1) I wish, even though I ended up having c-sections, that during my antenatal classes, they had taken the time, esp for first timers like i was, to explain the possibility of a c-section. Don't get me wrong, the classes were brilliant but kinda made me live in a world of expecting to have a natural birth. My gf lives almost the same story to tell that we both now feel like failures and get quite upset when we hear people 'just gave birth naturally'. (both had the same OBGYN, same hospy etc) After my first c-section I was in so much shock I never bonded with my truely amazing and gorgeous little boy and i beelive that led me down the path to PND. I felt I had failed from the moment we had a c-section.

Make sense!?

2 - Not be afraid to admit that you need help with things, and to seek help where you can, like with breastfeeding and the baby, that it is OK to bug the nurses and midwives in hospital. Pepper them with questions, and seek help when you can. But to also realise that sometimes their advice is not the be all and end all, and to ask the nurse on the next shift for a different perspective if you feel uncomfortable with the way things are going.
I could not agree more.

With DS#1...I felt / thought that because I was a woman, had been pregnant and had a bbay that I should know what to do and basically never asked a question for the whole 7 nights I was in hospital.

With DS#2...I buzzed them for everything, even to adjust my bed! I was making up for it! DS#2 was a darn noisy sleeper and had this squeak which drove me batty so he slept at the nurses station every night! I was the BOSS!!!

I also asked question about bf, even though I bf DS#1. I asked them because i felt I couldn't the first time and wanted to 'make peace within myself' iykwim.

xxxx