Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Hereditary Blood Clotting Disorder – Stacey and Sons


My breastfeeding story begins almost 5 years ago, when my oldest was born. He was so tiny. I had a traumatic birth with him, but one thing I knew for sure, is that I wanted to breastfeed. After my C-section, it took the nurses over an hour to bring me my baby. But I got him latched on and nursing, without any help of the nurses, who didn't actually try to help. It also took the nurses over 29 hours before they decided to get me up and out of bed. (This information is super important!) For the next 15 days, I spent every moment with my newborn, I would nurse him, we'd both take a nap, and when I awoke I would change his diaper and start all over again with that routine. During those 2 weeks, I didn't really take care of myself; I was more focused on my baby. I didn't eat very much, keep myself hydrated or get up and moving a whole lot - because no one told me to. When I got to the 15th day, I noticed something was wrong, it felt like I had pulled a muscle in my groin area, but I hadn't done anything to make that area hurt. Something told me to look at my legs and check things out, and I discovered my left leg to be a pinkish/purplish color, while my right leg remained normal. I knew this wasn't right and made an immediate trip to the nearest ER. After being there for a few hours, they discovered that I had a DVT, also known as a deep vein thrombosis or a blood clot.  They discovered I had a hereditary blood clotting disorder which would make future pregnancies higher risk.  That day also ended my nursing journey with my oldest son, because even though an OB/GYN was okay with me nursing and taking a blood thinner, to help dissolve the newly found blood clot, the ER doctors were not familiar with how it would affect the baby and forced me to stop.

Fast forward 3 1/2 years later. I had a healing Family Centered Cesarean section after 22 hours of un-medicated labor. During the last 3 hours my baby's heart beat was closely monitored as it dropped following my contractions. He was born and immediately placed on my chest while in the operating room. He immediately started nursing before surgery was even over. At that moment, I knew we would have a great nursing relationship.  I had to be on the same blood thinners I was on after the discovery of my blood clot, which WERE breastfeeding friendly after all.

 We've had a fairly easy nursing journey, except for a few minor bumps of dealing with uneducated people who are against nursing in public. But as his 18 month nursing anniversary approaches, it's very clear that this bond is something that will never break. We will continue on until we are both ready to move past this special gift that God has given us. I am truly amazed at how awesome a woman's body is and how it continues to nourish a baby as long as necessary. One thing I know for sure is that our journey won't end here.

No comments:

Post a Comment