From Failure to Success!

I gave birth to our first child when I was one month shy of 36 years old. We had just celebrated our third wedding anniversary.

We took childbirth prep classes at our local hospital, so when I was in labor, I was shocked by the pain!  My little baby was posterior and his spine and mine were rubbing. This causes intense pain with no peaks and valleys. After many hours of labor in a room with a non-working air conditioning, we decided to have a C-section.

Afterward, I felt grief and feelings of failure (valid or not). My hormones were not happy!  Next, I failed at nursing. Combined with healing from the C-section and not knowing what I was doing, my lactation never really got going like it should and I sadly gave up.

Meanwhile, I began reading books on nursing and was rearing to go with another baby.  Fourteen months later, we had our second child VBAC, with a third child following 2.5 years later, also by VBAC. I had zero problems.

Breastfeeding worked well for the second and third children, extending to over two years each. I have recently heard that VBACs are becoming more frowned upon by the medical community, but I had zero problems with mine.

SUSAN KARSTEN

Waupun, Wisconsin, USA

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