Soldier On!

I have a bad habit, I'm a quitter. I don't like things to be too hard, because if I think it's too hard, I'd surely give up. I quit piano lessons because by grade 7 I didn't have the interest nor inclination to put in the hours of practice that was required to pass the exams. I passed all the theory papers, but not the practical! To this day, my regret is not because I gave up piano ( I really didn't like it, I still don't) but because I don't have a certificate that I can show off to people!

There's one thing that I didn't give up though, and it's something I'm very proud of, and that's breastfeeding. I was determined to breastfeed my first child right from the start. I was so confident that there was not a baby bottle nor baby formula in the house! I didn't receive much encouragement from my family, but I didn't receive any discouragements either. I suppose, for a typical Chinese family, that's considered encouragement already!

I remembered that it was really tough. I didn't know what to do most of the time, I wasn't aware how much the baby was drinking, whether she was full or whatever. As my ob-gyn told me, "just put the baby to the breast when the baby cries, one day probably 15-16 times." So I soldiered on, in spite of the sleepless nights, the excruciatingly painful nipples. I remember vividly the pain and the tears that rolled down my cheeks each time the baby suckled. I really thank God that those days went by really quickly and I somehow I survived!

Now, when things start to get tough, I remind myself of my first breastfeeding episode and tell myself, "Girl, if you can go through that, you can go through this too!" And with God on my side, I certainly can!