Chapter 1346: Do You Want It?
No matter how much Lu Zihao and Sun Jingfei tried comforting Long Jinjing in their own way, it still didn't change the fact that she couldn't produce enough breast milk.
Something so basic and natural as producing milk to feed her babies and arm them with vital immunity boosters in this early critical stage of their development, she couldn't even do it. She truly felt like an utter failure as a mother.
Sun Jingfei sighed before preparing formula milk for her twin grandsons. It couldn't be helped. The babies needed to be fed and nourished.
Yesterday, Long Jinjing already started to struggle producing milk. However, she still persisted and was able to feed her babies until they were satiated. Her breast milk had just been enough then. She literally couldn't afford to waste a single drop of it.
That was when she realized that she would have issues with her natural breast milk production. She had hoped that what little milk she could produce would last at least a week. By then, the babies should have received the minimum immunity boosters that her breast milk could give them. After that, she had to resign herself to feeding them with formula instead.
Unfortunately, her fear was realized only on the third day after giving birth. She literally couldn't produce any milk for her babies.
Her low self-esteem caused by her weight gain throughout her pregnancy was exacerbated at the realization that her breast milk only lasted for three days. It wasn't even for three full days.
"I'm so sorry, my babies," she cried. "Mommy has failed you."
"You!" Lu Zihao felt angry.
He wanted to shake his wife until she woke up. To be honest, he didn't think that it was a big deal whether she could produce breast milk or not.
Why the hell was there such a large selection of different baby formula to choose from? Wasn't it for situations like this? Just looking at the dizzying variety of baby formula available in the market, it was already obvious that inadequate breast milk was not that rare.
Although these were his thoughts, he wisely didn't speak them out loud. The way his wife cursed him out while she was giving birth was still fresh in his mind. In addition to the fact that she already had a history of low self-esteem, he didn't want to trigger anything.
His sister had already warned him before to be more careful and considerate of Long Jinjing. Iris even sent him hundreds of proven scientific studies from all around the world about post-partum depression. He only needed to read a couple of them before stopping.
Once he read that suicide was a real possible effect of severe post-partum depression, he couldn't read the rest of the other scientific studies anymore.
A scene had flashed in his mind. A depressed Long Jinjing stealing one of his guns and shooting herself in the head.
The image felt so realistic that he almost went crazy.
If his wife had to resort to suicide, then the failure wasn't on her but on him instead. As a husband, he had the responsibility to protect her and their children from any danger even if the danger came from herself.
This was why he couldn't allow her to spiral into depression no matter what. Seeing her so upset and defeated because she couldn't produce enough breast milk was already a red flag.
He grabbed a handful of tissue and wiped her tears. His movements were clumsy because he wasn't used to being gentle.
Sun Jingfei returned with two tiny bottles filled with formula. Long Jinjing burst into another round of tears upon seeing the formula milk.
"Jing'er.” Sun Jingfei wanted to comfort her suffering daughter but her grandsons were also crying from hunger.
Before any of them could feed the babies with formula, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
Iris entered the room followed by a few household staff wheeling a small freezer. She was also holding a stylish baby bag (cute Kkitty design, only available at Orchidia Baby).
She sighed upon seeing Long Jinjing's face covered with tears.
"What are all these?" Lu Zihao asked.
She bypassed her brother and faced Long Jinjing instead. "I have a lot of extra breast milk. Do you want it?"
Long Jinjing's eyes widened. It wasn't only her. Sun Jingfei was also surprised by Iris' offer. She glanced at the small freezer and already had an idea of what it contained. Lu Zihao, on the hand, had an ugly, disbelieving expression.
"What the hell-"
"Do you want it?" Iris asked Long Jinjing again, ignoring her brother.
"Are you s-sure?"
Iris nodded. "I've already filled up several freezers in the mansion with all my extra breast milk. I originally planned on donating them to a hospital's maternity department or maybe a milk bank but Liwei isn't keen on the idea. He doesn't like giving something my body produced to total strangers. If he's left in charge of my extra milk that our twins can't finish before they're weaned, he'd rather discard everything than give them away. But my nephews aren't strangers. Little Misha and Little Dima are family. You and my brother are family."
"Xiu-xiulan..." Long Jinjing watched as Iris opened the baby bag she was holding and take out two tiny bottles filled with milk—breast milk.
"If you don't disdain my breast milk and don't mind feeding your sons with milk from another mother—"
"How could I d-disdain your breast milk? You're already being so kind and generous and open-minded for even thinking of doing this...."
Iris asked for the final time, "So do you accept my offer?"
"Y-yes! Of course! Oh, little sister. T-thank you so much!!!" Long Jinjing cried again. This time, from gratefulness and relief.
Iris smiled and handed the two tiny bottles filled with fresh milk to her brother. Lu Zihao gave her a hard look but she only gestured for him to hurry up and feed his hungry babies.
"I'll talk to you later about this," he told her through gritted teeth.
"Nothing you can do anymore, Big Brother. Your wife already agreed to this. Don't be so narrow-minded like my husband. Sharing breast milk is not that big of a deal.”
Long Jinjing forced herself to calm down. She and Lu Zihao began feeding their twins with Iris' milk..