Connie’s Breastfeeding Story
Connie was born Thursday November
21, 1996. She was our third child, and our first daughter. She
come to us after a very long pregnancy. She wanted to come see us
sooner (I had a lot of pre-term labor.) but our doctor put a stop
to that. Also at week 28 an ultra sound shows that the baby had a
two vessel cord. This could mean kidney problems, but everything
looks fine. So on the 21st three days before her due
date she come. It’s funny what you think about when you have
problems in your pregnancy. I did a lot of praying for her to be
healthy. I did a lot of praying that she would live. But this
pregnancy made my realize how special the bond that breatfeeding
brings is. I say this because in my prayers for her health, and
life, I found myself praying; "God if she isn’t meant
to live, please let her make it long effect so she can nurse just
once. I would so love to do that with her."
Her birth was eventful. She had a
bowel movement in utero. (NOT GOOD) Her heart rate would drop.
And once again things went really fast in labor. Connie was born
1 ½ hours after my water broke. My doctor runs in the room just
in time. Here is a little of the conversion.
My doctor: "I’m
here."
Me: "Her head it’s right
there."
My doctor: "She right."
He steps out to the bed just in
time to catch Connie’s head. He tells me to stop pushing,
applies pressure to her head so I can’t push her out, then
removes the cord from around her neck. Now the rest of Connie
comes out. She’s blue, but in a couple seconds is pink and
crying.
Because of the bowel movement, a
ped looks her over. Everything looks fine. Her scores are 8 and
9. But the ped conforms, that the cord only has two vessels. So
they will do an ultra sound on Connie’s kidneys. But it
doesn’t need to be done now. I try to nurse her, but she is
too sleepy. I take a shower, the staff cleans my room, than
Connie is awake and hungry. What a lucky mommy, I am, she’s
a pro at this nursing thing too.
For the first two months, Connie
nurses every three hours. She sleeps in a cradle next to our bed,
and a lot of times for the first month she sleeps in our bed. At
three months, she is sleeping for 6 hours at night, so we move
her to her crib. At four months, she sleeps for 8 – 9 hours
at night and is nursing every four hours. At nine months, Connie
still nurses every four hours. She has just started to feed
solids. I have been trying to feed them to her since 4 month of
age, but she didn’t want them until now. She eats mainly
table food, like mashed carrots, yams, potatoes, and even
hamburger.
I didn’t nurse my boys in
public. I would always go to our car. But with Connie, I took
this step into public nursing. You name the place, we have likely
nursed there. With a good nursing top no one will be able to
tell. I’ve had people walk up to me, and go to touch Connie
before they realize that she’s nursing. I have three things
to stay about public nursing. First, do it, there is nothing
wrong with it. Second, don’t look embarrassed or shy about
it. When people think you’re doubting what you are doing,
they are likely to ask you to stop. Always wear the look of,
"Didn’t you dare say anything negative about me feeding
my baby. I’m a mother with a child in need. I’m likely
to bite your head off." And the last thing, be supportive of
other mothers you see nursing in public. At least give them a big
smile.
