Our hospital visit
I took Oliver to the clinic to get him weighed and the same nurse that saw him at 3 days old saw us and said that his jaundice is looking the same, or even worse. She recommended I go and get Oliver a blood test to check the levels out. The next day we had the test done and the dr called me as he was a bit concerned.
His levels at birth were 218 but had come back at 350. I rang the hospital and let them know and they wanted us to come in the following morning for another blood test to see if the levels had dropped at all. So we went in and they took the blood, but this time instead of it being a heel prick test, they actually had to put a needle in his arm as they were testing for other things as well. It was pretty horrible to watch, as are all blood tests done on a baby :)
I then hung around a bit and a few hours later the levels came back at 340. The pediatrician came and saw me and said we could leave it and let it go by itself but the fact that he is looking quite jaundice he would recommend doing phototherapy and that we would stay overnight.
I was keen to get him better so we drove home and I packed our bags and headed back to the hospy. We went into the Lamb Ward, which has all sick babies and kids in there. We were taken to our single room, which was decked out with animal wall decors, and I gave him a feed and then he was placed in the crib. He had to wear these fabric eye covers and wear just a nappy.
I then proceeded to just sit in the chair next to him and surf the net on my iphone. Its nice and warm in there so he fell asleep. For the rest of the day and night he slept a lot in there and really only cried to be fed or to be comforted (which is bloody hard getting to him without banging your head) or to put his dummy back in. So not much sleep for me that night.
The next day, arond mid morning, I decided to head over to the cafe and have an egg sandwich (need the protein) and get some fresh air. Oliver was asleep so off I went. I was there for probably about 20 mins and when I got back to the ward, an ugly old troll of a midwife was holding Oliver. She then proceeded to tell me that he was starving and that i need to express to see how much he is getting and that he may need formula top-ups.
Instantly I felt like a failure, like I wasn't providing enough milk for him. Never before that moment had a doubted our breastfeeding relationship and instantly felt stressed and sick. As I pumped the troll midwife had taken Oliver out of the room. I probably expressed 10 ml total from both boobs, swapping the pump multiple times. I went out of the room and confronted the midwife saying "can i have my baby please!". She then proceeded to say something which upset me even more so I ran back to the room crying.
10 mins later she still hadn't returned with Oliver! I was in too much shock and stress to move. Finally she bought him in and he was given what I had expressed. He was obviously still wanted more so she said he will need formula. I remember all the colostrum and EBM i had at home so I told them I was going home to get it.
I hope in the car and on the way to meet Elliot at my old work, I rang the ABA helpline and got some great advice and reassurance off a councilor. When I met El he gave me all the milk in a cooler bag and I raced back to the hospital (on an almost empty tank of fuel). Over the rest of that day and night (the drs wanted him to stay another night) he was given breastfeeds then whatever I had managed to express and then was offered my stored milk. The time that we were there he was given 80mls of formula. I'm OK with that as I wouldn't have wanted him to starve obviously.
That second night there was pretty horrible. I was SO tired and emotional and stressed that I handed him to a midwife when she came in to check his temps and broke down. She sent in another midwife who was so nice and she said she would try and get one of the midwifes to give him a feed so I could sleep. I didn't think I would but at 4am I woke up to a midwife giving him the bottle of formula. I must have fallen back asleep straight away.
The next morning I was SO keen to get out of there. At 830am he had another heel prick test and the results came back a few hours later at reading 180. The drs said they were happy to send us home. His colour had changed dramatically too. I quickly packed up our stuff and got the hell out of there!
It was so good to come home. On the way home in the car Oliver cried out and I felt a small let down in my nips LOL So just goes to show that a hospital environment and a bitchy midwife can bring your stress levels up. I guess also the fact that I had limited contact with him, only bringing him out for feeds.
That night I went to the drs and got a script for motillium to help boost my milk back up. I also got back into the protein shakes and lactation cookies and by the next day noticed a huge difference in my milk. Oliver went 5 hrs last night and when he woke my boobs were going to explode! Ive been expressing in between feeds and will start freezing it for a rainy day. Im so glad I expressed the colostrum at 36 weeks! It certainly came in handy.
