So impressed

I was so impressed with the maturity, appreciation, and willingness to participate that the girls at Seton Home showed at the first support group meeting on thursday.

The meeting started off with a prayer led by one of the girls. She thanked jesus for seton home and for her beautiful baby girl and for the guests (us) coming to talk to them. I am personally not someone who generally prays before meals, but I found this prayer to be a great reflective start to our meeting. Next, Miranda, Stephanie, and I shared pizza and cookies and talked with the girls for about an hour. We kept the discussion casual and allowed the girls to share their experiences and ask questions.

There were 4 moms who came to the meeting with their babies, and 6 girls who are currently pregnant. They have due dates ranging from this month to next march.

Of the moms who came with their babies, all but one are currently breastfeeding. The one mother who is not breastfeeding is 16 and just had her baby 2 weeks ago. She had been giving a bottle AND breastfeeding until 2 days ago when she began giving the bottle exclusively. She said in the meeting that she didn't know why she stopped. At the end of the meeting, after we had discussed many of the benefits of breastfeeding with the girls, she asked us, "so...if I decide to start breastfeeding again after 2 days of not doing it, will I still have enough milk?" We assured her that her milk would increase to meet her babies demand since it had only been a couple of days. Perhaps she will breastfeed her little one a little longer! I felt like that was a great start to the first support group meeting.

It was such a soothing, positive environment with the girls who are already moms sharing their thoughts and stories with the girls who are soon-to-be moms. Two moms were breastfeeding during the meeting. so cool!

It appears as though we have some work to do by encouraging the Hospital where these girls give birth to be more "baby-friendly" ie more supportive of breastfeeding. One girl shared her experience that a nurse gave her baby a bottle in the nursery because he was fussy, despite her insisting that he not get any bottles or pacifiers. How frustrating!

I am hopeful that we will continue to get a good response from the Seton Home girls, and that we can get more students from UTHSCSA involved in the next support group meeting. Thursday was a great start and made me excited to go back.