RAISING BABIES IS A SPIRITUAL THING

​


I think raising a baby is a spiritual battle 24/7. Think about it, most things babies suffer from are unknown or assumed. Take colic for example. They say its build up of gas believed to be caused by formula. My friend Lebo exclusively bottle-fed her son Nan formula for 6months and he had no colic. Some people exclusively breastfeed and still baby gets colic and they blame diet. Then they can't say which foods are causing the gas. Oh no, most healthy foods like potatoes, beans, cauliflower, wheat, etc are the suspects in the mom's diet.

Then they tell you it will pass after 3months.

With some, colic is not internal or food-affected. It is the environment. I mean, what makes a baby scream unconsolably for hours? Is that not spiritual?

Here's our an, a baby who never cries nor screams who all of a sudden gets stomach cramps and cries at every instant of passing gas. If it's a long one he fusses a bit and cries till it passes. Doctor called it colic (calling things that are not).

When we read what is colic, they say its crying 3hours, 3following days for 3months. We've never seen that. But then we took doctor's prescription just to soothe him with Telament drops and Bascupen. Now because hubby and I  refused to accept colic, our starts spitting up through his nose and starts screaming till his nose clears of the burning milk.

When I research what that is I find out about gastric reflux. What is suspected to cause it? Feeding again. They say it "could" be lactose(cowmilk) intolerance. Now really? If babies food is milk only till 6months what should they eat? They say if baby is breastfed mummy must cut off dairy products. If baby is on formula, bay must be given lactose-free formula.

Another treatment, prevention or management of baby spitting up is making him sleep on his tummy but only if you are near him. Otherwise try elevating his head. We opted for the elevation because since he's grown up (1month old) Ole refuses to sleep on his tummy. Between last night and this morning, at 1month and 4days, baby rolled off the elevated mini mattress and onto his face. By grace he is not a cry baby but can cry out for help without really screaming.

We never put him to sleep without burping ever. We even know the 3 ways of burping and he now prefers one where he sits up. He holds his burp the same way he used to swallow his spit up until lately.

I suspected my milk(diet) and the chronic medication I take. The doctor says its not my milk. Hubby and I then decided to take the bull by its horns through prayer and fasting according to Mark 29 and James 5 on Saturday. I also stopped the medication and cut off bread which is what I eat mostly. I am now eating more vegetables and fruit.

Spiritual battle? Baby gets born 2weeks earlier. We thank God he was fully developed despite him having to stay 3days longer. Mom has no milk yet so baby is fed formula. Baby gets used to being filled by formula even after breast milk.
Formula neh? With all their warnings that protect the manufacturer than the newborn consumer.

Raising a baby is a spiritual battle. Think about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It should be called Spiritual Infant Death Syndrome because its cause is unknown.

In conclusion we decided to not give what we see in our baby any names but pray God's will and intervention over them. Because then we are giving life to bones that should not be awakened. It is just baby growing and not used to farting. God said: "Speak things that are not, as though they are.

This note was written 6months ago. Today our son turned 7months and that which the doctor called colic stopped when we changed his milk to S26. There was no more cramps, no more crying. Just a happy growing baby.(And only posted 19 months later. Today he is 24months old).

SUPERHEROES ARE OVERRATED

                                  

I bet men would be caught by this title more than women except for women who are into superheroes. I have had this thought since the first day I brought my newborn baby home from hospital. For real, Superheroes are overrated and mothers should be given this title. I have had this thought but have been failing to write about it. Here is why I think mothers should be called Superheroes:

Looking after a newborn baby requires no skill or talent. It is an intuitive ability or rather a supernatural ability because babies cannot talk to start with. Superman is known for his super-hearing but I bet you if he was babysitting a newborn he will sleep through the baby’s cry and grunts. A new mom, who has never had a baby before, can hear her baby whimpering (my baby never cried nor screamed when he was still new. He just whimpered) in the middle of the night or when she is in another room. A mother also knows the different cries of a baby. She can tell that baby needs food, nappy change or just a cuddle.

