Background - no dom , only supplements & tons of water & stimulation around the clock, pregnant 20 years ago, currently working on 4th time inducing.

I'm 3 months in on my inducinf schedule (every two hours during the day, and every 4 hours at night) that I have kept relatively faithfully. I had to decrease the amount of my sessions due to vacation last month for a week. Since we got back I have been back on my schedule and felt I was making progress. Then a couple weeks ago I noticed my breasts were deflating even more than they had while on vacation - like I had stopped inducing entirely.

My pump settings are at a comfortable level - not too high but not too low. The suction is still very going strong, valves are good still. I have both the Freemie Liberty Plus and Spectra 1. I use lube as I deal with elasticity. Nips are moving freely and perfectly in the flanges, so am pretty sure am using the correct flange size ... nips measure 21 each (give or take a half mm on one) and am using a 24mm flange. A 21mm flange is snug fit with very little space on the side, but nips rub much more. The 24mm flange, nips don't rub as much and very little areola is pulled in. I use the Freemie more than the Spectra as the suctioning feels more comfortable.

I switched to hand expression last week and within a couple days I felt I gained back my lost progress to the point I was seeing liquid pool and a bead or two on my nips. That has now stopped, though starting to occasionally see a very small amount of pooling again. Am hoping that's a sign that my milk is going to be making an appearance soon. Within those first couple days I also started feeling tingles and pins & needles on my nip tips, every single time I hand express, and continue to feel this like something is going to gush out soon lol

It's hard hand expressing for every session, but am pushing through it because I don't want to lose this progress. I don't have the funds to try and find a new pump. My husband isn't interested in suckling outside of our "fun times", but is totally supportive and enjoys what am doing and am totally fine with that as this journey is more for me than for us.

Anyone else experience pumping just stop working altogether while inducing?