Sunday, November 10, 2013

My Wonderful Husband

Recently I was thinking about how far I came when it comes to nursing.  Nursing did not come easy for me.  I had to jump through a lot of hurdles, which included a tongue tied baby, low milk supply, milk blisters and more.  I really wanted to breastfeed my baby and my husband also wanted me to breastfeed too. We had taken a breastfeeding class when I was pregnant and it sold him on the idea of breastfeeding.  Well, when the baby was born nursing did not come naturally for me.  And I don't think it came naturally for baby either.  We both struggled at it.  In fact I struggled with it so much that we had to feed baby formula a couple hours after she was born.  I felt like such a failure.  However , the Women's Heath unit at Mayo had wonderful nurses and lactation consultants.  They were really supportive and willing to see me succeed.  However, once we left the hospital it was just me, baby, and hubby. 

The next 2-3 months were really hard for me.  I would have several visits with lactation.  However throughout the whole time my husband was my cheerleader.  He would continually tell me how proud he was of me, he was willing to help out around the house and do the grocery shopping so I could focus on nursing and pumping.  When he was off from work for paternity leave he would wake up with me in the middle of the night for the night feedings.  He would sit on the couch with me while I nursed.  He would change the diapers and bring me the baby.  When we were supplementing each feeding with pumped milk, he would handle all the supplemental feedings when he was home.  Right away from day 1 I was pumping to make sure my milk came in and then to help increase my milk supply.  My husband was the one who would wash all the parts for me. 

That wasn't the only thing my husband did.  For the first two weeks he changed all but probably a couple diapers.  I think I only changed one diaper before he went back to work.  When I was on maternity leave, he would come home everyday for lunch and help me.  Sometimes it was just changing the diaper.  Other times it was watching the baby so I could shower or take a short nap.  I was so grateful that he would take the time to come home everyday.


Now my husband willingly picks up the baby from daycare everyday.  He helps clean the kitchen most nights, in fact baby even helps with unloading the silverware from the dishwasher (she loves it!).  And he still changes the diapers everyday.  Most nights he gets the baby ready for bed right before I feed her.  It means so much to me that he does all these things.  It gets to be a lot for me to go to work, take care of the house, and take care of the baby.  I easily tire.  Every little bit that my husband does to help out means a lot. 

I am very thankful for my husband.  He means a lot to me.

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