it for her.

Once upon another time, a couple years later, I had a charming baby boy. I, too, gave him milk from my breast and love and many smiles. Then when he was six weeks old, I went back to work. Across the country. I pumped for him, near and far, in cozy chairs and smelly bathroom stalls, so he could drink milk one way or another. It was not fun, but it was my act of love, and he grew. And grew and grew. Until one day, he too stopped drinking at the breast and went out to become a little man.

I marveled at how far I had come to put a boob on it for him.

Somewhere upon those times, in the middle of the nursing and nuzzling, pumping and crying, I saw a lot of love in the hearts of mamas all around me. And it dawned on me that the world might be a little warmer place if we women of the breastfeeding shared that love with one another. Shared the spaces, the struggles, the joy of all those snuggles. So I built an app, to help mamas everywhere put a boob on it for their own babies.

And then something magical happened. The mama love (and making of mama juice) grew. 

But still, in this time, it wasn't far enough. I saw all the love, but I also saw all the places we still had to go, all the ways we could help more women make more milk at the breast and at the pump. So I bought an RV to head out to meet to the mamas to encourage, celebrate, and support them as they put a boob on it day in and day out.

We're so close to getting that RV on the road, and so humbled by the support. 

So today, at this unifying time, during world breastfeeding week, I look around at all beautiful mothers and supporters of mothers and I believe more than ever in the power of putting a boob on it.

Soon, I believe I will be able to look back and say once upon a time, I nursed two babies, built an app, drove an RV across the country and made the world a little more lovely for the women who nourished at the breast.