On the 16th is the anniversary" of discovering my singleton pregnancy was in fact a trio. On the 14 they will be 6mos old. I'm celebrating 12 days of exclusively nursing Abby (except for a one night get away with Taylor). And the best of all Betsy is smiling, laughing, and squealing for the first time since August! 
Betsy has had a raw neck for about two months, maybe longer. For a while we treated it as strep and yeast. Then it was eczema. Then it was eczema that becMe infected. 5 different types of antibiotics in 5 weeks. She had an allergic reaction to one drug. 
The dermotolgist and pediatrician had different opinions about what it was and how to treat it. All the while Betsy was miserable. She had crying spells that lasted hours, usually in the middle of the night. She was doing Occupational Therapy and her therapist noted that she fought raising her arms, her shoulders were stuck to her neck. She was a wreck. Well, her skin has cleared up drastically. She is smiling more than she has in her short little laugh. She talks to herself, squeals actually, all day long. Nearly six months old and I feel like I am just seeing this other side of Bitsy Betsy.
I should add she had also had reflux for quite sometime and was a fitful eater.
Betsy's ability to nurse has been non-existent. I have written about this in past blogs. Essentially I didn't put her to breast until 3 weeks. She was so small and fought it so I didn't spend much time working on it. In July I discovered she had tongue/lip tie. We began doing myofacial with an occupational therapist and I visited with Cathy, a LC. Betsy definitely had an aversion to my breasts. My goal for Betsy would be for her to be able to be at my breast without crying. I accomplished this goal 12 days ago, it took about 45 minutes. 
I assumed Betsy would never latch and nurse. Two out of three ain't bad, right?
Yesterday Betsy was "released" from OT. Her shoulders were no longer glued to her neck, she was laughing Everytime we raised her arms. The rash or Whatever she had was even getting in the way of that! I had a thought in the back of my head that maybe now that her skin had cleared she would nurse. So, today on a whim I gave it a shot.
An older friend from church was over to help however I needed her to. She was outside playing with the big girls when Betsy woke from her nap. I thought I would try to nurse her and would try it outside. Peaceful. Calm. She screamed at me. 
Doesn't matter how many times a baby refuses to nurse it sucks every single time. No pun intended. I wasn't going to give up but I decided to move the production inside. She pitched a fit for a few minutes. And then she stopped and just left my nipple in her mouth. All the while I sang to her. And then she did it, she began to nurse. Like, really nurse. I couldn't believe it. I began to cry.
And then she pitched another fit. But then she nursed again. I began to pray "thank you Lord. Thank you for answered prayers. Thank you for your faithfulness." She nursed and pitched a fit for a while. Then she stopped, looked at me and grinned. She was done. She was satisfied. She nursed! She nursed again later. I was in the midst of cooking dinner so we nursed sitting on the kitchen floor and nursed flipping burgers.
And she just went with it. My Betsy is nursing. My Betsy who cried just being at my breast is nursing. My Betsy who I resigned to the likely fact would never nurse is nursing. My Betsy who gave us a scare in the womb is nursing. My Betsy whose cord was barely attached to her very small portion of a shared placenta is nursing. My Betsy who is just beginning to smile, laugh and squeal for the first time in months is nursing. My Betsy is nursing!
God is good. God was good. He was good when Betsy fussed. He was good when she screamed at my breast. He was good when I fed her milk from another mom. He was good when we couldn't figure out what was wrong with her neck and arms. He has always been good. He is just finding more ways to show me how good He is. God is good!
