Colette's Determination

by Colette Broadway

Ian and I had a rough start at breastfeeding. After he was born, he seemed to be latching on ok, but we still were not doing great. The nurses were concerned that he was not getting enough and at one point gave him some sugar water, which I was a little upset by. We came home on a Wednesday and Thursday night I had to go back to the hospital for a D&C. Come to find out, I had retained quite a bit of the placenta and that is why my body was not producing a lot of milk. I did not nurse for 12 hours after the D&C (then I found out later it would have been ok), but little Ian had no problem going between bottle and breast.

I did not realize how hard breastfeeding was going to be at first. Every day I think I wanted to quit, but my husband kept encouraging me to keep trying. We kept on. However, I continued to heavily bleed for several more weeks and went in for an ultrasound that showed I was still retaining placenta parts. But, I waited a few more weeks (10 total) and my body finally must have cleared it all out and I finally stopped bleeding. After that, my milk seemed to come in great and Ian is now thriving on breastmilk! Ian is a happy, healthy baby and I am extremely glad that I did not give up and love knowing that I am able to give him the best nutrition he needs right now.