The blog expresses my personal opinion.
What a theme to start the ‘Scavenger Hunt 2012’ with.
I am sorry if that rattles you. That is not my intention.
My intention is to support you and I hope you can bring yourself to read what I have to say and it will hopefully do just that 
:
For weeks and weeks you have been imagining how it will be to give birth and how you will look after your beautiful baby.
You talked to people and/or read books and magazines. You wrote your birth plan. You worked out together how your birth partner (if you have one) can support you best.
You might have not been feeling well in your pregnancy and you might have never felt better (or anything in between).
One thing that most probably has stayed the same is the vision of a beautiful birth. Because if you don’t hold onto that, your fears might just take over and that would make it very hard for you to function in your daily live.
…….And yet I have to ask you to put that picture to the side and think for a moment that your baby might be born early for whatever reason…..
Scary isn’t it? Keep breathing……
Have a think what you would need to have in place to be able to cope with this eventuality:
· What support is at the hospital?
· Do they support kangaroo care?
· Do they support breastfeeding and how?
· Have they got a Breastfeeding counsellor or Lactation consultant working in Special Care (NICU) or do you need to find out who is in
your area and have their phone numbers handy?
· Do they offer to you and your partner counselling (once your baby is home), so you can talk things through and start to heal?
· If you have older children, who can help look after them so you and your partner can both stay with the baby and bond.
It is not an easy theme and I know that most of us prefer not to think about this and just hope for the best. And I also know that having thought it through can give you extra support in your pregnancy as you know you are prepared for everything and it supports you if it happens, because – believe me – most of us don’t have the time or energy in a situation like that to find out what they need and then you have to go along with whatever the hospital tells you to do (which can be everything from brilliant to leaving you feeling lonely and un-supported).
You can find on my links page some helpful websites.
I hope that thinking it through will help you cope should this happen to you and hope you will never need this part of your plans.
Petra
Lactation Consultant IBCLC and La Leche League Breastfeeding Counsellor
Gestalt Counsellor
Other websites who joint the hunt you might find interesting:
Dispelling breastfeeding myth: http://www.mythnomore.blogspot.co.uk/
The secret life of Kate: http://www.thesecretlifeofkate.blogspot.co.uk/
Ponderings of a Doula: http://www.betterbirthing.blog.com/
Smiling like sunshine: http://www.smilinglikesunshine1.blogspot.co.uk