Getting Ready: Black and White - And I've Read All Over

I mentioned here what we plan to do about feeding Lil Man once he starts eating solid food.

I've been doing lots of research lately, to determine what we'll do to feed him at first.

And I've become very familiar with some terms that were - until now - decidedly UNfamiliar to me.

Words like:

Galactagogue

Oxytocin

Progesterone

Estrogen

I am a "Black and White" kind of gal. So, in my mind, my research is laid out like this...

Black And White Truth #1: Breast Milk is best for babies

Black And White Truth#2: Inducing lactation to breastfeed an adopted baby is possible

When I take #1, and I add #2 to it...I arrive at Truth #3: I'm there!

I've had an appointment with my doctor, and I've started on medicine.

Yes, yes, I know...I don't do medicine.

When I first started researching this, my chant was "I won't take medicine...I won't take medicine..." But then I did more research...lots more research. And I became convinced that I did want to take medicine, in order to give Lil Man the best shot at having breast milk. This decision - like all of our decisions about what to feed our children - comes from wanting to do our best by them. Love and good nutrition are the two most important things we can give them when they first come home. Good nutrition is always important, but we've felt like it is especially important when you factor in compromised health from special needs, and prenatal and early infancy diets that may be/presumably are lacking in nutrition.

Jas and I were at peace about wanting to do this.

So...I took 45 pages of information to my doctor.

And now...I've started the medicine. The protocol works best if you have at least 6 months lead time. I can switch to the Accelerated Protocol at any point, if I need to. But in the absence of knowing that we need to do that...we're following the regular protocol.

It is very interesting, with this (and every other thing we're doing to get ready for Lil Man's arrival, for that matter): We are aiming at an unknown target!

My doctor asked, "When will he be here? When will we know?"

I gave her my standard answer these days: "We could get a call tomorrow...or we could get a call a year from now. We could get a call saying that a birthmom has chosen us and she is due in two months...or we could get a call that Lil Man was born 10 days ago and we need to go pick him up right now!"

I say "we're aiming at an unknown target"..but that is not entirely true.

Because I know some more Black and White truths...

Black and White Truth #4: The One who is knitting/will knit Lil Man together in his mother's womb (Ps. 139:13)...He knows.

Black and White Truth #5: The One who ordained all of Lil Man's days (and mine and yours too) and has already written them in His book (Ps. 139:16)...He knows.

And when I take Truth #4 and add to it Truth #5...I arrive at Truth #6: He has given us His peace that "passes all understanding" (Phil. 4:6-7) as we make decisions during this wait. We know that He will guide us.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)