Baby’s here. 
Born July 6 at 1:51 after a precip labor lasting about 3 hours from the first contractions to baby’s birthday.
The hospital stay went surprisingly well. I was “allowed” to keep the baby with me for more than an hour after birth. Once he was out and I said hello, I immediately undid my gown and held him near the breast. I let him stay skin to skin until he started showing interest, then I made sure his mouth was near the nipple. When he started fussing, I did a slight “nipple sandwich” and let him latch himself on. No pressure, and everything on his timeline as he showed interest. His latch was great and he nursed for a good 45 minutes.
He had some issues with maintaining body temperature even after an hour of skin to skin, and his little feet and hands were grayish and not turning pink even with my rubbing them. So we let him go to the nursery for some time under the warmer. I insisted that dad go with him. The nurse, who noticed that I had been nursing him, confirmed that I was exclusively breastfeeding, and I asked her to put a sign in the bassinet. His daddy apparently chased away the formula gift-bag people, so while I was asked a few times about formula/pacifiers before people saw the sign, there was no pressure exerted to give him formula or a pacifier. It was nice.
I have a post on the “language of feeding” used by hospitals and doctors coming up, though. Despite being supported and having multiple people stop by the room to offer support if I needed it.. And despite one very awesome nurse manager who apparently nursed her two little ones until they were over two years old.. There’s a language that is used that encourages questions to be asked, that sort of eases mom in the direction of formula. It’s all very subtle, but it’s easy for people to fall into formula feeding.
Two upcoming posts:
“The Language of Feeding” and “Even Veteran Breastfeeders Get the Blues” (Loki, despite his excellent initial latch, still managed to shred my nipples because he persistently tucks his lips under while latching. I’ve done all the normal tricks, but he’s a little barracuda and those lips have a mind of their own. I’m able to prevent it most of the time now (with sort of a modified “breast sandwich” that uses two extra fingers to push the lips out while he latches. But he still gets on all kerflooey sometimes and I’m too busy squeaking in pain to unlatch and try again or to pop his lips out for a second or two.
Nipple cream is my friend, and we’ll get it eventually.
Congratulations on the birth of your son
Hope his latch gets sorted and things go really well. Enjoy your first few days together.
I used nipple shields with all three babies. everything in moderation. I’d latch them on that to help “teach them” how to do it, and once they got going good, I’d unlatch them.. take the shield off, then latch them back on if they were interested. Worked like a charm for me, and helped save my nipples. =)
Congratulations! Keep on going with the breastfeeding. Those first few weeks can be a challenge.
Congratulations Sara!