Breastfeeding saved my son's life...

or at least prevented some very serious medical complications. Credit also must be given to his knowledgeable pro breastfeeding nurse. Let me explain.

When ds A was 7 months old he had to have an MRI for his ongoing medical condition. Because he was an infant and could not remain still for the MRI he was sedated. I held him when the seditave was administered and walked him to the door of the MRI room but could not go in with him and was then escorted to an adjacent room without windows. I had no way of knowing what was going on and was terrified. Long moments passed and then a nurse poked her head in the room and asked "You are still breastfeeding, right?" When I confirmed her query she asked me to follow her to the recovery room.
My heart leaped to my throat at what I saw. A team of unknown people hovered over my sons still body and one of them was ushering me forward, a loud alarming sound was coming from the machines connected to my sons body. "Your son has a elevated heart rate and we can not get it to regulate, she" indicating the nurse that had retrieved me "thinks you should try to nurse him."
I ran to my sons side and reached for him. "No mam you can not pick him up." a man barked at me. Frustrated I leaned over my sons body and pulled my breast out placing it next to his mouth. I felt like I had walked into a nightmare. He was still mostly unconscious, only barely aware, too weak to nurse. He managed to open his mouth, but not to suck, and then something amazing happened. His heart rate returned to normal. Someone put a chair next to his bed and I sat in it careful to keep my breast next to his mouth. I was amazed to have witnessed it. At one second his little heart thudding away on the monitor and then the next steady and strong. The staff seemed even more amazed than I was, all except the one nurse that had retrieved me, she had known all along.
After a while they started to leave and was finally allowed to hold my son in my arms, by now he was more alert and was able to nurse as normal. I sat holding him, so grateful and thanked the nurse, and then thanked her again. She smiled nicely at me and said it was no problem and left. The other nurse that stayed behind to monitor A kept shaking her head in amazement. She informed me that when everything started to turn bad and they were going to start intervening that the other nurse had stopped them and had said "Wait! I read in his chart that he is breastfed, I will go get the mother." Apparently she had a long tenure at the hospital so they trusted her but were none the less shocked at how quickly it had worked, or that it had worked at all. To this day I can not think of that woman without crying tears of gratitude.
So yes, breastfeeding saved my son's life, at least in my mind. Breastfeeding is so much more than just another way to feed your baby. :