I enjoy breastfeeding. Actually I love it. I feel like for me, I bond with my boys, it puts me in a position to spend some real quality time with them. It's forced me to be close to them, in a lot of instances, when a bottle would be more convenient, but then that special time would be lost. I have breast fed for a combined total of almost 5 years. 5 YEARS I have been cuddling close with my boys and nourishing them from my own body. I just think it's a blessing and AMAZING.
I've had a few interesting breastfeeding moments. I was eating a local restaurant, sitting on the inside of a booth and started nursing my first born son, under a blanket. I was asked by the waitress to take my 3 month old to the washroom to nurse him. I nicely replied, I'll nurse my son in the bathroom when they start serving THEIR customers in the bathroom. Did she really expect me to feed my son where people relieve their bowels? EW. GROSS.
I went to the Samco toy sale when Kiefer was only 1 month old. Of course, as we stood in the LONG line up to get to the check out, Kiefer wakes up and decides he's hungry. One month old's do not wait. Even for long line ups when you are 3 people away from the cash. So I did what any mother would do, I held him close, and discreetly started nursing him - while NOT giving up my spot in line. A woman came over to me and started commenting on how sweet my little baby was. She started to look closer at his head and face and then quickly took a step back saying, "oh dear, I'm sorry I didn't realize you were nursing!". I really enjoyed this moment because I hear of all the nasty comments people make about public breastfeeding and here this woman had to walk RIGHT up to me to fully realize what I was doing.
FYI. Some of us ARE discreet. We don't need to remove our top and flash our boobs to the room to get some nourishment into our babies. As a matter of fact, we want you staring at our boobs just as much as we want a PAP smear.
My favorite, and by far, BEST breastfeeding moment happened yesterday. Kiefer, our two year old, had to have some minor surgery. After the surgery we were escorted to the recovery room to be reunited with our little baby. Upon seeing us, Kiefer got really upset. I quickly asked the nurse if I could breastfeed him and she enthusiastically said yes.
*First great thing: she was enthusiastic about me nursing my 2 year old son.
The 2 nurses helped us get him out of bed without tangling his IV, and they quickly whisked away his bed and brought in a BIG comfy chair for us to sit and nurse in.
*Second GREAT thing: they were very accommodating making us comfortable to nurse.
We sat, very comfortably, in our big chair nursing. I was skin to skin with my baby and he was extremely content and relaxed. Next door, however, there was another little guy, same age, who just got out of surgery, who was losing his mind. He was crying so hard he was gagging and almost making himself sick. We could hear through the curtain, 2 nurses and his mother trying to calm him down and get him ready to go home. He probably could have gone home sooner, but he was so upset they really couldn't do their job and get his IV out, and do the necessary paperwork. We heard the nurses say they were just going to leave him for a bit and maybe he would calm down with just his mother there. They started to walk away and all of the sudden they were in our curtained room. The two nurses both let out a sigh almost in unison and then one of them exclaimed, "it's so peaceful in here" motioning to me nursing my son.
****AWESOME MOMENT****
THIS is the sort of moment that should be portrayed on the cover of a national magazine. Extended nursing is not freakish. It's not SO granola (I should know...there's not much else about me that is 'granola'). It's NOT abnormal. It IS normal and natural. God made my body this way for a reason. And that reason has never been more apparent in that small moment. My baby, my 31 month old boy, was resting calmly, happily and was TOTALLY reassured that I was there for him. His blood pressure was normal, his heart rate strong but easy and he was exactly as the nurse stated, "peaceful". All this with the simple act of nursing him.
Our nursing relationship is slowing coming to an end. I'm so happy we held on long enough to have this moment. In 5 years of nursing, this will forever be my favorite moment.
I only hope other's can come to accept extended nursing as a natural and 'peaceful' process like the nurses we encountered did.
No comments:
Post a Comment