The following is an article by Carol Greer from the November-December 2010 issue of “Family Foundations,” the publication of the Couple to Couple League International (CCL). CCL is the leading organization providing Natural Family Planning (NFP) instruction in the United States.

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Having mortified No. 1 son in my previous column by mentioning his name in the same sentence as “breastfeeding,” I thought this month I would spread the joy and do the same for son No. 2. This column is a bit grimmer than the last installment, but if you read to the end you’ll discover it has a happy ending.

I went into labor with Jack (our third child) at 35 weeks. As soon as he was born (more than 7 pounds!), he was whisked off to the neo-natal intensive care unit. The doctors treated him successfully for a calcium deficiency, gave him many thorough examinations, and released him to come home with us. As we were leaving, the staff pediatrician advised us to monitor Jack’s weight gain and to nurse him as much as possible.

At home it was clear something was wrong, Jack was so sleepy it was difficult to rouse him to eat. I kept him naked except for a diaper and stroked him to get him to latch on. We took him to the pediatrician every day, where the lab techs drew blood and determined that his lethargy was due to low hemoglobin counts.

Our pediatrician wasn’t very good at reassuring concerned, exhausted parents: He accused us of taking Jack out of the hospital against medical advice, and he demanded that I put our newborn on formula, despite the fact that he was gaining weight at an acceptable rate and was producing plenty of diapers. I asked the doctor how formula would improve Jack’s blood count; I told him that although the doctors at our hospital had urged me to nurse, I would supplement with formula if he would tell me how it would benefit Jack. Having successfully nursed two children with post-partum health issues already, I wanted to continue.

His response? “I won’t allow your philosophy to kill your baby.”

Apparently he said that to a lot of moms, because a quiet survey I performed in his waiting room revealed that every mom in there had been told to stop nursing. We switched pediatricians.

At Jack’s two-week appointment things looked better. He was chubbing up and his muscle movements were improving. We were still keeping an eye on that hemoglobin, though, so he got another heel prick as well as a vaccination. That’s when things got really, really bad. Those tiny injection and heel prick sites continued to bleed through the bandages and down his leg; I got blood on my tee shirt and shorts as I held him. Our new pediatrician came into the room and said, ‘Get him into the emergency room. His blood platelets have crashed.” His blood wouldn’t clot. We rushed him to the hospital where he was given an immediate platelet transfer and admitted to pediatric intensive care.

I hope few readers have ever known - or ever will know - the feeling of having your tiny baby put in a hospital bed and not being allowed to stroke or soothe him. He’s there, he’s sick, and everything in you tells you to mother him, but you can’t. You have to wait to get clearance, because even your touch can harm him.

Bottle Feeding Could Have Led to Internal Bleeding

Of course, nursing was out. The doctor told me that for the time being, Jack would have to receive his nutrition via IV. Bless him, he commended Stan and me for rejecting our first pediatrician’s advice to switch Jack to the bottle: formula is harder to digest than breast milk, and babies are more likely to regurgitate a bit. Spitting up could have prompted internal bleeding, which is difficult to halt in a newborn. It could have been disastrous.

The next days were a blur of blood tests and prayers, and hours and hours spent waiting by Jack’s bed. After a little improvement in Jack’s condition, I was allowed to give pumped breast milk to the nurses to bottlefeed him. It was a tremendous comfort to me to provide him milk, even if he was too sick to latch and nurse at the breast. I’d felt useless, as if I had nothing to contribute to my baby’s well-being. What a blessing to be able to give him something literally no one else could.

Those doctors tried everything to explain why Jack wasn’t making platelets, but they never found out. Finally, they gave him a blood transfusion from blood donated by Stan. Within an hour our baby turned a beautiful, rosy pink. Something in that blood and in those hundreds of prayers produced a miracle: his blood counts went up and stayed up as he finally, for some mysterious reason, began producing his own platelets.

I’ll never forget the first time they unhooked Jack from all the beeping machines and I was allowed to take him into a quiet room to nurse. He snuggled right in, and within seconds I was transformed from “Parent or Guardian” to Mama.

Now Jack is 11 and, by all appearances, perfectly normal. Sometimes I look at him and remember how close we came to losing him, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude that he’s part of our family. I get all mushy and start hugging and smooching him.

If the rest of the column didn’t embarrass him, that last line should do the trick.

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Natural Family Planning Classes Taught

Classes in Natural Family Planning are taught in 17 locations in the Chicago metro area, including southeast Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. The next series of classes will begin Sunday, Feb 6th, 2011, at 1:30 pm, at Resurrection Medical Center, 7435 West Talcott Avenue, Chicago IL, taught by Dave and Mona Cattapan, 847-437-3136.

To register, and for a list of classes throughout the U.S., go to the CCL Central class locator. (800) 745-8252. For information on the Chicago chapter of CCL, go to CCL of Chicago.

The method taught is the Sympto-Thermal Method, which is also taught via CylePRO software. Sign up for a membership with the Couple to Couple League International at www.ccli.org, and receive “Family Foundations.”