It Takes a Village...

I really do believe it takes a villiage to raise a child.  Our 5 month old son DC is adopted.  He is the highlight of our lives despite a horrible bout with infant colic.  As previously posted we have tried everything to help relieve his pain.  We thought the colic was over and for the most part it was; however he would have relapses that would turn into real doozies.  Recently a friend stopped by and I was telling her of our dilemma with DC.  She suggested that we try breast milk and offered give us some of hers to try.  Now we have had a couple of people offer before, but I wasn't quite ready for it.  For some reason I wanted to try and exhaust all other avenues first, I wasn't convinced breast milk would help.  I also liked the idea of being independent of others and wasn't excited to start the breast milk hustle.  It made me nervous to worry about where, when and how I was going to get it all the time.  Not to mention that I wanted to make sure I was fully comfortable with the diet and lifestyle of our milk donors. And to be honest I also liked the idea of never having to get out of bed to feed him.  I really liked my system of having the water and formula pre measured on the night stand and just being able to roll over, mix the two, and then feed DC in his bassinet.  Lazy I know, but it was working for me in my half conscious stage; I never had to come fully back to life, and I could easily land back to complete unconsciousness.  There was also all of the logistics of how do you go anywhere when your kid is on breast milk?  You need to keep it cold enough to preserve it, but you also need it warm enough so he'll eat it; and what if you aren't anywhere you can heat it up? (Remember I'm new at this motherhood business.)  Formula just seemed easier!  Anyway, when my friend came over that day and suggested it I think I was so frazzled that I finally consented.  The next day she brought me 4 days worth of her milk.  Let me just say that those 4 days have been the BEST of our sons life!!  No more crying, no more waking up in the night, no more fussing!  We have had a happy, smiling, content baby!   I feel bad we didn't try it sooner; however, it didn't feel right before now.  Thankfully, my friend has offered to try and increase her milk supply so that she can produce enough for both her baby and mine.  I don't think she knows how grateful we are to her. 

It really does take a village to raise a child.  In our small village one mother gave birth to my son and knew she couldn't give her child what he deserved and so she gave him to me.  And I couldn't give my child the nourishment of mothers milk that he so desperately needed, so another mother kindly gave that gift to him.  What a wonderful world!