Our Amazing Network
Nancy Mohrbacher Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 8:30PM Yesterday morning my new grandson, Jakub Carl Mohrbacher, entered the world at 7.5 lbs. After 24 hours of labor with her first baby, my daughter-in-law Ania realized her dream of a natural, unmedicated water birth. One my gifts to her was the services of a labor doula, Ayla, who was invaluable to Ania in managing her contractions.
I feel grateful today to Ayla, Ania's nurse-midwife Margaret, and my entire birth and breastfeeding network. I liv
ANIA & JAKUBe in the Chicago area and my son Peter and Ania live in Atlanta. Ania’s mother will be the first to arrive at in Atlanta on Thursday to provide round-the-clock help to the new family. When she leaves, I’ll fly there to spend two weeks as their helper at the end of July.
In other words my connection to them in the last two days was strictly by phone, e-mail, Skype, and text. But I played an active role. When Peter told me Ania was initially having trouble getting little Jakub latched on well, I made a phone call to the lactation department of her hospital and asked them to please look in on her, leaving her room number on the message. With their permission, Ruby, the hospital LC, was kind enough to call me and report back after she saw them. Fortunately, Ania needed just a little tweaking to get Jakub nursing well. When a resident walked into their room and mentioned the possibility of separating mother and baby, I began calling all the lactation consultants and mother-to-mother breastfeeding support people I knew in Atlanta to get a recommendation for a breastfeeding-friendly pediatrician they could request in the hospital. That situation turned around quickly and now no separation is planned.
My son Peter on Father's DayI offered to schedule a home visit on Tuesday after hospital discharge with Claire, a private practice lactation consultant. Peter gladly accepted this offer as a way to set their minds at ease.
Today I extend my gratitude to Ayla, Margaret, Ruby, and Claire, to all I spoke to who gave me help and encouragement, as well as everyone else who touched the lives of my family. I also give thanks for everyone everywhere who helps birthing and breastfeeding mothers.
As I did my best to help Peter and Ania navigate these hurdles and to smooth their way, I couldn’t help but also think of the many new mothers who are not connected to this amazing network and who struggle alone and unaided. My fondest hope is that someday every new mother will get the help and support she needs.
Cultural Commentary, My Life
Reader Comments (6)
You know Nancy i really jell with the term' breastfeeding friendly paediatrician". I am One but there are so many who say they promote breast feeding but won't go that extra mile to do so.
Congratulations on your remote controlled sucess.
Sunita
Congratulations Nancy, to you and your family! It takes a real community of support to get moms and babies off to a good start. This is such a great example of how we can be proactive from a distance. Recently, my niece gave birth to twins at a hospital that is not baby-friendly. They went home after a c-sec, no skin-to-skin, isolette "warming", swaddling and supplement to treat hypoglycemia... needless to say, I have been messaging regularly, and though I don't have as close a bond as you have to your son, I was able to provide email support, contact the nearest LLL Leader (who also happens to have twins) and determine that someone would be able to come visit if need be. My niece tried the suggestions I mentioned to improve latch, has the name and number of the LLL Leader as well as excellent twin related information, was able to wean off of supplement after 3 weeks and, most important, knows that the support is there if she needs it and that there are people who care enough about their breastfeeding success to go the extra mile to make it happen. And that, perhaps, is the biggest and most important thing.. someone cares!
I am sure you are going to really enjoy your time with your new grandbaby and, importantly, you will enjoy knowing you did the best you could to ensure your family has the support they need to raise a healthy and happy child. What a blessing! Perhaps websites such as Milk for Thought will help families with fewer inside connections line up the same kind of support all over the country.. let's hope!
CONGRATS and great job! As a grandma AND a lactation support professional ;-)
I think that is why all of my mom's 22 (soon to be 25!) grandchildren have been breasfed....we all help, support, encourage, and just make the whole family so breastfeeding friendly, even the sisters-in-law have all been long-term nursers!!!
Congratulations, Nancy! Best of luck to your daughter-in-law, son, and new grandbaby as they begin this grand adventure in their lives. Thanks for suggesting great ways for distant grandparents to help (in-home visits with IBCLCs.)
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