It’s been a bit of a trying and emotional day.
Last night Meredith bit me a few times while feeding, and at one point drew blood. The fact she only has bottom teeth doesn’t stop the fangs sinking in and by goodness does it hurt. I’ve never been one for piercings.
Some women free flow milk but my let down is a bit more stubborn and it’s really hard to relax enough to let the milk flow while your palms are sweating and your toes are curled in anticipation of another chomp. In turn she gets frustrated that I’m tense and cries if I take her off (or when I screamed!) and then I worry it means she’s about to bite again…
We’ve had a couple of nice feeds this afternoon and the relief to both of us is quite palatable. Sometimes you need music to let go the feelings so I’ve had a bit of browse on YouTube and found a few tracks guaranteed to make me have cry just enough.
First, Ellie Goulding’s version of Your Song. It’s not my kind of music normally but it was the Christmas John Lewis advert for 2010 and somehow it seemed to be on the radio and TV a lot in the early months of Merri’s arrival. The line “how wonderful life is now you’re in the world” seemed ever so appropriate.
Then Vincent by Don McClean. I first heard a lousy version of this many years ago on Ally McBeal and it took a long time for me to track the song down. It’s just lovely.
Finally, the Loch Tay Boat Song. Far superior to the better known Sky Boat Song. I get quite bad bouts of homesickness for Scotland every so often and this is one of the tracks I listen to get rid of the feeling. I am hoping Meredith will have red hair as I think of her as my “nighean ruadh”.