Well as much as I don't want to admit it, I have to tell this story because it reminds me of so many other, more tragic situations. Today as I was on my way home from dropping my son and nephew off at Karate Camp, I ran out of gas!!!! I haven't ran out of gas in a very long time. But any time that I did I knew I was going to. This time I didn't even realize I was low on gas. I guess new mommy brain is a real condition, and probably has no cure other than sleep. So less than a quarter mile away from my house me and my little one were on the side of the road. Even at 9am in the summer heat it is not a good situation. So luckily I have AAA and my cell phone was charged so I called. So as I called AAA my little one started crying...she is not a fan of being in a car when its not moving. The very nice women on the other line assisted me in getting someone to the car. In her lovely southern accent she said "bless your heart" as she listened to me try to calm my baby. Something about "bless your heart" in a southern accent was very soothing to me. It made me wonder if AAA hired her because they knew her voice would be helpful to the people on the other line. So there in the back seat of my car I whipped out my "soother" :) I breastfed to help my baby calm down and give her a drink..after all it is summer in Arizona. After a small meal she fell asleep. I got out of the car and stood in the shade. A very nice Police Volunteer pulled over and checked on us. Also two nice women pulled over to make sure I was ok, one even had stopped at the store and brought me water bottles. Its amazing how wonderful people can be in bad situations. My little angel slept through the whole thing. I got some gas and then went to the gas station and filled up. I was fine and so was my little one.
My emergency was nothing compared to what the news forces me to watch every day. My son was a month old when Katrina hit New Orleans. I was home and watching every day, these people with out water or food or shelter. I remember Anderson Cooper standing next to a dead body and wondering..when are they going to help those people!! But the thing I remember the most is a mom crying to the camera because she didn't have formula to feed her baby, which she was holding in her arms. That almost killed me. I cried and cried for that baby, and as I looked down at my little breast feeder I of course thought..why didn't she breastfeed!!
I know that people aren't always thinking, " I better breastfeed in case I am in a situation were my only choice is too breastfeed, like a hurricane or earthquake, or tornado.But shouldn't that be a little of how we approach it?
I know that its a very "lactivist" way of looking at the world, but today I thought I was making a quick ten minute run and it turned into an hour on the side of the road. Now of course this was my fault, but if I had been a bottle feeding mom, I would have not brought anything with me because I had just fed her before we left the house and would of figured she would be fine for 20min. Now of course I am not a bottle feeder and I'm sure that most carry a bottle around with them all the time, but I most likely wouldn't. Also again this was not as serious as a natural disaster were water is not always around.
At some point it would be nice for America to see Breastfeeding as the very convenient method of feeding that it is. Today it was defiantly very convenient and incredibly helpful.
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