I just learned an amazing detail from bokumbop: Affected about the Kim family, stranded in Oregon. The mother, Kati and her two daughters, a four-year-old and a seven-month-old were found two days ago. While stranded for 10 days, Kati Kim was able to breastfeed the girls to keep them alive.
This really got me thinking.
I can't imagine what kind of distress, panic even, she must have felt as a mother to know that the family was stranded. To know that her children were at risk and to feel completely unclear about the outcome. What kind of emotional level did she have to sustain to keep her older daughter from worrying?
Even with the freezing weather, the need to burn tires for warmth, the despair when she and her husband decided after seven days that he would set out for help - there was always a little glimmer of hope, I imagine.
There was hope because of the small comfort of being able to breastfeed. Knowing that the primal ability to give food to a child through your body would sustain them until help arrived. How did she explain breastfeeding to her older daughter? As a four-year-old, no doubt she had been curious, previously watching this newborn nursing from her mother. Maybe she even asked to try. What did Kati tell her daughter in the beginning? And what did she tell her daughter when it was clear that both girls would need to drink to keep nourished? Did she explain that while it wasn't for four-year-old big girls to nurse before, it is now? Surely the four-year-old knew something was wrong. Did James and Kati explain that this was an adventure, that they were camping, to keep from upsetting her?
In the meantime, did they have food? I'm sure her milk supply increased - did she eat snow to keep hydrated? Did she ration the snacks? Did she eat knowing the children would receive nutrients from the milk, or did she fast, to save the snacks for the girl?
On the second Monday after being lost on a Saturday - the help did arrive. A helicopter spotted a woman waving an umbrella. What a survivor! It's an amazing story. Now we just need James Kim to be found.
* * Updated * *
Sadly, reports have come out that James Kim did not survive. Go here for more information.
