New Mama Neighbor!

I met a new dad in the elevator of our apartment building today! His daughter is 12 days old. So of course I gave him one of my blog cards. (They're very cheery, with blue flowers...) I remember how valuable it was to me to have another nursing mama in the building when we brought little Robert home. We were exhausted and terrified, and my nipples hurt and it seemed like I was never going to figure this breastfeeding thing out. We were still working on latching and didn't yet know that I had yeast (ugh), and I was miserable. I dreaded the next nursing, and would procrastinate until the poor little guy was too mad to latch on well. I was convinced it would always hurt. Then my neighbor mama RC told me she hated it at first too, that it was painful and difficult and she was frustrated. "Now I love it," she said, very matter-of-factly.

Mama RC is not one to blow sunshine up one's skirt. She is immensely practical and down to earth and capable - if you have to organize moving the entire country one foot to the left, you want her to do it. So I sort of looked at her incredulously, thinking, "That is not possible. But I know she would not make that up." This is the sort of woman who would not lie if the real answer was "it still sucks and I can't wait for it to be over." But she didn't say that, so it must be true, she loves it. It gave me a glimmer of hope. And of course you all know the result - I loved nursing Robert so much, I cried when it was over, and blogged about it for weeks. Not that it takes much to get me to babble for weeks, but on the other hand my attention doesn't always stay that rapt.

So on I struggled. And it did get better. It got less painful, I got more confident in it, and then one day I realized I had liked it for a while. And soon, I loved it. I got a happy mama bliss moment when we got started nursing, and felt so wonderfully bonded to Robert, and so proud of myself for persevering. And that was while we were *still* fighting the yeast!

So I hope my neighbor hangs in there. I read in one of my nursing books - Companion or Womanly Art, don't remember - an interesting analogy. Quitting after a few weeks is like going to see a movie you are really excited about, dealing with traffic and parking, waiting in a long ticket line, waiting in a long concession line, finally getting to your seat, and then deciding the whole thing is taking too long and going home, just when you were about to get a tremendous reward for your trouble. But the movie is great, will last longer than the unpleasant beginning, and will give you wonderful memories for years.

I promise it's worth it new mama! And I'm in 1402 if you want to talk.

Much love to you all!
Suzi