Things No One Ever Talks About

First of all, isn't this the cutest shirt ever? Thanks Kelly! :)

Anyways, I want to get a few things off my chest. There seem to be a ton of things pregnancy and baby related that no one ever seems to talk about, until after you have had a common experience. Then, it seems safe for them to "confess," I suppose.

1. I had an epidural. Then, a ton of people also told me that they had an epidural, too. No one made me feel like it would be alright to have one before I went into the hospital, but told me about it afterwards.

2. All the books and lactation consultants say that a new mom will make enough milk for her baby and to just keep breastfeeding. It turns out that really isn't the case all the time, especially with first babies. More people supplement breastfeeding with an occassional bottle than I knew. In fact, I didn't even know that was an option until after my baby ended up in the ER for jaundice and dehydration because my milk took a few days longer to come in. This happened under the supervision of lactation consultants and everything! I felt so guilty about sending my baby back to the hospital when he was only 4 days old that it totally traumatized me. I've only started to feel better about things this week, and I'm finally starting to be able to function like a normal person again. Guilt can be so debilitating.

Anyways, everyone keeps saying that breastfeeding is hard, but that it eventually just "clicks." That isn't helpful at all. Someone should explain that if the baby still seems hungry, you can go ahead and feed it a bottle of formula to make sure that it is getting enough to eat. So, I guess this is my public service annoucement on that topic. :)

On a lighter note, Connor had another doctor's appointment yesterday, and he has gained a pound since he was born, and he has grown an entire inch! He is very healthy and all his test results came back normal, so we can stop going to the doctor's all the time for a while. In fact, we don't have another appointment for six weeks, and that is just a regular well-baby check-up!