Gavin

By Sonia Finch

Here is a picture of my son Gavin and I.

I love looking at the pictures of me feeding this little boy, because of the struggle I went through to get us here.

Gavin was born Sept 6, 2005 with duodenal atresia (his intestines were not connected) and he spent the first month of his life in the NICU. I was informed (at 37 weeks of pregnancy) that he was going to be born with this problem, and require surgery, I began doing my research, and set out on my quest to rent a good breast pump.

For the first three weeks of his life I had to pump, and it was torture. All I kept thinking while I pumped every 2 hours, was how wrong this was, and how I should be feeding my baby, not this pump!

I endured the pain of the flanges, and the rubbing, and redness. I worried all the time that I was pumping for nothing, and that he was not going to want my breast because they were going to have to start him on Pedialyte to see if he could tolerate it. That meant he was going to have a bottle and a nipple.

But after 3 or so days of the Pedialyte, they said I could try to nurse him, and once I put him on my breast he knew exactly what to do!! He has been nursing like a Champ since Sept 23, 2005 and has never had formula, or another nipple for that matter.

The best thing is, his surgeon told me breast milk was the best for him, because it would coat the intestines and promote healing!! This just goes to show you, that if you want something bad enough, and you set your mind to breastfeeding (a little prayer never fails either), no matter what the doctors tell you, and if you never give up, All things are Possible.

Here is Gavin on May 17, 2006