visits to the docs are highlights for those in confinement, eh? :p

(boring stuff ahead, but they’re more for my own records. really.)

to summarise, doc checked my stitch (apparently, i only had one, like the last time – how elastic my Netherlands are, i simply cannot fathom) and declared it gone *poof*. the thing about stitches, the peak of its sting is felt some time around the fourth or fifth day, when the thread is drying up. couple that with a ‘bengkung’ wrapped tight around you, sitting down gives you the ultimate OOMPH, i tell ya. (didn’t i mention i’m a masochist?)

there was some discussion on family planning, which i’m sure you’re NOT interested in, ha ha. (and if you ARE – it’s gonna be the needle, baybeh. either that, or cut off those tubes!… ok, kidding.)

another visit due in two months time for a pap smear.

and yes, 7kg down, 3 more to go.

moving on… :p

next was another trip to the paedi, where more questions on her pees, poops and feeds were answered. he assured that the baby’s jaundice is almost gone, and will clear up by itself in due time, so no need for another blood test. hurrah!

i voiced my concern to him about how she sleeps too well at night, and that i even wake her up to feed (well, more to relieve my bursting-to-the-brim ‘udders’, really!). and get this – he said to LET her sleep! a wild idea indeed! apparently, i should count myself lucky that she lets me sleep where others have sleepless nights, and that i shouldn’t change her momentum – just feed her more in the day. hokaaay… i just thought, you know, babies *need* to be fed regularly every few hours. but this girl, hmm… she’s one of those day-feeders, i guess. which is good news for me and the VERY LUCKY husband, but bad news for me boobies! :D

ok, so i guess here’s where i start talking about my revived breastfeeding career.

(i can imagine all the anti-tit-nazis starting to roll their eyes at this point, ha ha.)

ahh. as the wise old saying goes – “the path to total breastfeeding is never easy”. (ok, it isn’t a wise old saying, i just made that up.)

the two days at the hospital after the delivery, i’d set my expectations lower – yes, you read me right, lower. i knew that my supply wasn’t going to be magically abundant. so i did what i did the last time, but without the guilt this time round – got her to suckle for as long as i could, and when i really needed to rest, i allowed the nurses to give her some formula. i knew she wouldn’t take much anyway, because she’d be tired by then from suckling me, and at one to two days old, she wouldn’t be that hungry.

and when we came home on the third day, the milk came in, right on time. hello, boobs!

it’s… kinda like driving a manual car – you sorta remember, but you need a refresher, you know? i admit that the first week is never easy for any mothers attempting breastfeeding – whether you’ve done it before or not!

engorgement? of course. sore nipples? yep. blisters? sure.

but i had superb support and help from the masseuse. she practically trained the baby to open her mouth “big big!” and taught me to pop that “big big” mouth – NGAP! – onto where it’s supposed to. (ok, she actually suggested that i video auni do the “open big big!” trick and put it up so other mums can do the same with their babies too – maybe i should get funding from the health ministry for a public awareness campaign? hmm. :p)

that sorted, she went on to massage the engorgement away – and it did, instantly. hurts like hell, coz here you have two rocks on your chest, and they get kneaded and squeezed, and you’re squeaking and squawking away, coz the rocks are very sensitive, can? but nevermind, masochist says, “pain is in the mind”…

the blisters, well, once you got the latch right, those things dry up in no time, with all that sucking. mine came off by itself within a week.

and after that one week teething period, so to speak, we’re on cruise control. (what is up with this car analogy, hana??)

but i must disclaim that i only speak for myself, coz i know this whole “BF” issue is like treading on glass. every mum, and every baby, is different!

i had an enlightenment during my two-day stay at ‘hotel eastshore’ when auni had jaundice. i was sharing the room with a mother who’d just given birth to a baby boy just five days before. he was warded for jaundice too, being born a few weeks earlier than his due date, with a cord around his neck.

the room being so confined, i couldn’t help but overhear a lactationist giving her advice and trying to show her how to do the football hold. later on, i could tell she was having a hard time whenever she tried to feed the baby, so i walked past and asked if she needed help, coz her baby was screaming his head off while she was helplessly trying to get him to latch (and coz i’m freaking kepo, i know). she said yes, so i tried the tickle-the-chin-and-”open big big!”-and-POP-mouth-onto-areola thing with the baby.

but i realise that her nipples were short, and the baby’s mouth was small, and she wasn’t comfortable holding the baby, and he was hungry and impatient, and… well, it IS hard, isn’t it?? :S

so yeah, i felt her frustration.

and i thank my lucky stars to have nubs just right for my babies with their big big mouths.

to soon-to-be mums, i wish you all the best if you intend to set on The BF Path. remember to, err, pull those nippies if you think they’re too stubby! (they’re pretty stretchy you know. or you can try nipple pullers, i hear they work.)

and if you need that “open big big!” video… i get auni to demo on izad, ok? :p

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