Are Mothers Breastfeeding Goddesses? / My First Nursing Experience

My beautiful daughter Adalyn was born in May of 2011. With her I had what I would consider to be a pretty normal nursing experience.   It was not easy by any means but I was lucky to have made it 12 months. I had painful nipples, you know, this is their first time sucking and the first time you have ever had someone sucking milk from you so let’s be real… it hurts at first. Well, it did for me. But, it got better. “If you can make it a month of nursing you are usually golden,” I would tell friends.   It takes time to adjust and learning on both ends. I had a girlfriend tell me that her mother told her that you should “rough up” your nipples with a rag in the shower while pregnant to get your nipples ready.   I heard this after I had nursed both of my children and remember thinking. “Man, why didn’t anyone tell me that?” Well, maybe it is better they didn’t. If anyone would have told me that prior to nursing it might have freaked me out a bit.

While it takes time to get the hang of nursing for both you and your child it is wonderful when it finally works. But I will be the first to admit it is not easy. With Adalyn I experienced thrush, nursed through it, colds, nursed through it, the flu, nursed through it. I then went back to work full time and did the whole pump at work in the am, nurse at lunch, pump in the afternoon thing. I did this from 3 months to a year.   This also includes a lot of pump parts and bottle cleanings in the evenings lets not forget. I also did all the overnight feedings. Sometimes there were unpleasant “side effects” shall we say from nursing, like cracked nipples but it was just a part of it. I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.   I remember our Pediatrician calling me the “Breastfeeding Goddess”. I don’t know about that but I know that it just worked and I enjoyed it.

Deciding if nursing is right for you is something very personal for a woman. Not every woman can, wants to or is comfortable with nursing and that’s ok. It is completely her decision and she doesn’t have to explain it.

I don’t know why I chose to nurse it was just something I chose to do. I had not been around many people who had nursed and it was not a common practice in my family.   I was fortunate to have had a few friends that nursed to help me. One of my best girlfriends helped me register and gave me a crash course in what to buy, provided some nursing tips, taught me how to use a breast pump and how to clean the parts. In addition, I took a nursing class at the hospital I would deliver at. I liked that class so much the same friend and I would take that class again together two years later as a refresher when we were both pregnant with our second babies.   So, I would say I had prepared about as well as anyone could for nursing.

I felt very fortunate that nursing worked for Adalyn & I. In our experience I found beauty in nursing. To me, being able to nourish your child and comfort your child from your breast was something so remarkable and life changing I don’t even know how to describe it. There is a feeling of peace and tranquility that engulfs you and your child as they feed and you look in their eyes.  During those moments the rest of the world can disappear in an instant and you drift into the most magical of places.  The two of you enter in your own little safe shielded world where everything is calm and all that matters is peace. You could stare into their eyes for what feels like an instant but could very well be a half hour.   You watch their satisfaction and ease of comfort as they drift off to sleep from their fullness. You study their eyelids, cheeks, lips and tiny fingers. While in the very moment you dream of what they will grow to become you are also wishing they will stay this size forever.   You hold on a while longer before putting them down because you don’t want to let that moment go.   That moment shared between mother and child was heaven for me.

crystaljoefamily-65_2

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.