you all…
You all are so kind and supportive. Thank you for your gentle words of encouragment and understanding. I should have wrote about the breast feeding problems sooner and found my support here. You all are wonderful. If I could, I’d have you all over for tea.
More posts coming soon… I’ve taken on a few jobs (!) and that’s been gobbling up my time. Working mama? This is gonna be tricky…
xo! p
Don’t fret. The working mama thing will get easier with time. You’re a smart and capable woman and artist. You’ll soon figure out how to walk the tightrope, balancing career and family. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro! And, lucky you, you have a loving partner and family there to help you along the way. Take all the help offered and never be afraid to ask for it when you need it. Take care and enjoy that delightful new baby. (wonderful!)
Hey Penelope… I just read your post about breastfeeding, and just wanted to tell ya that I had the same thing happen when my daughter was born in Feb. of 2008. I planned to breastfeed, and ended up having a c-section and then my milk never came in and I had a LOT of lactation consultants and breastfeeding advocates that made me feel bad, like I wasn’t trying hard enough. And buying that first can of formula was SO HARD, but after a few days of not crying and feeling like a mess and a creep and a failure every time she was hungry… that just rocked. And now, a year later, I have super-giant-extra-thriving baby who is the tallest kid in her age group at storytime and is so outgoing that I wonder if she’s actually related to me.
My pediatrician was really awesome, and he said to me on our second visit that feeling guilty didn’t help me OR her, and that if you handed him two babies and one was breastfed and one was bottlefed, he wouldn’t be able to tell ya which was which. So don’t let anybody make you feel bad about it.
WOW, it’s so strange to read your words, knowing that I too have gone through similar struggles (e.g., your childbirth story sounded A LOT like mine)… I had problems breastfeeding as well. Because my son was taken to NICU right after he was delivered, I was not able to nurse him right away. I struggled with my milk production from day one. I pumped, I used nipple shields… I thought things were going well until one of his early Dr. visits, when the Dr. said that I should supplement with formula because my son hadn’t gained from one weekly appointment to another. I regret being spooked by that. It all went ‘pfft’ from there. I too sought the advice of LCs and other breastfeeding mamas (some helpful, some not), but in the end, there were only about 3 weeks of exclusive breastmilk. I did continue to pump (10.5 months total), but it was difficult and didn’t yield much milk at all!
Anyway, enough about me!! – I just wanted to reiterate what your friend told you: Veda will thrive either way. I have no doubts that you are a fantastic mama and that Veda is well-loved, breast- or bottle-fed.