The teacher made the mistake of telling us last week that the breastfeeding class was optional. I could practically hear the lightbulb going off over Mr. I's head. I just knew he was going to bail. I told him I wanted him to come, but I knew somehow he would get out of it.
So last night he came home from work in a bad mood and not feeling well. That upset me because seriously, if you don't want to go that badly, just say it. Don't put on this big show, it only pisses me off - which is exactly what I told him. To his credit, he immediately switched tracks and snapped out of the funky mood, but still. Ugh.
Did I want to trudge out in the snow and bitter cold to go to class last night? No. But I did. And that's after getting up at 4am. At the beginning of class I was sitting there feeling kind of pissed off and wondering why I'd bothered to go. I was not the one who had a lot to learn about breastfeeding! I read a whole book just about breastfeeding, and listened to several podcasts by lactation consultants. Mr. I was the one who needed to be there, not me.
But then, as it turns out, I did learn some things. The most helpful part was a video we watched that showed, very close up, how the baby is supposed to latch on. Through all the descriptions I have heard and read of the proper positions, I have never seen or even heard this described... the most I've heard about latch is that the baby needs to have most or all of your areola in his mouth. In the video they showed that your nipple should actually be up by his nose as he approaches; you sort of point it up, put the bottom of the areola into his mouth and let the nipple pop in last. So most of his mouth is filled with the bottom areola section, and the nipple is up at the roof of his mouth... the top of the areola being not as important. I'm sure the lactation consultants at the hospital will know this but it was interesting to see it on video.
I decided in class that something I'm probably really going to want is to have Mr. I hang out with us when I'm breastfeeding, especially in the first week when he's home with us and I'm still getting used to nursing. I can picture a scenario where every time I nurse he considers it his free time and is off playing video games or using the computer, and then I get frustrated because I'm alone, I'm stuck on the couch, I'm thirsty, I dropped something on the floor and can't move, etc.... plus I may feel like I'm "stuck" doing all these feedings and he has all that free time. So I told him after class that that's what I want and it's going to be important to me. I'm sure he'll be great... I should give him that much credit... I just want to make sure these things are clearly stated ahead of time so we don't have to argue later when we're all hormonal and sleep deprived.
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