Boobie Bar

I thought I was going to hate breast feeding, but even before Nate was born I told myself I was going to at least try because of all the benefits. It's free, the antibodies, the calorie burn, etc, you'd be silly not to try.

The first 24 hours of nursing for Nate and I were pretty rough, he wouldn't latch, he wouldn't stay awake long enough to eat anything. Our first time nursing I tried for an hour and a half to get him to latch, all this after 18 hours of labor, it was exhausing and disheartening. The nurses would bring him in every three hours or so to nurse, and it just wasn't working.

Thank goodness for lactation consultants. After we started working with those wonderful ladies, things slowly started getting better. We had our first successful nursing session about 24 hours after giving birth. I was elated! It was an amazing feeling, I loved it. Watching him eat and feeling his warm body against mine, I melted.

Breast feeding is still really really hard work. Nate still almost always falls asleep while nursing, or half way through he will just stop sucking. His mouth is moving, but I don't hear him swallowing. It's frustrating. Especially at 3am when you are dying to go back to sleep and just want him to eat and get a full belly. Even though it's exhausting because I'm the only one that can feed him, and I'm so jealous when I hear Jared snoring in the other room while I try to wake my sleeping baby so he'll eat (I really hate when I have to wake him in the middle of the night). . . .it's worth it. These moments are fleeting and he will only be this small and precious for a short time.

Last time we went to the pediatrician he had gained four ounces in four days, and his jaundice was getting better. Woo hoo! All our hard work nursing is paying off, thank goodness, I think I would have cried if things have gotten worse after all our efforts.

Next week we go back to the pediatrician for another weigh in. They said that once he gets back to his birth weight we can try to do every three hours between feedings and every four at night. Wish us luck!