Hi, I’m Linn. I am a 38-year-old mother. The mother of Mia. Her birth took about 5 hours, from the time we left home to head over to the hospital. I was clear with my partner to not let them give me epidural. When the pain worsened, I could have killed someone! I begged for relief, the nurse offered me something to help me sleep, and I took it. At that point, I was feeling all of the pain, but I fell asleep every few minutes. After a few hours of labor and only opening to 2 cm, something started to move. I had dilated 10 cm, but Mia but simply couldn’t manage to come out. Her pulse dipped very low and they decided to help her come out with a vacuum. It was the worst. I will spare you all the details. Mia was finally born at 41 weeks and 1 day.
Breastfeeding went well from the very first day, in the hospital. I was never worried about whether she was eating enough. I just was so connected to her and to my role in motherhood. I always trusted my instincts. When she was three weeks old, I had a breastfeeding consultation in my home. I wanted to make sure I was doing ok. She gave me great tips, like breathing deeply, to help the baby to continue nursing when she would begin to fall asleep. We are still breastfeeding today. She just turned two years old on the 3rd of January. Mia drinks mommy’s milk when she wakes up in the morning and during the still moments before bed time. I did nurse in public when she was younger. Yet, there very few opportunities during the day that she wants to breastfeed. We are always at home and usually we nurse while laying in the bed.
At 20 years old, I got out of the army and moved to Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city. I lived there for 15 years. When I met Mia’s father and got pregnant, we sought out life in a peaceful village outside of the urban area. Mia was born there, so I did not have the chance to be a mother in the city. My heart grew full of passion as it led me to create an urban nursing project. This special project urban breastfeeding project is a documentation of mothers and babies during their day to day routine at home and in public nursing where the baby/toddler wants to eat whether in a cafe or waiting for a bus or on the way home from the garden. The project is growing and developing slowly, but it is very exciting. I look forward to future exhibitions around the world.
Linn Memran Photography Moshav Aviel, Israel
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