I've been no-mail for too long. I've missed Lactnet!

That might be influencing my perspective, but I wanted to add a note
that when I couldn't afford a private or semi-private room for babies
no. 5&6 I shared a ward with two mothers who rotated quickly out while
bed no. 3 and 4 were occupied by us, two mothers recovering from C/Sec.
None of it was what I planned or expected : the C/Sec; my post-partum
condition -- complicated; the ward room -- they tried to find
semi-private for surgical recoveries; or my attitude. However, it turned
out to be a great occasion for mother-to-mother support. I know it
helped her, because she was a young primip without a lot of support or
knowledge about bf, and I was several babies and 24 hours farther down
the road. But it was also very good for me to have someone to talk to
and to have our partners take turns getting food or running errands.

Come to think of it, I used to feel so desperately lonely when I was
isolated from my husband and children that a private room probably made
it worse. Perhaps I'm not the only one. Having a nurse help me initiate
breastfeeding the first time was probably less emotionally satisfying
than being surrounded by my woman friends laughing at my lack of
expertise would have been. Little wonder that my firstborn was breastfed
at so many parties in his early days.

Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes, whose firstborn is now 19. Egads!

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