Shelly's Story

Breastfeeding was never a thought out choice for me. It was just the natural thing to do. I never had to "decide" if I was going to breastfeed or formula feed. All my siblings and I were breastfed and I remember very clearly seeing my youngest 2 siblings nursing. When I found out I was pregnant my mom bought me a copy of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I loved the book and it reinforced my desire. I read all the sections on "problems" that can occur, but never really thought I would need that information. After all it was a "natural" thing to do and how hard could it be? Well, I was soon to find out how wrong I was. My son was born and immediately placed in my arms. We initiated breastfeeding right there on the delivery table. It was a wonderful experience and I don't remember feeling any pain or being uncomfortable. However, for the next six weeks that all changed. Nursing became extremely painful for me. My son would nurse every 45 minutes in those early weeks and every nursing was excruitiating. What had happened to this wonderful experience I had heard and read about? The nurses would come and try different things to help me. Even before I left the hospital my nipples were cracked and bleeding slightly. I never told the nurses how much it hurt because I wanted to go home so badly and I didn't think they would let me leave early if they knew I was having problems. I remember the night I spent in the hospital before I went home. I was walking around and around my dark room holding my crying son, tears pouring down my own face. I just couldn't stand the pain and I felt so terrible that my poor baby was crying. I went out into the hall to walk my baby. A very kind nurse came out and asked if she could do anything for me and I just burst out crying. I said I was so tired and he was so upset. She asked me if I would like for her to take care of him for a little while so I could sleep. I gratefully said yes, but I stood there watching her out of a crack in the door for a little while to make sure she was holding him and taking care of him instead of just letting him cry. He was still crying but she was holding him. I went back to my bed and fell asleep for about an hour. When I woke up I went to check on my baby and he was sleeping so I went back to bed and waited till he woke up. That was definately a hard night, but she helped me through.

Well, finally I was seeing the benefits of nursing. It didn't hurt anymore and I thought I was safe. I got a short rest from the problem and then, within the next 5 months experienced 3 cases of full blown mastitis. However, with rest and antibiotics and frequent nursing, those went away too.

Now you would think that was the end of the story wouldn't you? It's not. When my son was only 4 months old, I had to be hospitalized for emergency surgery. The hospital absolutely refused to let my baby stay with me at night but he could be there all day with me if someone else was there too to help me out. So every night I would pump 2 or 3 times and then my husband would take that milk home with him to give to my son the next night. Then every morning my mom would bring my baby up to the hospital for me and stay with me until my husband got home from work. Then he would stay with me till the last minute and then take our son home with him. It was a really trying time but I knew how special nursing was and weaning him was not even an issue. I would have been devastated and so would he. Thanks to support from my family and the hospital we made it through that week.

Well, we certainly did have problems those first 5 months but I am so glad that I kept going and our relationship has been so strong since then. I am so grateful we kept going. Nursing has been a blessing to our whole family. My son is 2 now and still enjoys nursing a couple of times a day. I don't mind. After all we went through to start nursing I am grateful that it is an enjoyable part of our lives now.