Our pediatrician asked if I needed a reminder card with the date and time for Leila’s next appointment… yes, please… and while you are at it you could also write down my name, address and my phone number, since I can’t seem to remember anything anymore. There is no cure for ‘momnesia’ (the forgetfulness that overtakes the mental capacity of a new mother.) Seriously… Dennis just told me that today is Friday… and I feel like I’ve just given birth to Leila less than 24 hours ago. I guess the feeding frenzy, the lack of sleep and pain killers (that I’ve been eating like candy) will do that to you.
Breastfeeding turned out to be a bigger challenge then I’ve expected. Leila has this funny suckling noise while she is eating. During my 5 days in the hospital we had at least 4 different nurses and 2 lactation specialist who tried to help us with this, but eventually gave up and said that this is just the way she sucks. I was also told that because Leila can’t seem to latch on properly she is not getting enough milk. After 2 days she lost more than 11% of her birth weight… my doctor started to panic and tried to talk us into using the formula. They needed to know how much milk she is getting, so I started to pump and it was obvious that it was not enough… Two days and buckets of tears later I finally met our pediatrician – Dr. P. I don’t know how but in less than two hours this woman managed to fix all our problems and assured us that Leila is just learning and everything will be fine… Sure enough, a few days later my milk came in, Leila started gaining weight and I finally was able to take in my first deep breath since giving birth to the bundle of joy. In fact, now I have so much milk I could probably feed the village.