The gorgeous Tiffany Grayson and her daughter Lily (13 months). Now that Tiffany's daughter is over a year old and a toddler Tiffany has found herself very much wanting a baby. She and her husband do want more children but he says he feels bad even asking her to be pregnant again. The first few months of her pregnancy she was so sick she could barely function and right as she was about to get better she developed kidney stones. There wasn't much they could do for treatment other than provide mild pain relief and tell her to drink a lot of water. Tiffany had to be hospitalized a couple of times for rehydration and joked that she would be able to answer the age old question of whether giving birth or passing kidney stones was worse. At 39 weeks she couldn't feel her baby move so she went in to the ER for monitoring and learned her baby was breech. She was offered an external version but didn't want to put herself through more pain and decided instead to follow her doctors advice of a scheduled cesarean. Her daughter was born without incident and while Tiffany healed without issue, her first few days in the hospital were rough. She didn't react well to the morphine and threw up for the first 36 hours after birth. She was able to nurse her baby but between her incision and sickness she wasn't able to hold her much those first few days. She was able to breastfeed but found it incredibly painful and uncomfortable. She learned that they both had thrush and once she was able to get it treated things were much easier. Tiffany had planned on returning for work but as she prepared to, learned that they could no longer afford to support her decision. She had also been dealing with postpartum depression and realized she could not handle the rejection of searching for another job and ultimately chose to stay home which has been the best thing for them both.
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Megan Shaklee
Megan Shaklee and Teddy (10 weeks)
"My breastfeeding story begins with struggling to nurse my first baby, Bella. We had a very difficult time beginning our nursing relationship and had to supplement with formula because she was jaundice. After keeping with it for 3-4 weeks, we finally found comfort in nursing until she developed thrush and I, a breast infection. At 6 weeks old, I had to exclusively pump and feed for 2 weeks until we were both healed. Fortunately, we successfully transitioned back into breastfeeding until she was 13 months old.
Baby two, Emi, took to nursing right away even after being away from me for the first 5 hours of life. She and I successfully nursed until 14 months.
I'm currently exclusively breastfeeding my third, Teddy. He developed eczema at 5 weeks old and at 12 weeks old now, I am doing an elimination diet (going on 2 weeks now) that is helping immensely. I'm hoping to find out which food allergens are causing his eczema so I can help control and keep his flare ups to a minimum.
With my first, I nursed privately; always excusing myself to nurse in a different room if I was around company. With my second, I nursed with a cover. And now with my third, I'm learning to nurse with my baby's and my own comfort in mind. He will be my last; I just want to soak in every second I have breastfeeding him."
Christine Torres
The phenomenal Christine Torres with her son Rocco (23 months). Christine had an easy pregnancy with Rocco with no issues or complications. She always knew that she wanted to have an out of hospital birth so she saw a midwife from the start and planned to delivery at a birthing center. She ended up going post dates and was warned that if she didn't deliver by 42 weeks she would have to transfer care to the hospital. She tried everything she could to induce naturally but nothing was helping. Her 42nd week marker was a Monday so they made a plan for her to go into hospital that Sunday morning for a balloon induction. She would then check herself out and go to the birth center so she'd be able to labor and have the baby there. Thankfully, her labor started and she lost her mucous plug on Saturday night so she didn't have to worry about it. Sunday morning she went to the birth center and labored there all day. Her water broke around 4pm but contractions stalled. She was having a hard time and her mother wasn't supportive at the time. She was worried about the babies health and kept urging Christine to go to the hospital. Christine was very stressed and uncertain and ended up having to ask her mother to leave her birth. Her team suggested they take a break and try to sleep. Everyone rested but Christine, and at 6am on Monday morning she requested that they go to the hospital. She was still hoping for a natural labor and birth but opted for an epidural and pitocin so she could get some rest and hopefully push labor along. She was dilated to 5cms but not going any further. It had been 12 hours since her water had broke, she was past 42 weeks, there was no change in dilation after 5-6 hours and Rocco's heart rate had started to drop. She was told they would be scheduling a cesarean and Christine was very upset. As soon as he was delivered they took Rocco away for 5 hours for observations. Christine struggled with breastfeeding at first, working through pain due to the initial adjustment and getting the hang of things but Rocco also had a posterior tongue tie. She was eventually able to get that revised only to find out that she had thrush. She struggled the first 4 weeks to determine whether breastfeeding was for her or just not meant to be. She was pumping and nursing and trying to make everything fall into place. She was urged to join an in person breastfeeding support group and found it hugely beneficial. She had never been around or even seen anyone else breastfeed and was able to hear stories and identify with new mothers just like herself. She was able to work through the hurdles and is enjoying a breastfeeding relationship with Rocco today. Christine is also still an active part of her local breastfeeding support groups and hosts her own group to help educate new mothers. She has also found hope in healing in connecting with other mothers online who had planned home births and ended up with cesarean birth through resources such as Birthing From Within and Homebirth Cesarean International.
Dimity Spencer
The stunning Dimity Spencer with her boys Wyatt (2) and River (13 weeks). It took quite awhile to get pregnant with Wyatt. Her pregnancy was great, and she very much enjoyed it. However, she found the birthing process to be quite scary, and she was not quite ready for it. Everything went well, and he was fine. She prepared a lot more for River's birth, read lots of books and chose to have a doula present for the entire process. Everything was very calm and went smoothly. Her husband was able to assist and caught River. Breastfeeding has been the hardest part of being a mother for Dimity. She was able to breastfeed Wyatt for 15 months, and River is currently nursing. Both boys started out having a difficult time; she had severely cracked nipples, mastitis and thrush each time. She's settled in fine but found the first few weeks very difficult. Dimity had a hard time following Wyatt's birth and went to a week-long treatment center when he was about 4 months old after which things improved. She was never officially diagnosed with Postpartum Depression but definitely felt the pull. However, things have gone well after River's birth. Dimity chose to participate in the project to give herself a beautiful gift, something she doesn't do often enough.