background info ... 50 yrs old, pregnant 20 years ago where I breastfed for only 2 weeks. Current inducing 4th time. No dom, only supplements and stimulation. No suckling out of our intimate times - husband not into ANR at this point in time.

Thought I would share a full update since I started, though I've shared my progress over the months in snippets in other posts written, Am sharing this full update as am sure it will help someone else. And will continue to share monthly updates when I hit each month's mark.

First Month Inducing Started using LegendairyMilk's Liquid Gold right away with a manual Philips Avent pump. I picked up a Spectra S1 Plus later in the month, but didn't use it much as the vibrations of it didn't feel good. My pumping schedule was every two hours from 6am to 10pm, and one night session. A total of 10 sessions.

By the second week I did see some pre-liquid from my previous inducing attempt from hand expression. That last a couple days. Didn't hand express often.

At the end of the month I got a Freemie Liberty II hands free pump and some different sizes of silicone flange inserts. My nips were measuring around 21mm with one being right on and the other being a couple points off. I used a 21 mm flange insert - though now know that was wrong, even though I had some space between my nips and the inserts sides.

Breast Changes ... became a little fuller and heavier. Some initial liquid when hand expressed. Areola starting to get a little darker near end of month.

Second Month Inducing Same schedule. No expression from pumping, a little from occasional hand expression.

Changed my schedule a little a week before we went on vacation with times I thought I would be able to keep up with. Didn't work as well as planned and was only able to pump twice a day, with the occasion extra session, and hand expression when I could throughout the day. When we got back home I noticed that my breasts felt less full and heavy. I immediately got back on to my schedule of every 2 hours but skipped the night session for a week. Saw gained some progress back but not much by end of month.

I also bought goats rue, moringa, shatavari, and sunflower lecithin as individual bottles. Started taking them when my last Liquid Gold bottle finished. I switched because I figured out that individually they were cheaper than an "all-in-one", as I was able to get about 4 months of each.

Breast Changes ... not much progress.

Third Month Inducing By the end of the first week of the month, I still saw little progress. My breasts felt they were "deflating" with using only the pump. I re-read and learned more about flange sizes and switched to a 24mm - though still no physical changes. I also read & watched vids on hand expression, and was to finally figure it out. After this & seeing results - small bead & liquid here and there on both nips, along with pins & needles in both nip tips - I switched my sessions to only hand expression. After the first week my breasts felt fuller and heavier than they did before we went on vacation. I kept this up, doing 15 mins each breast (including a night session) until I was able to figure out how to hand express both at the same time - being larger in size brings challenges as they become heavier. After a couple days I started noticing a small amount of liquid pooling on my nips to make them shinny, then it stopped.

I did try reintroduce the Freemie pump by switching sessions to using it instead of hand expression. Started noticing was going flatter again, so stopped using the pump and continued hand expression.

Someone here (sorry can't remember who) mentioned in one of my posts about using the pump and then hand expressing afterwards for a few mins. Other comments and that one got me thinking that my problem with the pump was that my breasts weren't liking the type of flange I was using. So I switched the flanges to the Philips Avent ones I had with my manual pump that has a cushion (25mm) rather than a plain insert, and used shorter bottles with my Freemie pump. I was previously using the Freemie Slimfit cups with their inserts. I also added in hand expression. I now do 15 mins double pump and 5 mins double hand expression to give me 20 mins total. I set my pump settings to where it felt similar to my hand expression. I started this 2 days ago, and yesterday I noticed liquid pools showing up consistently after the first couple sessions. Last night, after my last session before bed, I saw a small bead on one nip. Wasn't milky but colored & clear. This morning while pumping, I started getting this warm feeling that moved through my right breast which ended in pins & needles feeling on my nip. Felt the same on the left but not as intense. I really felt like I was dripping, but wasn't the case. Only saw small pool of liquid with a really small bead after my session.

Breast Changes ... definitely much more noticeably heavier, areolas are much more darker, nips & breasts are aching more just before pump time, feel milk sacs/lobes (grapes as my husband calls them lol) have become bigger. More small pools of liquid and occasional small beads.

My Current Pumping Schedule ... every 3 hours pump & hand expression between 6am and 10pm with a power pump before bedtime, along with one night session at 2am hand expression only. I pump for 20 mins; 15 mins pump, 5 mins hand express. This gives me 7 sessions in total. ... when can't pump, I hand express

... my power pumps consist of 20 mins of 15 mins pumping and 5 mins hand, then rest for 10 mins. Then 10 mins with 5 mins pumping and 5 mins hand (or 10 mins hand), then rest for another 10 min, then repeat the same 10 mins of pumping & hand.

My Current Supplements ... still taking goats rue, moringa, and sunflower lecithin, but not refilling my shatavari supply this week when it runs out as I can't find one within my budget for the same supply amount as the others am able to get. ... also getting able to drink 80oz a day, plus liquid I get from eating

Next Month Goals - keep to every 3 hour sessions and one night session - power pump in evening and fit one power pump in mornings when able - hand express and massage every session - if can't pump, hand express - keep hydration up - keep healthy diet up