My Breastfeeding journey began August 20, 1989, with the
birth of my first child. We got off to a slightly rocky beginning since I
didn’t actually get to hold her until she was over 4 hours old. You see,
she was in need of oxygen after she was born.
When I finally got to
see her and we tried to begin nursing, she wouldn’t latch on. As a brand
new mother, I had no idea what was wrong. The next morning the hospital's
lactation consultant came to check on us, and I told her that my baby wouldn’t
nurse. I had only offered her one breast, and it never occurred to me to
try to give her the other one. I offered her the other breast and she
latched perfectly, and after that we never had another issue. From then
on she took both sides just fine.
On June 15, 2004 my next child was born, and we had a very
rough beginning. This little one’s birth was induced, but everything went
fine with the labor itself, and I even had a mostly natural birth despite the
Pitocin being dripped into me. We had decided that having another child
wouldn’t require us to significantly change our current lifestyle, so June 18th
found us at the Fort Worth Zoo with a three-day-old newborn. The day was close
to unbearably hot, and that was the day my milk came in. She was too
uncomfortable to nurse, and soon my breasts became huge and hard, so much so
that she couldn’t latch on.
I tried everything I
could think of, and even tried to find suggestions on the internet. Finally I
contacted a lactation consultant, and she helped me through it. We ended
up having an okay nursing relationship; she never really was into nursing, and
seemed only to do it as a means to not starve.
My third child was born September 18, 2006, in a nearby
birth center where we had a completely non-medicated birth. He was born
to nurse, and at 2 weeks he had gained over a pound. He nursed so much and so
frequently that my nipples were cracked and often bleeding. He nursed
until he was just over 3 years old.
My fourth child was born July 10, 2011. She was born
at home in the most beautiful of ways, in a pool in our living room. She
was a champion nurser, and in fact had already latched and was nursing before
our midwife came into the room to help us get that going. Like her older
brother, she nursed for over 3 years. Over the weekend of December 5 - 7,
2014, our nursing relationship pretty much ended. My husband and I were
out of town for work, and it was the first time she stayed away from us.
Now, all of the times spent with my babies while they were nursing are just
fond memories of a very special and beautiful bond I share with all my
children.
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