Magical boobs

I got the idea for writing an entry about breastfeeding after reading Cathy's write-up of her own experiences at Mine. We are nearly five months into our experiment with breastfeeding at Life at the condo and things are going along splendidly. I would have told you otherwise if you'd asked five days into the process.

In the beginning...
I didn't know what I was doing. Thankfully, I was not as resistant to help as I thought I would be. Several nurses and a couple of lactation consultants came into our room during the first 24 hours of Henry's life to assist me in my efforts, twisting and pulling the boobs to show me how to get Henry to latch on. Unfortunately, Henry and I were less than successful, which Darren was visibly anxious about. I mean, come on, our baby needed food. (We learned it is quite normal for babies not to eat much during their first day on the planet.) So, we continued to work to make Henry an effective nursling. This included round-the-clock feeding attempts. Henry was eating but he had a bad latch. As any mom can tell you this is PAINFUL. Imagine a titty twister that doesn't end. Ouch. Bad latches have to be overcome or they can lead to things like cracked nipples and blisters. I had both during the first few weeks of nursing.

By week two...
I was beginning to think we were getting better but something clearly wasn't right, it was still rather painful to nurse. So we took a trip back up to the hospital to see the lactation consultant. It just happened that the one on duty that day was the same lady (Annette - we love her!) who taught our birthing classes. She apprised the situation, evaluating my technique, made a few suggestions, and then sent us on our way. If memory serves, Henry's latch was a touch on the shallow side, which was the cause of our problems. We implemented her suggestions and within another week or so the boobs were healed, nursing was less of a challenge, and we were over the initial "Are we really going to be able to do this?" phase.

About the boobs...
Nursing boobs are quite impressive. Not just in size, which can reach porn-star proportions, but in how they function as well. Inside female boobs is an entire setup created for the production of life-supporting nourishment. How cool is that? The first couple of weeks can be rough for the newly-nursing mom because she has no idea what to expect. I sure didn't. And my poor husband was left listening to things like, "I'm hot. It's what? 70 degrees in here. Turn it down to 68." Two hours later. "It's frickin' freezing in here. What is it? 68 degrees? Turn it up to 70." And then there's the engorgement. When the milk comes in, boy howdy, does the milk ever come in. Do milking cows feel like this all of the time? 'Cuz if they do, poor cows. The boobs felt heavy and sore and were just waiting for relief, which was hard to come by when the lil' boy couldn't get his latch on. I fed Henry every one to two hours throughout the day and night so, yeah, good restorative sleep was not really an option. Henry and I didn't get the lying down nursing position figured out until about month three. Up to that point, when he did need to nurse during the night, I'd wake up, collect him, and go to the couch in our bedroom. My mom told me a story about how she remembered watching the networks go off the air for the night. (Think Poltergeist when the national anthem is played and then the t.v. screen turned to static.) Thankfully, we have a little thing called streaming video. And laptops. Before retiring for the evening, I made sure the essentials were on hand for those nighttime feedings. The dimmed glow of the laptop provided me with all of the light needed to feed H. Nearby was a glass of water - it is extremely important to stay hydrated as a nursing mom. The headphones were plugged in and a browser was open to one of the major network's websites. While one hand supported the boob, there is a certain technique for cupping the boob when nursing, the other would select which show I wanted to watch and do the necessary navigating on the keyboard. Once Henry was done, I would allow him time to sink back into a deep slumber before attempting to move him back into bed, where we would fall asleep for another couple of hours before repeating the process. Not before I put on a little Lanolin, which I no longer need but was a must-have for me during the first month or so.

Where we are now...
As previously mentioned, nursing while lying down is a skill I recently acquired. Being able to do so means I get more sleep that is of a better quality. I have to imagine the same is true for Henry, who no longer is jostled about but only has to flip to the side to satisfy his hunger pangs. It is rare for him to make this particular move without a smile on his face and his arms opened wide. His latest breastfeeding habits include running his free hand along my shirt and grabbing my necklace, and kicking. He loves to kick out his leg while nursing. When nothing else works during one of Henry's fussy periods, lying down to nurse him usually will, hence the term "magical boobs".

My unsolicited advice...
If you decide you want to breastfeed your baby, don't go into it with the attitude that you'll give it a "try" or you're likely to fail. Breastfeeding is hard work. Very hard work. And it requires persistence probably more than anything else, at least until you and baby get the kinks worked out. But once you do, it's totally worth it.