Thank you.

I posted this on the website of the hospital where I delivered my first two babies. I can never sing the praises for Methodist hospital enough! I had my first baby there in early 1997, I had a lot of trouble getting breastfeeding started but the nurses and lactation consultants were so wonderful, they helped me so much! I went on to nurse my first baby without any formula, a huge goal of mine! I read so often on breastfeeding pages on facebook about the struggles first-time moms have with breastfeeding and how the hospitals where they deliver are not helpful... It's very sad. I had my second baby at Methodist in 2004, because of my success in breastfeeding my first child I had a much easier time getting breastfeeding established the second time. Once again everyone who I came in contact with at Methodist was a gift to me. When my baby was 7-weeks old I found myself at Methodist having an emergency appendectomy. The lactation consultants provided me with a high quality pump and once I could nurse my baby again they let her stay with me until I went home so I could breastfeed her. I had my third baby at an Army hospital in 2007, a very different experience indeed. Due to the women who had helped me in 1997 I knew how to breastfeed and I went on to breastfeed my third baby without formula. I had my fourth and last baby at a hospital in Wichita, Kansas in 2011. My husband was in the Air Force so we had different experiences with doctors and hospitals in five states total. My fourth baby had a heart defect-three holes in his heart- I truly believe it was the guidance of the lactation consultants on February 27, 28, and March 1st of 1997 at Methodist/Childrens who gave me the gift of knowledge, I was able to exclusively breastfeed all four of my children, including my son who underwent open-heart surgery at Duke University Hospital in January 2012. Even he, small as he was, with three holes in his heart, was breastfed without formula, again, a goal of mine, that would not have been possible without the wonderful experience I had with my first baby. So I say, thank you Methodist, thank you to your nurses, thank you to your lactation consultants, thank you for truly caring about your patients, you are making a difference that lasts a life time and I will forever remember you and be thankful because you made a difference in my life and the lives of my children that I can never be thankful enough or find the right words to express.