Hello! I need some advice about BF my youngest child and I have real reason to know I'll find it here! This is my sixth baby, the third I've given birth to. My oldest was born in 2003, scheduled C-section @ 38 weeks. No problems.

Two years later our triplets were born. We adopted them. I was in the room for their C-section @ 34 weeks, and thanks to having begun the accelerated protocol two months prior, began breastfeeding within an hour of their birth and continued almost exclusively for almost a year. (I DID begin to allow my husband to feed each triplet one bottle of formula per day at around 4 months. This was because emotionally and mentally being the sole source of nutrition for three babies just got to be too much! I found this small amount of supplementation was enough to take the mental pressure off and allow me to continue breastfeeding successfully.)

I stopped breastfeeding them when they were almost a year old and I became pregnant with our youngest son. Take this into account moms who are inducing lactation--BFing my adopted trio stopped my ovulation and menstruation. I must have ovulated for the first time when they were 9-10 months old and not realized it. I became pregnant without having gotten my period back. This was an incredibly high risk pregnancy. My son was born between 35 & 36 weeks via C-section when an amniocentesis revealed meconium. He was in the NICU for just over two weeks. Most of his feeds in the hospital were my milk, between my being there as often as I could through the day and pumping through the night, then bringing the results the next morning for them to feed him the next night. Once he was released from the hospital there was no more need to pump & BF continued for almost two years.

Now that my youngest son has just turned six, and 10 years after my first pregnancy,
I've had my only daughter. This pregnancy was even more difficult than the last. I have spent the last two months hospitalized. There was no problem with her or the pregnancy. My cervix, placenta, water, anything you can measure or evaluate having to do with pregnancy was fine. It was my heart condition, asthma and diabetes that, frankly, almost killed me. The plan was to deliver her at 36 weeks, but after another aspiration incitent sent me to the ICU where, once again, I nearly lost my life, my doctors conferred. Once I was returned to the regular Antepartum floor (no longer in ICU) they came in to talk to my husband and I. They told us that the entire medical team had had a meeting. "None of us believe we can manage you clinically anymore, Jamie." My husband and I looked at each otter, not understanding what on earth that meant. He leaned in close and clarified, "We don't think we can keep you alive and pregnant for another three weeks." They had decided to get her to 34 weeks and do the C-section then, to save my life.

C-section went down two days ago. Even IT was dicey. Ended up at the last minute having to be down under general anesthesia. Nevertheless, I am now recovering and my baby is incredibly strong. She did not need to be born early for her, and I so wish I had given her those extra weeks in utero. She is in the NICU because she's on an IV, though they are lowering her fluids after each feeding. There is a good chance that she can be by my bedside by tomorrow.

Unfortuately, I am not having any success this time with breastfeeding. I've been pumping and I'm getting jut a few drops of colustrum. I have not been able to get her to latch AT ALL! NOT ONCE!!!! My nipple is much larger than her mouth--I'm not sure how to handle that. Any advice would be very much appreciated and timely.