One of the privileges of being a new mom is nursing your little one. Unfortunately, Victoria has not ever nursed very well, so my feeding her comes in the way of pumping and feeding via a bottle.
Ah … pumping! Those of you who have done it know exactly what I mean by that. Is there anything worse than feeling like a moo cow having the life sucked out of you? I think not. There is no other experience like it in the world.
And, what about the experience of having to manually pump while riding in a vehicle? You are not just having the life sucked out of you by a machine anymore. No. You are sucking the life out of yourself! Now you are inflicting pain on your own body. Plus, what about all those cars riding beside you? Your pumping arm is moving so much that the blanket draped over your shoulder almost flies off and exposes you to the world. So, you are riding in your vehicle pumping with one arm, holding the bottle with the other arm and praying that your blanket doesn’t fall off so all the cars around you see what you are doing! Do our children know what we go through to provide nourishment for them as infants?
In the end it’s worth all the pain and craziness to see my little baby grow and develop. To know that I can provide this one thing for Victoria makes me very happy. With everything being provided by a hospital staff these days, it’s nice to know that I can be her momma and feed her like only I can … blisters and all!
PS – I was blessed by UAB with a brand new Medela Pump In Style Advanced! That is a gift worth around $360! I praise God because I had been needing a new pump! Also, I thought you might enjoy seeing a few pictures. The first picture is of my new pump in the lactation room at UAB hospital. The second picture is of ONLY my face right before I started pumping in the lactation room. The third picture is of ONLY my face right after I started pumping. Hope you enjoy and have a little laugh!
Thanks so much for your prayers and calls concerning our housing arrangements while here in Birmingham. A church member at Hunter Street Baptist Church is letting us use their home while they are out of town. We will stay there until Victoria’s heart surgery on Tuesday. After Victoria’s surgery, we will stay in a hotel downtown so we can be extra close to Victoria. We have a family friend that lives 10 minutes away that we can stay with after that. We praise God for His provision of housing as well as your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, e-mails, cards and gifts. Thanks for being such a great blessing to us!
“Lord, thank you for today and for all Your blessings. God bless Natalie, Grandmother, Granddaddy, Mee Maw, Paw Paw, Pastor… (Elyssa fills in “Ed” and names off Kayla and Josh after Pastor Ed. She always forgets to say Tyler, so we fill his name in!), Aunt Sarah and Aunt Karen and others. And, God bless baby Victoria’s … (and Elyssa fills in … ) HEART!”
Ever since an ultrasound showed possible problems with Victoria (starting at 11 weeks in my pregnancy), we began praying for her with Elyssa. Because of this, Elyssa has such a sweet love for her youngest baby sister. She tells Victoria that she is a “cute baby” and that she loves her. She always wants to hug and kiss on her. She is a great big sister to Victoria and Natalie.
While traveling to Birmingham on Tuesday afternoon, we called Elyssa on the phone to let her know that were on our way to Birmingham. We told her that we were taking Victoria to a hospital where they would fix her heart. Immediately Elyssa blurted out … “OH BOY!!!” She was so excited for her sister!
On Thursday afternoon, we spoke to her and asked her what the doctors were going to do for Victoria. She said, “They are fixing her heart!”
What a joy it is to see the love Elyssa has for her little sister! Oh Boy!
When Victoria was born, I was so overwhelmed at the thought of raising a child with special needs. I was worried about whether she would be able to read, write or even speak in a way that I could understand. I wondered how I would cope with these possible challenges. I had no idea that in a short time my little baby would be hooked up to so many tubes, wires and machines. I couldn’t have begun to imagine how my feelings would change.
She is a gift. She is a joy.
