Breast is Best? A New Mom's First Try at Breastfeeding

Breast is best. I think that is the very first thing I was told by my midwife, after she told me I was pregnant that is. I being the millennium hippie type that I am had already decided that I was going to definitely nurse my child. I had these romanticized vision of my new bundle of joy suckling at my breast. Me looking down at her, her looking up at me being grateful for the nourishment I was giving her. I read the books. I was surprised at the mention of "some mild discomfort". I figured how much discomfort can it be, the kid is all gums right? Wrong! An hour after Lailah was born I put her to a boob and she looked at me and gave me look that clearly meant "and what and the heck do you want me to do with this?" She than went to sleep. The nurse/lactation specialist told me to take her clothes off to wake her up. I did and tried to nurse her again. She would not latch on. I held her while the nurse/lactation specialist tried to shove me into her mouth. That did not work. After about 45 minutes she finally took the thing, for two minutes and went to sleep. I felt so rejected. I wanted to give up. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask for a bottle of formula but I figured I should just give it some more time. At her next feeding she latched on great. Than that "mild discomfort" kicked in. If by mild discomfort they meant extreme pain than yeah it was mild. It was like she was trying to suck out my soul through my nipple.