Appointment with New Midwife

I'm using a new midwife this time (well, she was assisting at the birth of my son, but she wasn't my actual midwife), and I LOVE her. I met with her for the first time yesterday (although we've been emailing back and forth for months), and it was awesome talking to her. The midwife that I used with Ethan just had a much different personality than me. My new midwife is very similar to me in personality. She came over yesterday and stayed for 2 1/2 hours! We discussed the things that I want to do differently this time (and she completely agreed). She also discussed how we ARE going to make breastfeeding work this time. She gave me many suggestions, and told me to basically have a plan in place in advance so it's not stressful. I think it will help me to be less stressed and just more focused. I really think it was the stress that made it harder with the last two... when it didn't seem to be working, I would get so stressed and it made my supply go down even more.

So... I am going to buy a new breastpump because the one I have is painful. She says that a good breastpump can make breastfeeding work MUCH better. If I pump every 2-3 hours, then it will help to increase my supply. Also, she gave me the suggestion of a lactation consultant that she refers her clients to, and she said usually just one visit with this LC will do the trick. She said the visits are 1 1/2 hours, and to just set aside the money ahead of time. Also, I will be cosleeping with this baby, at least at first. My plan is to buy a co-sleeper that goes in the bed, or beside the bed, because the reason I didn't do it in the past was because I couldn't sleep out of fear I would smother Ethan. I have read, and she also says, that co-sleeping makes breastfeeding much easier. Not only does it make it easier because I don't have to get up everytime the baby wakes up, but also the baby being close to mommy actually helps stimulate milk supply (and supposedly helps them sleep better). She also told me of a prescription that some of her clients use that has the side effect of increasing milk supply, and that it would be helpful to have a prescription already when the baby is born so that I can just go get it filled if necessary.

With the last two, I used fenugreek and blessed thistle (two herbs that supposedly help increase milk supply), and I never felt like they worked. As much as I would rather use an herbal supplement, it may be more successful to just go with the prescription this time. She said that with the herbs, you just have to take so much to make it work, and it can get stressful (which, she is right... I was taking like 18-21 pills a day!). And, the more stress, the harder it is to increase supply. So, we are going to have this plan in place, and she said that we even should have a pumping schedule in place ahead of time because it really helps to know what I will be doing ahead of time to increase supply.

I just came out of the appointment feeling like everything will be more successful this time around. I'm really excited and looking forward to the future of this pregnancy and when my little one will be born! I have a lot of time still, though!!