Things are back to normal now thank god but I certainly wouldn't want to go through that again! Here are some pics from our stay, although I do feel a little sad and ill when I look at them :(
Our room
Hi bed for the next couple of days
Under the lights
Just after a feed and ready to go back under
His levels at birth were 218 but had come back at 350. I rang the hospital and let them know and they wanted us to come in the following morning for another blood test to see if the levels had dropped at all. So we went in and they took the blood, but this time instead of it being a heel prick test, they actually had to put a needle in his arm as they were testing for other things as well. It was pretty horrible to watch, as are all blood tests done on a baby :)
I then hung around a bit and a few hours later the levels came back at 340. The pediatrician came and saw me and said we could leave it and let it go by itself but the fact that he is looking quite jaundice he would recommend doing phototherapy and that we would stay overnight.
I was keen to get him better so we drove home and I packed our bags and headed back to the hospy. We went into the Lamb Ward, which has all sick babies and kids in there. We were taken to our single room, which was decked out with animal wall decors, and I gave him a feed and then he was placed in the crib. He had to wear these fabric eye covers and wear just a nappy.
I then proceeded to just sit in the chair next to him and surf the net on my iphone. Its nice and warm in there so he fell asleep. For the rest of the day and night he slept a lot in there and really only cried to be fed or to be comforted (which is bloody hard getting to him without banging your head) or to put his dummy back in. So not much sleep for me that night.
The next day, arond mid morning, I decided to head over to the cafe and have an egg sandwich (need the protein) and get some fresh air. Oliver was asleep so off I went. I was there for probably about 20 mins and when I got back to the ward, an ugly old troll of a midwife was holding Oliver. She then proceeded to tell me that he was starving and that i need to express to see how much he is getting and that he may need formula top-ups.
Instantly I felt like a failure, like I wasn't providing enough milk for him. Never before that moment had a doubted our breastfeeding relationship and instantly felt stressed and sick. As I pumped the troll midwife had taken Oliver out of the room. I probably expressed 10 ml total from both boobs, swapping the pump multiple times. I went out of the room and confronted the midwife saying "can i have my baby please!". She then proceeded to say something which upset me even more so I ran back to the room crying.
10 mins later she still hadn't returned with Oliver! I was in too much shock and stress to move. Finally she bought him in and he was given what I had expressed. He was obviously still wanted more so she said he will need formula. I remember all the colostrum and EBM i had at home so I told them I was going home to get it.
I hope in the car and on the way to meet Elliot at my old work, I rang the ABA helpline and got some great advice and reassurance off a councilor. When I met El he gave me all the milk in a cooler bag and I raced back to the hospital (on an almost empty tank of fuel). Over the rest of that day and night (the drs wanted him to stay another night) he was given breastfeeds then whatever I had managed to express and then was offered my stored milk. The time that we were there he was given 80mls of formula. I'm OK with that as I wouldn't have wanted him to starve obviously.
That second night there was pretty horrible. I was SO tired and emotional and stressed that I handed him to a midwife when she came in to check his temps and broke down. She sent in another midwife who was so nice and she said she would try and get one of the midwifes to give him a feed so I could sleep. I didn't think I would but at 4am I woke up to a midwife giving him the bottle of formula. I must have fallen back asleep straight away.
The next morning I was SO keen to get out of there. At 830am he had another heel prick test and the results came back a few hours later at reading 180. The drs said they were happy to send us home. His colour had changed dramatically too. I quickly packed up our stuff and got the hell out of there!
It was so good to come home. On the way home in the car Oliver cried out and I felt a small let down in my nips LOL So just goes to show that a hospital environment and a bitchy midwife can bring your stress levels up. I guess also the fact that I had limited contact with him, only bringing him out for feeds.
That night I went to the drs and got a script for motillium to help boost my milk back up. I also got back into the protein shakes and lactation cookies and by the next day noticed a huge difference in my milk. Oliver went 5 hrs last night and when he woke my boobs were going to explode! Ive been expressing in between feeds and will start freezing it for a rainy day. Im so glad I expressed the colostrum at 36 weeks! It certainly came in handy.
Things are back to normal now thank god but I certainly wouldn't want to go through that again! Here are some pics from our stay, although I do feel a little sad and ill when I look at them :(
Our room
Hi bed for the next couple of days
Under the lights
Just after a feed and ready to go back under
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