Sunday Praise

I received a phone call from a good friend this week. She told me that one of our mutual friends and former co-workers had passed away. I was shocked. I found out the news on Thursday, and since then my thoughts and prayers have frequently been with her family. Krystal’s family. She left behind a precious little daughter about the same age as my little girl. I can’t imagine the pain and grief her family is experiencing.

Krystal was only 42yrs. old. That’s all. And she’s gone. I’m so glad that I was privileged to know her in this life. I worked with her almost every weeknight for 2.5 years. I’ll remember her laugh, her smile, and her love for my chubby baby at the time, Isaac.

I went to her funeral service today, and I was comforted by the fact that her family said she knew Jesus Christ. I’m hopeful, therefore, that I will see Krystal again one day. I also loved the way that the pastors at the funeral service were constantly pointing to Christ as the way of salvation and how tomorrow isn’t promised. I know those things are true, but it seemed so much more real today.

We don’t know when our last day on this earth will be. Krystal didn’t know that April 9th, 2011 would be her last day. Today is the day of salvation, friends. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow may not come.

I have nursed everyday of my life for four consecutive years. I nursed one child while pregnant with another. I tandem nursed for about three weeks before my then two year old abruptly stopped and from then on, I nursed our newborn who recently turned two years old himself and like his brother – abruptly stopped nursing.

It’s over.

It wasn’t without pain as my body wondered what in the world was happening, and I wondered whether this was really the end or not. But it is. I’m a way, I’m glad. I have my body back, and I just realized that I don’t have to suffer through colds anymore because of the very limited selection of medicine I had while nursing. Happy about that!

In it all, though, I am ever so grateful to the Lord for giving me this most wonderful blessing in being able to nurse our last two boys for two years each. I’m more aware of this blessing because nursing didn’t come easy for me. We have four children, and I only nursed my our oldest for about 2 weeks. I nursed our second child for about 6 months. Progress.

Then we had a four year break being having baby number three, Isaac.

I knew I wanted to nurse, but I was working part-time and my maternity leave wasn’t going to last forever. I knew I would have to persevere through the struggles that come with nursing again for the first time in four years to get this thing really established before I had to go back to work.

I gave it my all, and it worked. Then I got pregnant again, and nursed all through my pregnancy and every day then on up until about one week ago when a terrible, vicious, nasty virus settled into the mouth of our littlest guy, David, and caused us to have to visit Urgent Care twice in one day, the Emergency Room the next day, another doctor a few days later, and a dentist the day after that. David is finally feeling better and acting like his happy little self again, but the nursing has ceased.

We are settling into new methods of doing nap-time and bed-time. It’s good. And I’m thankful for what the last four years have brought. Precious memories that I’ll cherish forever.

I know that not everyone can nurse, so, this post isn’t written to make anyone feel negatively about not being able to nurse or possibly not being able to nurse as long as you would have like to. I’ve been there, and I’ll be the first person to tell you that breastfeeding is HARD work – especially when you are new to it or starting again after a long break. It’s challenging. It’s painful. It can hurt. A lot. So this post isn’t meant to judge you in any way. I’m simply writing to recount my journey and give praise to the Lord for allowing me to experience this wonderful blessing and bonding experience of mother and child.

If you are pregnant, nursing, or think you may have children in the future (doesn’t that totally sound like one of those drug commercials?! Sorry!), here are some wonderful resources to keep in mind for information about breastfeeding:

Kellymom.com is an excellent resource for nursing moms. There’s a wealth of information here and one of the first places I look to find answers to my questions about breastfeeding.

La Leche League is another good resource for information.

Breastfeeding.com has tons of good info., too.

If you have any questions about nursing or need some encouragement, I’m by no means an expert, but I have a lot of real-life experience that I’d love to share with you anytime as well. 🙂