Before this past weekend, babywearing had been just this thing that I did. Don’t get me wrong, I do love it and I wear my son a lot. I think we all have our own personal reasons why babywearing is so amazing. If you’re new just wait for all the awesome things babywearing has in store for you! You could catch us at Target, the farmers market, making dinner, folding laundry or even just walking up the street to check the mail. I say this because I think we are all aware of the functionality of babywearing, but none of that prepared me for what I experienced this past weekend.
It appears that my son has asthma, which was something that I was neither aware of nor prepared for. We just spent 4 days in the hospital and the only thing that kept me going was babywearing. As mothers and fathers nothing truly prepares us to witness our children sick. As a high strung first-time mom there was absolutely nothing that could have prepared me. I always keep at least 2 carriers in my car just because and I’ve never been more grateful for that. Seeing my son hooked up to machines and IV’s and monitors is a sight that will take me a while to forget. That feeling of helplessness is something that I’ll probably never forget.
A large portion of our time at the hospital was spent with doctors and nurses telling me how serious my son’s condition was and that our current course of action wasn’t helping him quickly enough. A big problem was that his heart rate was very high. A nurse told me that they were concerned that his body would get tired from working so hard for so long and that they needed to fix that as quickly as possible. It’s safe to say that I was hysterical at this point. I’ve used babywearing to calm my son hundreds of times, but in this instance I chose to babywear to calm myself. The need to be close to my son was tangible.
Since my son was still hooked up to many things I knew a back carry was out. I tried to force my brain to remember Poppins carry (PHC), but it refused. I attempted to front wrap cross carry (FWCC), but the cords on his feet made it impossible to slide him inside the pocket. I had to FWCC while holding my son, which was super hard for me, and tied it under his bum. As I wrapped him I watched his heart rate slow to normal and felt him lay his head on my chest. I cried—like ugly cried. Our nurse commented that I had “all sorts of cool tricks”. I’m okay with that observation, although, I wouldn’t personally call babywearing a trick. I think it’s a tried and true tool that caregivers have been using for years.
That carry marked one of many “ups” that my son and I shared during our stay in the hospital. I also have a feeling that that “up” will be my most cherished babywearing memory forever.
We’d love to hear from you! Please tell us about a time that babywearing really helped you or tell us about your favorite babywearing memory!
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