Breastfeeding weeks 1-6

So... My breastfeeding journey so far.

My little girl latched straight away on the hospital.  That first night in hospital was hard. She kept struggling to latch, so I kept calling the midwives and the assistants for help. It was tough but I got some really good advice.

My main concerns were that I would smother her and that she wasn't latching right.

The told me to look above her ear. If her full jaw was moving up to that bit between her ear and eye she had a good latch and was sucking properly. If her cheeks were hollow she wasn't. She also told me not to hold her head with my hand, but to support her, this allows her to bob her head and move as she feeds... Which leads me to my next point.

And that babies can breathe through the boob. When she said this I was quite confused as was my partner. But the way babies noses are shaped actually presses the boob away to breathe. This is where not holding the head comes in handy. Baby can move to get comfortable and breathe.

When we got home things went quite well feed wise. I worried about my supply and whether she was getting enough.

At about day 4/5 I started to feel very claustrophobic,  she wanted to be on me all the time and I felt extremely overwhelmed, this coupled with poor sleep (which I'll address in a different post) made us wonder what our options were.  We decided on the advice of my midwife to introduce a formula feed at bedtime.

By the end of the first week she'd lost only 20g and she has put on almost a pound a week since then until this week.

After my mini meltdown, and I call it that because there where tears and doubts but now I'm in awe. By week 3 I found breastfeeding a lot easier. My sister in law described it as night of a thousand knives, and she wasn't wrong. Weeks 1-3 every time she latched it was excruciating,  but I have persevered. With lanolin I have made my way through the hard part and now when she feeds I just feel an overwhelming love for her. So strong I could cry at times.

I still need that break in an evening so daddy does nighttime formula feed and I get a little sleep to prepare me for the night ahead.

My little girl

So my beautiful daughter came into this world on Tuesday 23rd August 2016 at 3:31pm. She cried within a minute and fed almost straight away. My heart was hers immediately. 

I'll start with how it all happened in this blog and then try and update you with things I've done or tried to make my way through the first few weeks.

So in the weeks before my due date the Dr's had concerns about my baby's size, she was measuring small. They basically decided to induce me the day after my due date, so I was admitted to hospital and given the option of a chemical induction (medication) or balloon induction (they insert the balloon part of a catheter into your uterus and inflate it, causing contractions and dilation to start.

I thought the balloon induction sounded more natural so I went for that. I honestly didn't expect it to be as painful as it was. Within two hours I had to have it taken out as I couldn't stand the pain any longer. By that point my midwife said that I was ready to go up to labour ward and have my waters broken. It was 7:30pm and they'd take me when they were ready.

By 8:30pm it was made clear it wouldn't happen that night. My contractions had started and were getting more intense. I ended up having pain relief and a pethidine injection during the night.  My boyfriend hated seeing me in so much pain.

It was the following morning at about 9:30am wheb they finally took me up there. I was basically crying out for an epidural at that point, and they finally listened. I was met by the anaesthetist in the room on my arrival and by 11 I was laughing and joking away.

It was about 2:30 I first remember feeling a strong contraction. The epidural had been topped up once already, but the midwives were switching over, and because my waters had been broken they didn't want to examine me again.

My baby was being monitored constantly during my labour to make sure she wasn't distressed.  It was about 3pm we lost the trace on the heartbeat because I shifted position.  The midwife decided to place a clip on her head but quickly noticed her head was there and I was fully dilated.

It was all go from that point on. I'd been saying for almost half an hour I felt the need to push, and it wasn't until she told me I did. One push, that's all it took. My daughters birth was so fast that the second midwife didn't even get chance to wash her hands and catch the baby. She flew out onto the bed and cried almost immediately. 

It literally blows my mind everytime and think back to it. My labour was so horrible, the birth was amazing and now she is here and it's 6 weeks later. I'm pretty sure I'd do it again. Though it is likely that I won't have anymore children x