Saturday evening was my last night nursing my sweet baby Jenna. It was bittersweet. I held her a little longer and cherished those last precious moments. Tonight after I fed her a bottle and laid her down I cried. My friend shared a thought that one of her friends had shared with her – she said she takes comfort in hoping that some of these moments and experiences are not final, we will get the chance to experience them again in the eternities. It is a beautiful thought!
One of my favorite parts of each day is retreating to my rocking chair in the early evening to nurse my baby to sleep. I shut the door and let the peaceful calm wash over me as I bring my precious baby close and feed her. There are usually noisy happenings just outside the door as Chuck plays with the other kids. But here, there is a quiet beautiful closeness as just the baby and I share the end of the day together. I rub her head, hold her little hands and look deeply into her blue eyes. In these quiet moments, I marvel at the miracle of this sweet baby in my arms and I wonder what the coming years will hold for her. I LOVE this experience, this time together.
These moments of motherhood will always be precious to me. When I think back to these years, I know some of my fondest memories will be holding and nursing every one of my babies in the rocking chair. I feel blessed that countless hours of my time have been spent in this quiet closeness. I can't think of anything I would have rather been doing!
Many parts of motherhood are hard and nursing for me as been no exception. With every one of my babies I have cried tears of pain and frustration. The beginning has never been easy for me. Samuel was my hardest. I think back to those weeks trying to heal from a c-section, twice having mastitis only to be followed by another horrible infection leading to an abscess that I had to have cut, drained and packed returning again and again to the doctor for almost two weeks and I’m amazed I continued to nurse him and then all the other kids. I will always be grateful to a wonderful group of women in my Vegas ward. They offered encouragement and support when I needed it most. With their encouragement, I stuck with it even though it was extremely hard and I’m so thankful I did.
Tonight I don’t feel it, but I know in the coming days a part of me will be excited. Since I became pregnant with Samuel in June 2004 I have literally been pregnant or nursing without any breaks. Yes, that’s over 6 ½ straight years of either growing a little one or nourishing a little one and with two of my pregnancies doing both at the same time. (Now to be totally accurate, there was a 2 week break when I was not pregnant or nursing in between Isaac and Jenna, but really what’s 2 weeks compared to over 6 years!) So I’m entering new territory here, but I know the motherhood journey will continue to be filled with joy – just different types of joy!
Jenna has so many cute dresses I decided I need to snap a picture each Sunday before church. And just to confirm in case you were wondering, No Jenna still doesn't have ANY teeth. That's right, she's 13 months old and no teeth. (Makes the nursing a little easier!)
One of my favorite parts of each day is retreating to my rocking chair in the early evening to nurse my baby to sleep. I shut the door and let the peaceful calm wash over me as I bring my precious baby close and feed her. There are usually noisy happenings just outside the door as Chuck plays with the other kids. But here, there is a quiet beautiful closeness as just the baby and I share the end of the day together. I rub her head, hold her little hands and look deeply into her blue eyes. In these quiet moments, I marvel at the miracle of this sweet baby in my arms and I wonder what the coming years will hold for her. I LOVE this experience, this time together.
These moments of motherhood will always be precious to me. When I think back to these years, I know some of my fondest memories will be holding and nursing every one of my babies in the rocking chair. I feel blessed that countless hours of my time have been spent in this quiet closeness. I can't think of anything I would have rather been doing!
Many parts of motherhood are hard and nursing for me as been no exception. With every one of my babies I have cried tears of pain and frustration. The beginning has never been easy for me. Samuel was my hardest. I think back to those weeks trying to heal from a c-section, twice having mastitis only to be followed by another horrible infection leading to an abscess that I had to have cut, drained and packed returning again and again to the doctor for almost two weeks and I’m amazed I continued to nurse him and then all the other kids. I will always be grateful to a wonderful group of women in my Vegas ward. They offered encouragement and support when I needed it most. With their encouragement, I stuck with it even though it was extremely hard and I’m so thankful I did.
Tonight I don’t feel it, but I know in the coming days a part of me will be excited. Since I became pregnant with Samuel in June 2004 I have literally been pregnant or nursing without any breaks. Yes, that’s over 6 ½ straight years of either growing a little one or nourishing a little one and with two of my pregnancies doing both at the same time. (Now to be totally accurate, there was a 2 week break when I was not pregnant or nursing in between Isaac and Jenna, but really what’s 2 weeks compared to over 6 years!) So I’m entering new territory here, but I know the motherhood journey will continue to be filled with joy – just different types of joy!
Jenna has so many cute dresses I decided I need to snap a picture each Sunday before church. And just to confirm in case you were wondering, No Jenna still doesn't have ANY teeth. That's right, she's 13 months old and no teeth. (Makes the nursing a little easier!)
4 comments:
Beautiful post, Amber. I am also thankful for the eternal prospect of joys we experience here. I found nursing to be exceptionally hard and equally rewarding. This picture of Jenna is stunning! Love you!
Nicely written!
That was a wonderful post! Made me tear up and really miss those precious moments! But you are right - there are many (MANY) precious moments yet to come!
So glad thatyou had such a great experience nursing even though it was a tough road at first. Kayla was tough to- not as rough as your first experience, but I'm so glad I toughed it out and nursed all four of my kids til 12 or 13 months. It's a beautiful thing and I'm so glad I did it too.
I CANNOT believe she has no teeth- that is because at 13 months, Ava had all 12 of her teeth. You have some serious bad nights ahead of you because theyll probably all come in at once. She's a beauty!!
Audrey
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