Thursday, January 23, 2014

My First Latch

I remember being most excited about one thing after the birth of my son.  I was just yearning for that first latch and for the fireworks to go off and everything to be right in the world.  I had read all the books; I had taken the class; I was going to rock breastfeeding and that was all there was to it.  


He can basically fit my whole boob in his mouth now!
Jad came was born on March 1st, 2013 at 8:59pm.  It took only 4 short hours of active labor and lots of control to not kill my husband who was so nervous that he chose to annoy me the entire time...once tickling me in the middle of an f'n contraction.  He better be glad he is still alive.  When Jad emerged I promptly did what all mothers do: I hid him under a sheet so no one could see him because I was so shocked that 45 minutes of pushing gave me this little being that was now mine...oh, not all mothers react this way...hmm.  My hubs was dying to see this creature who was half his doing and I was basically just staring into space imagining myself as Wonder Woman reincarnated for just birthing this baby vaginally with no pain killers.



Anyway, after I came too I needed to get this baby latched on so those fireworks could start and someone could hand me my breastfeeding goddess medal.  Yeah, yeah...I know...we don't get medals.  Well, Jad latched and he sucked in all of the colostrum and really was just as wonderful as I had imagined.  At that point I realized I had no idea if I should keep offering my boob or do what I did.  I placed my brand new baby in a boppy.  WTF was a I thinking.  I look back now and wonder why the heck wasn't I holding my newborn.  Sure, he is sleeping but didn't I have the urge to snuggle and smell that newness? I guess not.


Yep...a boppy.
We stayed at the birth center for 4 hours after Jad was born and I think he may have fed three times.  The nurse said he was doing awesome and I took her word for it.  We packed up that little bugger and I made my dead tired husband drive home at 2 o'clock in the morning after being woken up at 4am the previous day by "Babe, my water just broke!"  He later told me that coming over the bridge to our house he could barely feel his body he was so tired and he has no idea how he got us home.


How was he ever that small!
At home, breastfeeding sucked because well, Jad sucked all day long.  I wasn't prepared.  No reading or class could prepare me for what I was experiencing.  The only thing that could have help was if I signed up for a class where little barracuda nibbled at your nipples for 45 minutes and then swam away for 15 minutes then came back and nibbled again then swam away...you get the picture.  On day 2 I took Jad to Target and transferred the entire breastfeeding section into my cart because one of those products must offer the relief I needed.


Man, I miss that full hair line but my fingers look like sausages.
I had a home nurse come check on me.  She told me Jad was latching fantastic and was an excellent eater.  I told her it hurts and she said it would get better.  That is what they all say (I now know they are right).  At the moment though I didn't think I would survive my boobs hurt so bad.

Why do I write this? Because hopefully you are a soon to be new mom and I can tell you that even if it starts out awful it turns out wonderful.  My baby is almost 11 months old!  I have no clue who let that happen but I would like to find them and give them a piece of my mind.  He crawls over and nose dives into my boob to get his milk.  He is able to sign to me on some occasional that he would like some booby.  He grabs my boob with his little greasy hands and sucks away and there is no pain.  He also only breastfeeds 4 or 5 times a day.  My new mom self would kill for that and now I miss those moments.  Hang in there, slather on some Nipple Butter and breastfeed your babies!

No comments:

Post a Comment