While we wait to find out when our baby will arrive, we are trying to prepare ourselves. I've checked out stacks of books on adoption at the local library. And lately I've been studying up on breastfeeding the adopted infant. (Obviously this is Sara, the one with breasts, writing the blog :) ) I would really like to give my next child the same nutrition that I gave William, so I am trying to prepare myself for what will need to happen. This is another reason why we'd ideally like to have a couple months' notice before the baby comes. I contacted a wonderful lactation consultant at my clinic who was very supportive and gave me a ton of information. Apparently, to have the best chance of producing milk, you need to start preparing your body at least two months in advance. It is possible to induce lactation after the baby is born, but it is much more complicated and having a three-year-old running around would not make it any less so. Preparing my body to breastfeed obviously opens up an additional amount of risk that the birthmom could decide to parent, leaving me with breastmilk and no baby. But I know that there are plenty of parents out there whose babies need mother's milk and they can't provide it themselves, so the milk would never go to waste. I have trust in God's plan that everything will work out for the best in the end, just as it did when we had William. Now I need to contact my doctor (I'm not exactly sure who that is at this point) to make sure they will prescribe me the necessary medications when it is time. After that, it's up to the birthparents, who will hopefully contact us early enough, and also be comfortable with me breastfeeding the baby. I can totally understand why not many adoptive moms breastfeed! It has yet to be seen if I will join the ranks of the few who can.
