Three Weeks - Part Two {Sort of a Post About Harmony}

Harmony was three weeks old last week, which is what made me start thinking about Baby K again last week. I've been thinking about how hard it's going to be to leave her for a couple days - and then not be able to take care of her, really, for a little while longer after that - when I have my surgery in a month. But in spite of knowing it will be very hard, I didn't feel completely stressed or anxious. And that's when it dawned on me... God didn't just bring Baby K to us for her parents' sake.

It was for me.

If we had never had Baby K, I don't know if I would be able to do this. I would be a complete wreck right now, worrying, anxious, nervous, afraid. See, my only experience before Baby K was breastfed babies who wouldn't take bottles, and cried if anyone else tried to put them to sleep. The only stories I had heard about breastfed babies being away from their mothers was that that was the end of breastfeeding - and how on earth were we going to fit formula into our budget? I would have been heartbroken, thinking about my baby crying and crying, hungry, not eating, and then the stress of not being able to re-lactate, and how stressful it would be for my baby to be away from me. But it wasn't like that with Baby K. She had never had a bottle before - but she took one just fine for us. She had never been away from her parents - but she didn't cry and fuss any more than any other newborn. In fact, she was super laid-back and easy to care for, at least compared to my other newborns! When she went back to her parents for visits, she didn't seem stressed, and she latched right on and nursed great, even though it had been five full days before the first visit. By the end of that week, her mom had been able to pump enough that her milk supply was almost completely back already, even though that first big gap almost completely dried it up. And seeing how God helped this incredibly traumatizing even in Baby K's life not be traumatizing to her really helped my faith for our family too!

And so I am thankful, that God was able to use hard times to bring a blessing to me - a blessing of peace in my heart.

And a gratuitous picture of Harmony's first bath, since I haven't blogged enough pictures for my nephew :) 

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As a side note, I talked to a lactation consultant while I was in the hospital, and she doesn't think it will be a problem at all. My doctor already said we will pump while we wait for surgery that morning, and then again as soon as I'm out of recovery, and then as often as needed while in the hospital, so there will never actually be a gap in my supply to worry about. The only stressful part (other than having a major surgery, haha) will just be being away from my kids, and trying not to worry about Harmony and the 'big' kids :)