Wheeze. Thump. Squish.
Wheeze. Thump. Squish.
Tucked deep into the subconscious of one exceptional local six-year-old, those are the sounds of love.
They’re mechanical. If read quickly, they’re even a bit maniacal. But love is love, as they say.
And there’s arguably no bigger love than that of breeding-human for the creature who sprang for them, even if there’s a 99 per cent chance they entered the world looking like a mix between Winston Churchill and a gremlin. Not mine, mind you. He’s always been gorgeous.
Beauty aside, he had no ability in the category of breastfeeding in his earliest days. More likely, I didn’t, but at this point, who knows? Who cares? Let’s blame the infant.
So I strapped on my outrageously expensive pump every day and night and muddled through what I believed was the right thing for the person I made. Thus, the Wheeze. Thump. Squish became his Pavlovian call to nourishment, the most basic expression of human love. It worked for me, but it wasn’t exactly the dream.
READ ALSO: LOCAL WOMAN ANSWERS CALL FOR MILK
Here’s a fun fact about being a baby-maker, it’s not totally natural for everyone. It’s kind of hard.
If you were to take an unsentimental look, you may think it’s torturous.
The Canadian Armed Forces, for example, are prohibited from using sleep deprivation as a interrogation method because it has harmful psychological effects.
If you can find a woman who sleeps more than three hours a night in those early days, I’ll be impressed.
Now, I was lucky to contentedly become robomom for the creature I made. He was healthy, happy and I could meet his needs even if I was losing Zs. A recipe for success.
But if he wasn’t, well, I don’t know what I’d do.
That’s why the B.C. Women’s Hospital’s Valentine’s day call for breast milk donations resonated.
It’s the only milk bank in the province and provides donor milk to the sickest babies in B.C. across NICUs.
It is also always in need of donations.
“Many moms who deliver preterm babies do not produce milk right away or have enough. Studies have shown that breastmilk provides needed antibodies for babies to fight infections which is critical for preemies,” said a representative from BC Women’s Hospital.
“We were thinking for Valentine’s Day, it would be a good opportunity to remind moms to give something close to the heart: mother’s milk (breastmilk).”
It’s so much more valuable than any chocolate treat or useless Hallmark sentiment. It’s also a labour of love for people you may never meet — which makes it all the more more amazing that people like Natasha Brenko (story on A3) go to the effort to do it.
It’s enough to melt this robomom’s mechanical exterior, just a little bit.
So, remember on this day of love and beyond, the beauty of three little words — Wheeze. Thump. Squish.
To find out if you can help go to www.bcwomen’s.ca and search “milk bank.”