The First Time

I love staring at my baby. I still don't fully comprehend the miracle of this precious child. His little teeth are slowly but surely creeping in—the bottom two—at the same time! Thursday was another fulltime nursing day—I thank God that I am able to respond to his needs.

I recently had a conversation with a BFF about our birth stories. Ours were very different—she was able to deliver naturally. I delivered via c-section—it wasn't by choice—but in the end, it was the best for Par.

One thing I missed out on during my son's birth was nursing him immediately after (this has more to do with my son than with the c-section). I have heard so many people talk about how incredible it is—and that the bond is amazing—sort of like the perfect ending to the journey of giving birth and the perfect beginning of the mother/baby relationship all rolled into one.

I pray that I will have a chance at some point to share this type of experience with another child. About 2 hours after delivering Par I was hooked-up to my yellow mistress—the Medela Symphony. Then began the "pump, walk milk down to NICU, clean off machine parts, visit Par, pump, walk bottles down to NICU, clean off machine parts, etc" ritual. (They had me up and walking 6 hours after my c-section—but going to see my baby was all the encouragement I needed and I would have gone much sooner had they let me). Much like a mother will start to leak if she hears a baby cry, I would start to leak if I saw a Medela Symphony—and they were all over the hospital!

A lot of people are misinformed about being able to BF their baby immediately after delivery. They also are misinformed about their rights as mothers to decline supplements (formula, sugar water) for their baby. Although your milk doesn't come in for a few days—our bodies are designed to provide enough nourishment for our babies until it does come in. Additionally, most healthy babies are designed to only need the little bit of colostrum from his mother's breast. This decision should be made ahead of time and made very clear with the people who will be caring for you and your baby once you deliver.
Also, there is usually no reason that you must be separated from your baby during a healthy delivery—but you'll need to check your hospital protocol.