This week has been filled with amazingly joyful moments and stressful, emotional moments.
First, amazing moment was the birth of our son, Wallis Christian Metts, on the 11th of March. His birth was like a whirlwind lasting only 4 hours. We called the midwife thinking we gave her enough time to get here. She literally came in the door at 7:38am in just enough time to catch Wally at 7:43am. He is a perfect, healthy baby boy and we feel so blessed.
The second moment or moments were not as fun and very stressful. On Tuesday, Sarina caught some kind of flu bug resulting in a high fever and really bad cold symptoms. My hubby was up with her all night taking care of her which resulted in him getting sick. Then Tabby caught it the next day as well. So it was me left to take care of everyone on Wednesday night. Or was it Thursday night? It’s all a blur.
When Tabby is sick, she is very dramatic. I was up with her half the night. She was screaming and crying because her nose is stuffed up. She couldn’t suck her thumby and breathe out of her mouth at the same time. It was horrible and traumatic for her. I tried to tell her crying was not going to help but just make it worse. She continued fitting and screaming so horribly she was starting to hyperventilate. I literally had to slap her arm to get her to focus on me telling her to calm down. Then Sarina woke up because her water had leaked all over her bed. So I had to change the sheets on her bed. Then of course while I’m changing Sarina’s sheets and Tabby is screaming, Wally wakes up crying. His clothes were soaked because he wet through his diaper (didn’t put enough liners in his cloth diaper. Oops). So I finished getting Sarina’s bed made and Tabby figured out if she stopped crying she could breathe better and suck her thumby. Imagine that. I could now focus on Wally. I got him all fed and changed. I climbed into bed and sat there so exhausted. I just prayed for God to get me through this night. I took out my Bible and read parts of Philippians. Mainly, Philippians 3:14, 4:4-8, 11-13. I was so thankful for the encouraging words and God’s strength. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Wally gave me 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Praise the Lord for the much needed rest.
Third moment of the week. My midwife called today. Another mother who gave birth this week had some complications and her breast milk wasn’t coming in very fast. Instead of supplementing with formula, the lactation consultant asked my midwife if she knew of anyone who may be willing to share some breast milk. My midwife thought of me first. She knew I had a lot of milk come in. I felt honored to be able to help this mom in need. They only needed 2oz of milk. It just so happened I pumped 6oz the day before and that was after Wally had a full feeding. So yes, I had plenty to share. One of my dreams has always been to share my breast milk with hospitals for the preemies. I just never did it. This was a dream come true. I know it may sound weird but my over abundance of milk helped another baby be nourished. That is huge and so special to me. I’m so thankful the Lord has given me more than enough so I can share.
So with all the good and bad moments this week, God has been so faithful. He gave us the strength we needed to care for our family. He has also shown me that even the little things I may take for granted, like having a huge milk supply, can make a huge difference in someone else’s life. Thank you Lord.
