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Best Friend Saves the Day
By
On the eve before my first Mother's Day, I awoke in the middle of the night, not to my month-old daughters' nudges to latch on, but to a horrible pain in my abdomen. As I slipped out of our family bed trying not to wake the other two, I was astonished by the energy the pain took on. I made myself a nice hot bath and slipped in trying to relax from what I thought to be menstrual cramps, but as I tried to relax I realized that this couldn't be menstrual cramps. I have a high tolerance for pain but this was close to childbirth! I tried to tough it out until the sun came up but soon realized I couldn't ...
Reluctantly, I awoke my sleepy husband and equally sleepy baby and told him we needed to go to the emergency room. After sitting through what seemed to be a hundred different blood tests, The doctor had concluded that I had gallstones, and one was actually plugging the common bile duct which was causing so much pain. Again and again they tried to offer me pain medication but said I would not be able to nurse my baby for up to four hours after.
Lily was an avid little nurser and I knew she would not go for that long, so I toughed it out while the doctor consulted other physicians, Finally the doctor decided that they needed to admit me overnight with emergency surgery the next day. Surgery? I consulted with a lactation consultant and she advised not to nurse for 12-15 hours after my surgery due to the heavy medications.
Besides from being scared to death of surgery, I was overcome with worry as to what I was going to do for my baby ... A little background on my daughter Lily, she would not and still will not take a bottle, in fact she cries if you even bring one near her. The doctors assured me, "Oh, she will take one if she gets hungry enough ..." Wanna bet!
Finally, after trying unsuccessfully to get her to take a bottle, I called my best friend to ask for advice. She has a son just three months older then Lily. I was in complete mental and emotional breakdown with concern for my baby girl -- I wanted this to be as gentle as possible. But as soon as she spoke she laid my fears to rest. "What would you think about me coming to your house and nursing her?"
It had never even occurred to me -- although I had read about shared nursing, and wasn't opposed to it --after all we had shared our pregnancies and both had a clean bill of health. "I wonder if she will nurse from y