My BF Journey
My breastfeeding journey was not the easiest. I had to defeat odds against a complicated delivery. I can’t say my race didn’t play a role. I can 100% say shortness of staff, a overwhelming night, and complicated patient who had to have police involved did! I had Drs who were not listening but rushing for sure. I shared my birth plan with them, which was reiterated by my husband and Doula. Yet, they ignored my continuous disapproval of a foley balloon. After it was inserted w/o my awareness, I was told I was just being examined to determine if it should be used (3 witnesses) a Dr came in mid exam and inserted it. No discussion. I started vomiting violently. Before I had time to recover from dehydration and exhaustion I was told to push. I passed out a couple of times. I hemorrhages dangerously and my placenta had to be scraped out because it wasn’t triggered to drop. We moved too fast. But my baby said “no worries mommy! I got this” and latched on her own. There were no conscious pictures of me. There were tiers of happiness while I hummed old chants from my family. I was told that age plays a role in Breastfeeding (BF) but I didn’t let that rumor/sexist/agist stereotype deter me. I was later informed that delivery complication could significantly impact your milk productions. But because I was so determined I did not let that happened. I was able to BF my baby 100% till she was 6 months, then dropped to 60/70%. I had stored breast milk I used for backup which lasted another month. Today, Aria is 10 months and 2 weeks, I am able to give her a snack or comfort source of BM. To hell with making women feel they can’t do something because of their age. Advocate for yourself. If I listened to the nay sayers I would have had a hysterectomy at 22 and never tried to give birth or BF! #lookatmenow #ivfsuccess #breastfeeding #blackbreastfeedingawareness #breastfeedingawarenessmonth #blasianbaby #babygirl #bwam #mominher40s #40smom #ivfwarrior