Our Breastfeeding Journey - Part 3

Day 3 - The "Prophecy"came true

This day was quite horrible. That morning while feeding Lucas I could see there were traces of blood and my nipple was sore. It was painful and sharp. The nurse gave me medela purelan to apply after each feed. It was my life saver. But it wasn't over. The journey is just beginning.

Cindy went home on this day and I was alone. I was excited to be going home the next day. But shortly after the first or second feeding, I could feel that my breast got tighter. It soon became as hard as rock, red and painful. O.O" Wake up call! I really didn't know what to do, was a tad shy to ask the nurse but I walked to the feeding room and asked for help. The attending nurse gave me a hot pack and she helped me message my breast which was so d*** painful! +_+ she didn't encourage me to use the hospital pump as my nipples were sore. We tried to hand express. And also I tried to call my husband to bring my pump which I left in the car. He can only come by after work. It was so overwhelming... I cried.

I manage to get some milk with the pump when hubby came, but I told the nurse to throw the milk away because it was almost an hour in the room without a proper cover... hehehe... *face palm* << this is the consequence of not reading up before hand. Oh well... then I keep latching Lucas & also extracting using the pump & finally, I manage to relieve from the pain...

After about 6-7 days in the confinement centre, I manage to wean Lucas off the nipple shield. Hooray. But the nipple was still sore. I really endured at least 3 months of nipple sore. It was so painful that showers felt like needles. Supply was just enough.... Not great, yet I'm counting my blessings as having just right amount is ok for me.

Everytime, we bottle feed Lucas, I will pump while he's being fed. This is to keep with the supply & demand. Everynight, daddy will feed Lucas once. That's when I will wake up and pump. If he drinks 3oz, I will pump about 3.5oz - 4oz... that's the maximum I can get, & luckily, Lucas only drinks 3oz only.

After about 6 mths, I stopped pumping and only DL. and the journey has been great. We are still going strong at 18 mths! Unbelievable.

Our Breastfeeding Journey - Part 2 - Reality Sinks in

Day 1 - Post delivery

After delivery, a few hours later, the nurse  let me hold my little baby. He was so tiny. We attempted the first latch but he just couldn't get hold of it. I was abit nervous and I could tell he was learning to latch on. Then the nurse said, he can't because my nipple was quite flat slightly inverted on both sides. She then walked away and came back with a yellow case. It was a set of nipple shield by Medela. She placed it on my nipple and we gave it another try. He then tried again and again and finally he managed to latch on. I was so happy!

I did not once wonder if my supply was enough for my little one. Neither did it occur to me to pump. Day one, I was pretty much bed ridden due to the pain post surgery. It felt like the lower part of my body has been detached from me. On and off, the nurse will bring Lucas over for feeding when he cries. I love having him around. At times I wondered if I could let him lay by my side a bit longer. Yet, my movement was still quite limited due to the discomfort and pain. He would cry almost every 2 hours so I fed him almost every hour as each feeding takes about 45mins. There was no night or day for me. The feeding process seems endless.

Nipple sheild from Medela

Day 2 - Getting up
The nurse make us get out of bed and walk to the feeding room. Boy, was that the longest, hardest, 20mins ever... The nurse was really patient with me as she waited and helped me make my first stand. Then on, I was required to walk everytime my baby cries. Why oh why is my room the last end of the ward and the feeding room is on the other...

Later that day, Cindy, who was also my roommate, told me milk will come in on the 3rd day. I didn't understand what she meant... I just nod. That's how blur and naive I am. Hahaha. Oh was I in for a big surprise on day 3... 

Our breastfeeding journey - Part 1 - Preparing

Yup. Our breastfeeding journey... The reason I used our is because it takes two to breastfeed successfully and Lucas and I have been a great team thus far. Before I delivered Lucas, I have never thought that I would have gone this far with breastfeeding. I am quite ignorant on this subject back then. I believe my ignorance actually helped me with today's achievement. Although, I don't encourage mummies to be ignorant like I was. The reason I mentioned ignorance helped me, is because, I tend to think and consider too much if and when I have too much info. I still remember my only preparation for breastfeeding was a short talk with mummy Shu-Yin on the subject before I delivered. I remembered clearly she said to me "breastfeeding is not as easy as it is stated on brochure. It takes a lot of determination and perseverance." With that in mind, this journey began.

Preparation

Breast pump : Evenflo Simply Go

I didn't know about pumps or know how to buy a pump. Nobody in my family breastfed before, except for my grandmas who don't use pumps back then. It was my husband who actually bought the pump for me after he did some comparison. He was at the US during my second trimester. So, he read online that being a stay-at-home-mum, I don't require an expensive and powerful pump. He bought me my very first pump.

It was battery operated. It was portable. It has very little parts & very easy to clean. 

20pcs storage bottles
Storage : Bumble Bee PP Breastmilk Bottle

I bought 20 storage bottle from bumble bee... And 20pcs was all I had and needed. I was very lucky that these bottles actually fit my pump perfectly. I don't have the hassle of pouring them over to a new bottle after I pump.

2 boxes of disposable breast pad

Regretted buying these as I never used them. I find them really uncomfortable and pricky on my sensitive nipples. I ditched them after using 2 pcs.

Breastfeeding friendly confinement centre

This was one of my worst experience because Lucas contracted conjunctivitis due to their negligence. The whole centre was closed down as they fail to take measures to contain the disease. Eventhough it happened months before and still is spreading to other babies, they tried to cover up & children, babies and adults who visited the centre contracted the disease as well. Long story short, it was terrible.

More on my journey in next post... :)