Mummy Monday: My view on Breastfeeding

I decided to try and put up a "mummy post" each monday. Munchkin is turning 8 months on wednesday and therefore I will write an 8 month post next monday. So I thought I would write about my experience when it comes to breastfeeding.

Before giving birth to Nathanael I really wanted to breastfeed. My goal was at least 6 month. However, if it didn't work, it just didn't and I was ok with that as well.

So when Nate was born the midwife tried to get him to latch on pretty much straight away and he was doing so good. He latched on and got down to business. I have to admit it was kind of painful.
Well, it turned out that the midwife helping me to get him to latch on somehow didn't do it properly and I basically had bruises all over my nipples. It hurt. It really did. So every time he latched on it was super painful. The nurse gave me a nipple shield so it would hurt less. My milk came in, I think on the 3rd day and Nate was really doing great.  I nursed him whenever he wanted and I actually had to wake him up during the night so he could feed. The thing is that he had jaundice and turned quite yellow so he had to drink as much as possible.

So it went really well. Even at home it was all good. I was still using the nipple shield and my midwife told me to try stop using it which I did. BUT it was painful. As I was used to using the nipple shield it hurt pretty bad when I tried to nurse without it as my nipples weren't used to the straight on eating action of Nathanael. But I kept on trying and I would say round about the 2 month mark I was doing better without the shield.

Then some other problems surfaced. I was having difficulties mainly with my right boob. I had clogged milk ducts and I was sore while feeding and even when I wasn't feeding. Two or three times I was even quite worried to actually get a mastitis. I did some research online and asked some other mums what I could do. So I ended up putting a hot washcloth on my boob before feeding and a cool pack  after the feeding. At one point I even considered stopping to breastfeed. I DIDN'T! and I'm proud of it.

Up until the time when I just fed in the mornings and evenings I was having trouble with my right boob and from then on everything was ok.

We started Nathanael on solids when he turned 5 months old (I might to a different post about that). I kept on feeding 3 times a day and then went to twice a day (mornings/evenings) and now we're down to one feed a day. I breastfeed in the mornings and I want to keep it that way as long as I produce enough milk and I feel comfortable doing it. We do feed him formula in the evenings now. Mainly just because I don't have enough milk anymore to pump and we were away for 2 nights and I didn't have any breast milk in my freezer anymore.

To sum it up.
Breastfeeding has been amazing. I love doing it and I would do the same with our 2nd child. It was super easy (if traveling somewhere, nursing on demand). I was nursing in the car, restaurant, train, at home, in our garden, basically wherever I was and whenever he was hungry. I never felt ashamed or uncomfortable doing so. I loved the experience of being so close to my child and sharing such a intimate moment with him. I would totally recommend doing it to any other mother. However, if it doesn't work, if there's not enough milk, way too much pain and so on... well, then don't. I'm totally not anti-formula.. Do whatever works best for you!!!

And now I can enjoy a good glass of wine from time to time... :D

Birth Story

I haven't posted in so long and I actually was gonna post as soon as I found out I'm pregnant. As you can see it didn't happen. and then I started a post when I was 33 weeks pregnant as I really wanted to document my pregnancy.. it's still in my drafts folder...

So Karly actually inspired me to go on and take up blogging again and as she shared her birth story I thought I could try to share mine, too.

Even thought Nathanael is turning 8 months soon I will start at the beginning trying to remember the details of when we first met him.

Basically I have to start on the 21st of november 2013. I work at the local tourist office as a tour guide a few days a month and so that day we all went to the capital to visit their tourist office and go on a city tour and later in the evening we were gonna have dinner. I was feeling fine and never even thought about not going (the capital is about 1,5 hour away by train). I might have to mention I was 38 weeks and a few days pregnant at the time. So we were walking around the city for about 3 hours and then had dinner. At about 11pm we were back at my home town and my husband picked me up from the train station. I was in bed at about 11.30pm and at around midnight I heard/felt a "blop", I got up, went to the toilet and there was some kind a fluid. I really wasn't sure if it was my water and so I waited a while... I guess I thought that there must be a lot of water coming (even though they told us that there doesn't have to be litres of water coming).. I went back to our room and I said to hubster "I guess my water broke" and he was like " what??, are you sure?" Of course I wasn't sure... well, after a while we decided to call the hospital and they said to get ready and come in to check if it was my water.

Off we went. We were put into a small delivery room and I got hooked up in the CTG and then there was more water coming which meant I had to stay in the hospital. So we stayed in that room and different nurses and doctors came in to check on me.. Basically we were just waiting, nothing happened and no sleep, really...
In the morning we were allowed to go into a room and hubster went to work as there really wasn't anything happening. The nurses told me to go for walks to get the labour going... and that's what I did. My mum came in and we walked the stairs countless times. result = nothing.

They then decided to induce me as there wasn't so much water in my uterus left. I was induced at 6pm on the 22nd of november. My husband was back at the hospital at around 9.30pm and we tried to get some sleep.. no sleep for me, though. At around 10.30pm hubster called the midwife as I was in pain. So they took me into a delivery room. I asked to take a bath hoping I would be able to relax a bit. Oh, dear. I really didn't work. I was sooo tired as I hadn't slept in so long and I was falling asleep between my contractions... So I asked if there was anything else I could do before an epidural.. The midwife checked me and said that I had dilated about 2cm and she would recommend an epidural so I could sleep a bit and gather some strength..
At about 2.15am the doctor came in to set the epidural. I was really afraid of it and it turned out to be ok. I was so damn focused to breathe and not move during the contractions that I didn't really pay attention to what happened on/ in my back. The first try only sedated one side and I was still feeling the contraction on the other side so he tried again and it finally worked. Hubster and I were able to get some rest from about 4am to about 6.30am. The midwife checked me again and I was at about 4cm so still a long way to go and my contractions were getting less and so they decided hook me up with some kind of fluid to make them stronger again (I have no idea what it was called). At about 7.30am I asked the midwife to go to the toilet and she checked me and said "well, it's your baby you're feeling. I think it might be time to push". 

I was sooo happy to hear that!!! So I pushed for about 1.5 hours and then at 9.32am on the 23rd of november Nathanael was born. 
I was overwhelmed and so was my husband.. I can't even explain how I felt. I kept staring at him and all I felt was unconditional love. he was, is and always will be perfect.

He stayed with me for a while and I was able to latch him on. After some time (I had lost all sense of time by then) they weighed and measured him. His dad gave him a bath and dressed him and we moved into our room. As I was suffering from gestational diabetes they checked his blood sugar and decided to feed him some formula to get his blood sugar up. It was ok with me as the hospital we were at is really strong on breastfeeding so I latched him on every few hours to get my milk flowing...

I have to get lunch ready so I will finish here. 
I'll probably do a 7 month update next..

Hope you enjoyed it!