Saturday, May 23, 2009

Start of Something New

It all happened so quickly that I don't remember exactly what moment in time I first breastfed. She was born at 9:50 in the morning, and I remember looking at her for a while before the nurses took her and had to suction her a little. I believe within 30 minutes I was attempting to nurse my daughter for the first time.

I read a lot of literature and even took a breastfeeding class offered by the hospital to get a head start, or at least know what to expect. From what I read I knew it may not come easily as some may think. And it didn't. I was able to express some of the colostrum when I attempted to get her to latch. That way she would at least get the nutrients that she needed, as we worked to get 'the latch'.

I also read that lots of nurses and doctors are not educated on breastfeeding, which is true, we learned nothing about it in nursing school! So I went in with the intentions of denying any formula that the staff wanted to feed to her because of her 'not getting enough'. I knew my body was producing what my little one needed, right from the beginning. The hospital I delivered at was very pro-breast is best so I was only offered formula once because I kept complaining of the pain I was in. The nurse said she could take her for a few hours and give her a bottle so that I could rest. I said "No, I came in prepared to say no to a bottle because I thought I might want to give in!" She backed off right away and was totally accepting.

I was exhausted, my body hurt, the hospital bed was hard, and my nipples HURT!!! I got blisters on them! I never remember reading about blisters! Ouch! The best way I can describe it is: a blistered sunburn that someone keeps rubbing...but with more nerves because it's on your nipples! LMAO...I can't believe I nursed through that!

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