Part 2 Day 2 – 03/07/2016 – Our baby boy, your mama is terrified.
Today my baby boy is out of his incubator! His lungs have cleared and his glucose levels stabilised within a couple of hours, with the help of the expressed colostrum. They are bringing him to me every time he wants to feed.
I am so happy that he is healthy. He is so beautiful. I still can’t believe how perfect he is.
So far, I’m not very good at this breastfeeding thing. I can’t always get our baby boy to latch properly, and he rarely feeds for more than 10 minutes on my left side. The other side is even more problematic.
Having to sleep on my back or sitting up is putting tremendous strain on my already complaining right shoulder. When I try to feed him on my right side, my back, shoulder, and neck go into violent spasms, which makes it almost impossible to hold him, nevermind feeding him and guiding our baby boy to where he needs to be.
Every nursery nurse has a different methodology for breastfeeding, and each subsequent visit results in the next nurse telling me that I’m doing it wrong. I am so frustrated and feeling completely inadequate for the job.
Why can’t I do this right?
What am I supposed to be doing?
When the night shift arrived, they asked me if I wanted to supplement his feeds with Frisolac. Hell, No! Leaving with dire warnings that they wouldn’t be able to bring him to me every 30 minutes if that was what he needed.
At this point, I am still attached to an IV line for fluids and antibiotics. I can’t maneuver a cot, a baby, and an IV line, so I can’t keep him with me. I was only allowed out of bed this afternoon. I’m still super shaky on my feet and can’t move far without intense pain in my incision. Getting in and out of bed is hard enough.
He hasn’t fed so much during the night. Once, just after midnight, and again at around 04:30. How did I miss the info that I’m supposed to be feeding him every three hours? Now I’m starting to worry that our baby boy isn’t getting enough sustenance.