The Unexpected Blessings of Nursing a New Baby

(Photo by Gina Peterson)

When one of my sons was 11 years old, he was diagnosed with a serious lifelong disease and spent two days in the ICU. My husband actually had to be the one to stay overnight with him in the hospital, because I was still nursing my youngest son at the time. The ICU did not allow children under 12 years old to stay overnight. When he came home from the hospital, I was very overwhelmed with caring for him. I had to be vigilant all day and sometimes at night (at least in the early days) helping him manage his new way of life. My son’s illness was always on my mind.

Then a month and a half later, I found out I was expecting! I had no idea how I was going to manage! I even wrote some posts on this blog during my pregnancy about some of my thoughts and concerns. However, I soon realized that this new baby was the gift I needed.

At my 20 week ultrasound, I found out I was having a baby girl! Thus far, I only had sons. I, of course, love my boys to the moon and back! I am definitely a boy mom. I love that my boys climb trees. I am not so crazy about the fact that they sometimes climb onto the roof of my house! One son even broke his arm several times doing things like riding his bike while walking the dog! We owned about a hundred matchbox cars for quite a long time and I regularly read books to them about fire engines, Thomas the Tank Engine, robots, and even space toilets. However, I always still wished for a little girl. 

Nursing my little girl (her name means “child from heaven” or “heavenly flowers”) helped me through this difficult time in my life. Holding her, dressing her up in pretty pink dresses, and snuggling with her while we nursed each day became a healing balm for my soul. Enjoying a beautiful little baby distracted me from obsessing about my son’s illness. I nursed my daughter the longest out of all my kids - about four and a half years. The last several months were more just comfort nursing as she wasn’t taking in any milk, but she and I still needed that nursing connection. I wrote a post about her weaning here if you would like to read the story. She has been a huge blessing to our family!

My son is now all grown up and doing well. He is successfully managing his illness and is happy! God is good!

By Gina Peterson

Please share in the comments about a time when you went through something challenging but later realized it was a blessing from God.