My Breastfeeding story.

Tonight I went to my first LLL meeting in this county. I had attended meetings while prego with the Beast in our other county. It was really fun and there were a lot of women there my age, which I'll eventually make friends with. Not always easy at first, especially when you're the new girl. TheBeast was the oldest baby there, and those 8 month old babes were bigger than her!! I don't know why I was surprised by this, but there was a baby boy there that weighed 23 pounds!! My Beast hasn't even hit 20 yet! But I'm digressing...
I told them briefly about my problems with breastfeeding the Beast, and thought that I would share with all of you my story. This may be a two-parter, depending on how long it is...not sure at this point, so if you have no interest in this topic at all, you may want to skip this and come back in a day or two :)

When I had SlowMo, breastfeeding was not an option. I was 18 and very immature. I thought it was disgusting, and didn't even attempt it, didn't even think about it in fact. I was still in this mindset when I found out I was pregnant with theBeast. At my first ob/gyn visit, our doctor asked us if we were going to breast or bottle feed. I said bottle, of course. She gave me information on the new formulas and told me that they now had DHA and ARA in them to aid in brain development. I thought that was great, they were now coming even further in the formula dept, and I would be giving my baby the best formula on the market.
We had these monthly game nights at church and one of my friends there is a lactation consultant. She asked me if I was going to breast or bottle feed. Odd question I thought, not something you are normally asked when someone finds out your pregnant. I told her bottle. She asked if I'd consider breast and I told her that breastfeeding was so gross and I wanted nothing to do with it (very mature, I know.). She dropped a book off at my house the next day entitled So That's What They're For by Janet Tamaro. I love to read, and the FantasyMan had been getting on me about this whole bottle feeding thing. He told me that breastfeeding was natural and the way God intended it. I read the book, and then came back with "well, I think I want to try breastfeeding." He was so excited he called my friend and told her I was thinking about it. I then started reading other materials on breastfeeding, and within that next month I was converted. I wasn't going to "try" breastfeeding, I was Going to breastfeed. For the rest of my pregnancy I read everything I could get my hands on about it. I was very knowledgeable about it.
A friend of mine gave birth 3 months before me, and I asked her if I could watch her latch her baby on. She was very secure and didn't mind at all. He latched on wonderfully and nursed like a champ. It looked so easy!! I was sure I could do it.
Before I went into labor, I had all my little papers filled out that said "Please don't give me a bottle, I'm practicing breastfeeding." and "Please don't give me a pacifier because I'm practicing breastfeeding and I might get confused." I was ready for these little messages to be put inside of the Beasts crib/cart thing. What are those things anyway??
I did everything the way I was supposed to during labor. No meds!! I had a completely natural labor so that she wouldn't have any drugs in her system and would be alert for breastfeeding. She was born very quickly after 4 pushes. The first time I attempted to latch her on was about 15 minutes after she was born. Nothing. She didn't open her mouth. I did what I was supposed to...rubbed her bottom lip, rubbed the side of her face. Nothing. She didn't open her mouth and didn't even turn her head. She was comforted by the breast, but just didn't attempt to nurse.
She got all worked up into a tizzy, so I stopped and gave her a break. The FM called my friend, the lactation consultant, and she was on her way. My other friend who had given birth 3 months earlier was there and tried everything she could. Nothing. Lactation friend arrived after I was moved into a regular room, and we tried again. Nothing. Tried several more times. Nothing.
That night around 7 pm one of the nurses came in and said that The Beast had not eaten all day, and really needed to eat something. She said that she had nursed both or her kids until they were 19 months old. Nothing. 2 more nurses called in. Cradle hold attempted. Nothing. Football hold attempted. Nothing. Several other positions attempted. Nothing. She just would not latch on. Finally after an hour and a half, and now a screaming baby, original nurse decides to check her sucking. She put her finger into theBeast's mouth and discovered that the Beast doesn't have a sucking reflex. She also doesn't have a routing reflex, which I had discovered in the delivery room.
Nurse suggested that we give her some sugar water, which I was totally against, but was too tired at this point to fight. We gave her some sugar water from a syringe.
Every two hours I attempted to latch her. Even through the night. Failing each time. We were able to go home the next day. I hate being in the hospital and never take the free day that you get. I want out of there, and as fast as I can please and thankyou. Before we went home though, a lactation consultant came in and said that she'd never seen a baby act like this in her 20 something years in the field. She said I was doing everything correctly...but that my baby was very confused and un-organized. She gave me her number to which I could call anytime day or night and she called me daily, she was very nice.

I think I'm going to stop here. Don't want to bore y'all too badly in one post! LOL. I do realize that it's Wednesday and I'm posting instead of WW. Honestly I'm kinda bored with WW and am running out of ideas. I will still do it occasionally, I just don't want to be tied down...sorry if you came here looking for a WW. Try back next week.

I'll post the second half of my story tomorrow!

Cheers!