The Brag Post

This past weekend I became another auntie to a beautiful Norah. Perhaps I am a little biased, but I think she is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. I haven't yet met Norah but I am counting down the days until I do. This little girl continues to melt my heart. I have a feeling that I am not the only auntie that feels this way. She was born a fighter and it's going to be neat to see that personality reveal itself in the months and years ahead. I am so glad and privileged that I get to watch!

Last night Aimee and I headed over to Graham and Kristy's to help out with some of the cleaning and stuff that G & K just don't need to consume their time with. We were happy to be there and were hoping they let us come back again :)

Kristy's lower back was giving her some pain so she asked if I could possibly give her a massage. Well, she had to do a lot of twisting of my arm - just joking. I was more then happy to do it. At one point during the massage she asked,
"I don't know what I could have done to make my back so sore?"





Aimee and I both looked at each other and then laughed. We told her that perhaps it was the whole process of pushing a baby out of you. Kristy, you are so cute. Kristy has to be one of the most amazing people that I know. Her strength and positive outlook is incredible to watch and has become an encouragement and lesson for me to learn from. I love hearing both Graham and Kristy talk about Norah. Pride radiates from them. They are such amazing parents.







Anyway, back to the massage. I loved having the opportunity to massage Kristy so soon after the birth of Norah. Partly because I just love Kristy and want to make her feel good, but also because this is what I want to do with my career. I want to work with mothers both pre- pregnancy and post pregnancy and also their babies whether they be preemie or not. Massage has such a powerful touch and is an incredible tool for healing. In speaking with babies primarily it does some of the following things:

• stimulates digestion - this can be a great aid for preemies as they need all the help they can get in this.
• it helps strengthen their little muscles
• relieves gas (Sabrina can attest to this one)
• relaxes the baby if feeling overstimulated - massage releases chemicals such as oxytosin and endorphins which essentially makes us all happy and allows us to relax.
• skin stimulation speeds up the myelination of the brain and nervous system which improves brain-body functioning and enhances neural cell firing - essentially it helps the baby react faster and better to the stimuli placed on them.
• strengthens the immune system
• increases oxygen and nutrient flow
• and most importantly it creates a bond between parent and child.

I had no intentions on trying to "sell" infant massage when writing this post, so excuse the tangent, but I just find it all so interesting. I whole-heatedly believe that God has blessed me with a gift with children and I hope that I can one day honor that gift with the work that I do. Who knows, maybe one day I can work on little Norah.

In the picture above, Norah is under the tanning lamps to get rid of some of her jaundice. She just melts my heart!

*note - the pictures of Norah I stole off of G & K's blog. I didn't think that they would mind :)