The joys of nursing...

yes I will admit, the title is sarcastic, I have yet to be able to enjoy nursing yet. I know it will come and wouldn't have it any other way... but right now its a trial in my life and OH SO FRUSTERATING!

So if your not into reading about breastfeeding or my nipples stop reading this post now and just scroll down for the latest cute pics!

So apparently Jennalee has a SMALL mouth and cannot get my nipple in her mouth correctly... 1. I was holding her too high, and 2. she's not opening wide enough. So this results in tongue flicking on my actual nipple instead of under it and that leads to cracked bloody nipples... yeah that's right grab yourself in pain just thinking about it, because I do! OUCH, Once or twice I pulled her off and just cried it hurt so bad. I figured I didn't know if I could heal while nursing or If I would have to pump until i healed and i wasn't sure exactly what caused it and so I took action. I called one lady and left her a message on the phone, then I emailed a different lady because the first didn't call back, that lady said she was going out of town for 3 days to try this 3rd lady, so I did but she was based in SLC so she could only talk or type and by this time I was determined that someone needed to come see what the problem was to diagnose instead of saying it could be this or this or this... GRRRRRRRRRr...... So then I finally got a call back from the first lady 3 days after I left the message and she directed me to someone here local cause i guess she was in St. George to talk to. I called her immediatly and she said she wanted to come over RIGHT THEN thank goodness someone was really willing to help me.

She arrived perfect timing we woke the baby up and went to town. She moved the baby down lower so my nipple pointed at the roof of her mouth more and get the tongue further away, then said i needed to use a nipple shield for 3-5 days until i healed and then to try just one session without it, then upgrade the next day to two and so forth. So the shield is amazing, seriously it took my pain levels from a 8.5-9 down to a 2 GREAT news! Also I had to swith to nursing only one side at a time to give each side a lot more time to heal and to relax, the pain causes the milk to stop or slow... well that explains why she would eat and be hungry 30min later. WHEW! (I had tried the shield myself the night before but Jennalee wanted nothing to do with it and just made me cry because she was screaming so MAD because she didn't want the shield... anyway It was hard) the nurse had a syringe with my pumped milk in it to shoot in her mouth at the same time as the shield to tell her it was ok this was new but had milk for her too. She took onto it right away!

The lady also said that she could and would learn to get her whole meal in 30min so no camping out i'm not a national park, she said the first time I pop her off after 30min she would be hungry but by the time the next side came around it would be compensating. AND let me tell you it did... i was ready to burst... OUCH in a whole new way. Anyway very interesting.

So i will admit i can't seem to get her full in 30 min the lady said she should learn to get it all in , but i'm telling you she just can't she isn't done, i'm not near empty and she is hungry way moe frequently. So I know the sheild doesn't send out as much milk, so maybe after the shield is gone this will work better.

We went up the canyon with Sherie this past weekend and I forgot my shield...(that story to follow) well o'well can't let the baby starve,, i was more concerned the baby wouldn't know what to do without the shield because the shield is like a madonna boob sticking WAY out there LOL but she latched and went to town and I will also say that it was only like a 3 on the painscale so maybe she is opening up wider practicing with the shield. *shrug*

Also the lady said I should be soaking 3-4 times daily in a 1/2 tsp salt to 1 cup water solution... I did once and soaked myself and keep forgetting since LOL but I should it will help me heal faster and will kill any bacteria so nothing gets infected... but its hard to find time to think about it let alone soak for 10mins 3-4 times a day.

Ok, that's my nursing rant. I am glad we have figured out the problem and hopefully i'm onto recovery so nursing can be enjoyable and not just a source of high frusteration!!!

XOXO