Hospital Stay & Breastfeeding

With Aidyn propped up on my lap in a pillow wide awake (he ate at 9:15 and has been wide-eyed ever since)...I thought I'd try to update our blog some more.

Our hospital stay was decent I guess. I hate to say nice simply because a hospital, for whatever reason, is never "nice". But anyhow. With the exception of one nurse in training, everyone was WONDERFUL! The moment I began to push for the delivery, they had a shift change in nurses. Good timing, huh? I was totally blown away by this, but what could I do? So we went on pushing, ha. Luckily, my new nurse was the BEST! She was my nurse until Aidyn was born because she really was a nursery nurse. But seeing how she was his nurse, she was in my room a lot and extremely helpful!

As soon as Aidyn was born and everybody cleaned up, Tamika - the nurse, helped me try and nurse Aidyn. He kept trying with all his might, he was starved I guess, but wasn't able to latch on. Finally, Tamika had be use a pump to express some milk. On that first attempt I pumped 37mL! The nurses and doctors said that was crazy - more than double most mom's on their first time. I was excited. So that Aidyn didn't get used to a bottle right away, Tamika cup fed him. That means she poured 20mL of the milk (actually colostrum) into a small cup like what comes with liquid NyQuil. She would barely tip the cup so he got a little on his lips and he would suck that in. The remaining 17mL she put in the fridge to cup feed him again later.

After that, she had me pump every 3hrs to feed him. Unfortunately, the abundance of milk was over. At the next feedings while at the hospital I went from 1/2mL to 3-5mL and that was it. On Tuesday evening I asked one of the nurses about supplementing with formula bc I was quite concerned he was not getting enough. I was told, "I'll check and let you know." I had asked if they were supplementing in the nursery. I didn't mind if they were since I wasn't getting enough, but I just wanted to know.

Side Note: I kept Aidyn in the room with Ben and me all day, but not at night. During the evenings I took everyone's advice and let him stay in the nursery so we could try and sleep. Sleeping of course with nurses coming in to take vitals, give meds, etc. Every 3hrs they would bring him to me to feed and then I would call a nurse when we were through. I recommend this to everyone, just so you can rest up bc you are exhausted after such work. :)

So anyhow, I never heard back from the nurse. So the next time Aidyn was brought to me I asked again and was told, "Let me ask and I'll let you know." Never heard anything again. As I thought about all this later, I thought - why didn't I keep calling the nurses and instead say, "Bring me some formula." I think I was just to exhausted to even think about it. Finally, the next time when Aidyn was brought to me (9hrs since I first asked) a different nurse said, "Have you considered supplementing with formula?" I think I almost blew my top! I said, "Yes! I have been asking for hours and no one will tell me anything or bring me any!" She went straight to get it and I was so thankful.

During all this time I had not been using the "cup method". Instead I had been using a small plastic syringe like you use to give meds to a baby. I would pump milk for 15 min using a hospital pump and then put it in the syringe. Aidyn had several reasons for struggling to latch on: 1)my shape 2)his age, they think he is younger, but I'll explain that later 3)he was born tongue tied.

Tongue-tied means the little connective skin under the tongue was connected to the tip, therefore he couldn't stick out his tongue past his gum line. The pediatrician clipped this skin when he did Aidyn's circumcision. He didn't even whimper when getting his newborn shots and check up, and the ped dr said he didn't make a sound during these last two procedures either! We were impressed. Only did we know this was an insight to his personality - we hope it continues. :)

Once I was able to supplement with formula (for his last 3 feedings in the hospital), I was feeling much better! The lactation specialist for the hospital gave us some formula to take home, that the ped dr recommended, not what the hospital gave us. I was able to rent the hospital breast pump and take home with us. This was great because it is quick, good, helpful, and "sucks" like a baby would so it helps with milk supply. And believe me...we've got a supply! I'm already pumping more than extra and beginning to freeze it for later.

We were admitted to the hospital Monday @ 6:00am. Aidyn was born that evening at 7:36am. We could have gone home earlier Wednesday but I was waiting to meet with the lactation specialist one more time and rent a pump. I DID NOT want to leave without a pump as ready as I was to go home. We finally were released to go home around 5:00pm Wednesday evening.

Both our mom's came over that evening and Ben's home had a big pot of Chicken and Dumplings ready with some fresh broccoli...yum! I felt A MILLION times better just showering at the hospital, putting on my sweats, and even better once we got home!