20-11-2009 - Zachary's birth blog part 3 - starting to feel like parents

My mood while writing this blog: happy

Once I was told to start expressing colostrum for Zach it gave me purpose. It was hard work as there was not enough colostrum to use a pump, so I was given a little syringe to suck it up with.

The next morning, I got started in earnest. I got so excited when after an hour, I had managed to express 0.2 ml, so I pressed the buzzer for the midwife to run it down to the freezer in SCBU. Gradually over the course of the day, the largest amount I had managed to express in one sitting was 0.5ml.

When DH arrived at the hospital we went down to SCBU together with one of my little syringes with a glob of colostrum in it. When we arrived they were about to change his nappy, as I couldnt stand up to do it myself, DH did it while I watched. He was petrified he would knock or damage the tubes or wires, but managed just fine. Once everyone was clean and disinfected, we were allowed a cuddle albeit short lived as all the alarms went off after about 5 minutes. DH videoed it on his phone, his eyes were wide awake and he just stared at me so intently, it melted and broke my heart all at once. But all too soon he had to go back in his little coccoon.

DH took more pictures of him on his phone, and we went back up to the ward where I balled my eyes out like a baby.

I was determined that I would get my mobility back so I could change himself myself as soon as I could. I asked if I could have the canulas removed out of my left arm so at least I could push myself up in bed as a precursor to getting in and out of bed by myself, they agreed thankfully, so although I was left with a monster bruise 6" by 2" down my left forearm I didnt have any needles wiggling around inside. I struggled to go to the toilet by myself all day, so when DH came for visiting he took me down in my chair and I changed his bum (even though I was in agony) it made me feel on top of the world, like I was finally his mum after nearly 4 days.

DH had also printed some photos of Zach at home and brought them in for me to help get my milk flowing when trying to express and it worked! Things started moving forward from this point