In the first two days after Olerato (my son) came home, I thought I could not do the 3 hourly feeding because when I fed him at 11pm it took 30 minutes to feed him, 20 minutes to get him to burp, and then another 30 minutes to get him to sleep. Then I must wake him up again at 2am. The good thing is that he was the sweetest quietest baby ever. I cried to my husband Paul saying I don’t believe all these many children that play in the streets, their moms woke up every three hours especially those

whose moms were teenagers who were on baby number two. It seemed hard. I was not aware I was in training to use my super powers. Paul reminded me to pray for God to help me and reminded me of the scripture he gave me when I was still pregnant- Genesis 4:3. Where Eve, whom after giving birth to her son, said: “It is the Lord who helped me bring forth a man.” By the third day already I was a professional three-hourly-feeding supermom.

As a new mom you develop new abilities: like sleeping on one side without turning because the baby is sleeping with you; breastfeeding with your eyes closed (that’s if your baby is cool with breastmilk and is already a month old); making the bottle in your sleep every three hours; preparing your own food or the baby’s bottle with him in your hands while he is breastfeeding; bathing on a cold rainy day with a door opened so you can hear the baby; changing the nappy with one hand without putting the baby onto his back; and many more. I have recently discovered the super power to bottle-feed the baby while I drink my own tea.

Moms also have super strength. They can carry a baby in one hand, car seat in another (because baby refused to be kept in it), diaper bag, her own bag and some groceries while talking on the phone. Today’s moms can also feed the baby, bath the baby or play with the baby while social-networking. One super power I wish I had is losing baby weight/ dieting while breastfeeding. Some moms have the super power to wash the baby; get the baby ready and themselves ready; make up well done; hair in place and clothes well-fitted and look like they are carrying someone else’s baby by the way they look. Oh how I wish…

If a mom to one new baby has all those super powers, imagine a mom to a teenager, a mom to twins or a mom to more than one child. New powers develop according to age and number of children. These moms have x-ray eyes which can see past walls and know what the children are doing, eyes in the back to see one sibling attempting to do something wrong; ability to detect when their children tell a lie and ability to take away freedom from their teens when they have been up to wrong.

Well who are we to claim these super powers except to give the glory and thanks to God. God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind. The best weapon every supermom should have is PRAYER because if we pray, no weapon formed against our children will prosper and we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. 

GOD ORDAINED THIS BIRTH

13th January 2014, my husband Paul goes with me for my last pre-natal check up at 36 weeks. I tell my gynae my latest experiences. The last week I felt like the baby has moved down ready for his upcoming birth which I thought that should happen at this time.

She sends me for an NST machine  (a machine used for electronic fetal monitoring ). Over 60 minutes later I come back with results. She tells me I had two and a half contractions which I never even felt. She tells me its possible I might come back sooner than the booked date of the 25th January for delivery.

We go back home but first we go do some shopping. On the way I keep feeling what I felt while on the EFMmachine. On our way back home this sensation starts getting closer one after the other. Now I'm convinced these are contractions.

We get home. I have not even packed my hospital bag. I start packing while Paul cooks something for us to eat. We are not in a rush. I eat as well. We then drive back to hospital at almost 11pm. When we arrive my gynae is called in. The nursing staff prepare me for ICU.

I get ushered into theater. Instead of the cold theater atmosphere I walk into a Godly-saturated environment which I will explain in the following blog post.


The anesthetist gets me ready for my caesar then my gynaecologist starts operating on me. At 23:45 I see my baby is taken out of mummy's womb screaming "Why? Why? Why?" (that's what it sounded  like. LOL!). I hear my husband saying: "Wow! It's a boy!" (As if he didn't know.) My gynae brings  the baby to my face for me to see him before she gives him to the pediatrician.

Wow! God ordained every baby's birth. At 36weeks when my gynae had booked a C-section for me for the 24th of January 2013 at 37weeks and 6days my son was crowning and already pushing out. Olerato Hopola Reaoboka Nthoba was due on the 8th of February 2013 but God brought him into our lives on the 13th of January 2013 weighing 2,61kg and 49cm tall. God's time is always perfect.

                                                       Thanks be to God!