2 thumbs & a dummy

I don’t consider myself lucky when I hear how other mothers [mostly friends and relatives] tell me about their first time mom experiences and how they were not coping very well with the new baby because I never really had any problems at all. I count myself very blessed and touched by God’s graces that I didn’t have to suffer postnatal depression or baby blues as some might call it, and I also didn’t have any major issues with breastfeeding either.

When I hear about people expressing how tough it was coping, I can only lend an ear and a shoulder to cry on because I can’t really share my experience or say, ‘I know what you’re going through’, because I never did have to go through all that ‘suffering’. I still remember it so clearly, while I was still in hospital. We were asked to come into the the nursery at least once a day to get the baby checked and temperature monitored and everytime I was there, there was this one day who would be there feeding her baby boy.

I used to think that big boobs = lotsa of milk hence it would be easy to feed the baby but this incident proved me wrong. This lady had really huge boobs and her milk had already come in but somehow her baby wasn’t latching on properly and she was suffering from all sorts of pain from the engorging breasts [milk would literally be dripping down and she would have a towel to soak it up - poor thing!], to sore nipples from having trouble latching on to the most obvious, after birth pains of course. My heart really went out to her but there was nothing anyone could do accept encourage to persevere and I can tell you that she is one very relentless person though. Despite all this, she refused to pump and bottle feed her baby with breast milk.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but in my honest one, she should have just pumped and given it to the baby. Why make both parties suffer like that, right? Anyway, it was definitely trying times for her and I hope that she has pulled through. When I think back, I can’t think of a time where I felt like giving up, perhaps for a fleeting moment when I couldn’t get Arianna to latch on but once I knew how, everything was great. I really, honestly, had no troubles at all.

So although I may not be blessed with material riches, or a fancy Ferrari, let alone Ferrari parts, I have been blessed in more ways than I can imagine and truthfully, that is what is most important.