Motherhood Monday: Inspiring Images Of Mom's Around the World

Motherhood is such a source of power and pride for me! I love images of women and their children, particularly breastfeeding mamma's...but really any image depicting motherhood in general sets my heart aflutter! Motherhood comes in so many different, wonderful, and unique forms, I thought I would share some beautiful images of motherhood from around the world with you all today:

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No matter if you have one, two, or many....motherhood is a beautiful thing

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Breastfeeding in Public....It's a Feminist Issue

This video by PhD in Parenting so PERFECTLY sums up how I feel about breastfeeding in public. Please watch and discuss!

"Breast is Best" Video

I found this little gem on youtube and wish I had seen it when I was pregnant. It is a short but very informative video that I think all moms-to-be should watch. The visual description of a proper breastfeeding latch is wonderful! The c-section was very difficult for me to watch personally as mine was far from a peaceful, empowered procedure such as the one depicted. But it is wonderful to know that changes are happening in that direction. I highly recommend watching this short film, I hope it is useful to some of you.

Thankful Thursday: Breastfeeding Groups are the SHIT!

I love my weekly breastfeeding group. LOVE IT! I go every week without fail, and here is why:

Where else can I....

• meet new moms
• talk about stuff only moms get like leaky boobs, and growth spurts
• watch your baby play with other babies
• talk about your sex life, the REAL one not the one you used to have
• get help and support
• talk to other ADULTS! OMG that alone is HUGE
• get out of the house
• have a reason to get out of my jammies!

I love it so much I swear I will breastfeed Claire until she is 23 just so i can keep going to my drop in group!

(kidding)

(or am I?)

(seriously, kidding)

;)

Breasts, Boobies, Ta-Ta's, Knockers, Titties, Gazoonga's

Call em what you want, once you have a baby your entire relationship with your breasts will forever change. As will they. Breastfeeding is hard, it is a very natural thing, but it does not come easy. At least not for all of us. Most women I have spoken with feel the same, it is rare to meet a woman who says it was easy for them. IT IS WORK! I will be honest with you, this time last week I nearly gave up. I was exhausted, Claire never seemed satisfied and she was CONSTANTLY at my breast. It just seemed like no matter how much she ate she wasn't getting enough out of me. I had to top her up with bottles or have to deal with her screaming all the time. It broke my heart every time I gave her a bottle. Seriously. It was like a little piece of me died each time.

Why isn't she getting enough from me?

Why cant I satisfy her needs?

And then the "nipple confusion" started. There are people out there who will tell you there is no such thing, hell I doubted it at first. She seemed fine bouncing between breast and bottle as needed and then one day that all changed. She started madly wiggling her head back and forth, unable to latch onto me OR the bottle, crying, frustrated, clearly confused. It was HELL. No matter what I offered her now she was upset.

Oh my God I never should have brought in bottles

What have I done, will she ever breastfeed?

That is when I went to see a lactation consultant. Please take my advice, if you ever have ANY problems breastfeeding GET THEE TO A LACTATION CONSULTANT! They are amazing! They are specially trained in just that one thing, and will save your sanity! I learned so much I nearly cried with relief. I was given a prescription for a medication to bring in more milk as it was deemed that I was behind Claire due to my surgical recovery and that we were not able to establish breastfeeding for several days after her birth. I hate taking unnecessary medication, but taking it was THE BEST choice I could have made. Suddenly I had a different child.

She was calm, fed, happy

She slept better

SHE GREW!

I stopped looking at the clock, stopped timing the feeds and worry about how many times she ate in a day, stopped madly pumping. I relaxed. I learned, breathed, and focused on loving my baby. I fed her on demand and learned to recognize her patterns and cues.

Words cannot describe the joy and satisfaction I felt at finally being able to satisfy my baby.  I started breastfeeding her everywhere! Walking in the garden, while cleaning the house, in a sling, and my most recent favorite...in Kensington Market on a recent visit to Ontario.

For those of you that dont know it Kensington Market is the hippy, BoHo, alternative, artsy fartsy centre of Toronto. I LOVE IT! I spent all my spare time there while living in Toronto. Healthy food, vintage shops, awesome coffee and street festivals....it is my lil slice of heaven. Claire got fussy and hungry as I walked through the market and so I found a bench and sat down to nurse her in the sunshine....bliss. Pure and utter bliss. I watched the world pass me by, no one minded me nursing in public, and I felt empowered to be doing so. I even had one woman with her 2 year old son come up and ask if it was ok if she explain to him what I was doing. A beautiful moment.

Breastfeeding is HARD, really really hard. Do not fool yourself into thinking that something so natural, comes naturally to you. It won't. You and your baby will have to learn how to do this together. Your breasts will hurt, your nipples will burn, you will be frustrated, tired, overwhelmed. You will want to give up. But don't. Trust me when I say it does get better. It gets beyond better, it becomes BEAUTIFUL. My breastfeeding sessions with Claire are full of calm, joy, peace, love and bonding. I wouldn't trade them for the world and I already know that I will miss that special time once she is weened.

Motherhood Monday: Better Late then Never

Soooooo it's 6:30 at night and I finally have time to blog. Well I really dont, I probably have about 30 minutes before Ms Fussy Pants wakes up screaming again, and in that time I have to try and pump, eat, go to the bathroom, nap, and bathe if I am lucky. I ain't gonna lie, it's been rough lately kittens. Claire has been having some serious breastfeeding challenges, and I am seriously overwhelmed. To make it worse we also have an trip to Ontario looming on the horizon, we fly out on Thursday morning and I don't know how we will survive it! Even though it is to visit family, I am still dreading leaving our quite little home. I know that with time things will settle, and I am visiting the lactation consultant again tomorrow for help and advice....breastfeeding....sheeeeeeesh! You would think something so "natural" would be so much easier. It's not. GAH!

Sorry to just post a quick rant, but I do miss this lil blog and wanted to let you all know that I am still alive, I miss you all, and am thankful you are all so patient and sticking around. BEST readers ever!

xoxo
Peace, Love and Pickles