How To Raise Native Children....(On Reserve) #wattys2017

2. Haley

I had some issues when I was pregnant with Haley. Nothing serious. Nothing medical. I just didn't want to believe that I was pregnant. I worked, for a time, at the local cafe. Made decent tips and didn't start to show until the last two weeks. And even then, I had such a small paunch, people were accusing me of lying. Rumors spread about who the father was in the beginning. After I straightened that rumor out (my ex-boss started the rumor after she fired me), I came to learn, that wasn't the only rumor. People believed I had lied about my pregnancy for attention. Now, if anyone knew me, I wouldn't dare start such a rumor about myself. I hated attention. I preferred to be a wallflower. Boy, was it a slap in their faces when I came home from the hospital a new mom.

Haley was a fairly easy infant. She woke up every hour until I figured out how to breastfeed. Then she'd wake up ever three hours. I had so much milk for her, I'd have to pump while feeding her, pump both sides an hour after she finished (30 minutes each side) then pump again while I fed her. Had no choice, really. It hurt if I didn't. And the pain would wake me. Unfortunately, my milk didn't last long. It disappeared about six weeks later and I had to take domperidone to help bring it in. That lasted all of three weeks before the medication stopped helping. Haley struggled to take to the formula. It was a good thing I managed to pump six weeks worth of milk. I used to get 8 to 10 ounces of milk per pumping session. And freezing it helped. I spent those six weeks transitioning her to formula. Sometimes I would mix a bit of breast milk in her formula bottle to 'trick' her into taking it. The breast milk was spread to last two and a half months as I weened her. Haley did well.

Just like any other new mom, I wanted to buy her the best known name brand of formula. Was expensive at $18 a can. Now, the same formula, is going at $32+. Diapers went up a lot as well. I remember my parents complaining about how diapers went up to $15. By the time I had Haley, I paid $20. And these are boxes of diapers. The value packs of diapers. Now, the going rate for a box of diapers, of the same brand is $33-$43, depending on the store and city you buy them. Back when my siblings were still wearing diapers and my parents were spending $15 a box, they had a few kids in diapers. And so, they needed to buy 3-4 boxes a month. Adding them up, it was expensive for that time. So they brought home cloth diapers. I hated them. I had to help wash them, first by hand to get the stains out, then in the wash. Then, I had to wash out the washer basin. Was not fun in the least. We had cloth diapers for a couple of years and I vowed that I would never use them. So when it came time for my little one and spending $20 a box, I still didn't use the cloth diapers. I screeched at my parents when they suggested it. I remembered my siblings. All we did was wash diapers. We had hoards of them and it still wasn't enough. We had 40? 50? Cloth diapers, and those vinyl bloomer things. Diaper covers? It was stupid. One pee and they were soaked through. Had to throw their clothes in the wash and the diaper in the laundry sink full of bleach and hot water. We couldn't just wash one, though. And we weren't allowed to wash them with the other laundry. We got into trouble for that. So there it sat, in the sink. Mind you, it didn't take very long to fill the sink. Three kids in diapers, one pee to fill it.....There was enough by the end of the day. But we had to wash their clothes all day, they didn't have a ton of clothes because there were a lot of kids. I wasn't going to put myself through that again. The idea was ridiculous. Especially since I was living in a one-bedroom unit and had to share the laundry facility with all the other families in the complex. Not happening. So I bought the damn disposable diapers.

Haley was a good baby. She loved to play and have fun. She loved to learn. She was an intelligent baby. I had her first shots done and she ended up with a fever from it. I used a cold rag, didn't work. Her fever spiked, again. I put her in a cool bath, didn't work. She warmed up the water in minutes. When I realized my three month old baby had a fever of 99 and it was still rising, I brought her to the hospital. This took a few days to reach this level, and the Tempra I was given wasn't helping any. I had seen the nurse and asked for Tylenol instead. But, she told me that Tempra worked better than Tylenol. She, also, said to give it a few days and if her fever doesn't break by day three I had to bring her to the hospital. So, that's what I did.