special care

Omy lil man as previously mention was a lil too excited and decided to pop out 3 weeks early. in fact he was just a few days short of 37 weeks which meant he was premature and unfortunately still considered a preemie. now there is nothing wrong with being a preemie ... except that he had trouble keeping his glucose levels up and he wasn't latching onto my boobies properly to keep it stable. Plus he was considered big at 3.14kg being that young. The doc said that if he was full term I would be giving birth to an almost 4kg baby o_O he also suspected I was borderline GD (gestational diabetic) which made my lil man big.

now since his glucose wasn't stable, they had to take him to the special care unit where they would monitor him to keep them up. this meant he wouldn't be following me back to my room until he is stable. They told me to rest and when I felt ready to have a rinse and check into my room where I will be staying for the rest of week. I would of course get to visit as and whenever I liked.

in special care, to ensure his glucose stabilizes he needs to eat. since he couldn't latch or would too much strength sucking, he had to be tube fed. poor thing, everytime they tested his sugar levels, they had to prick his heel for blood. at least babies heal quickly, but he wasn't happy getting pricked for sure.

I on the other hand needed to get my breast milk flowing so I was learning how to express. so miserable the first few times, could barely fill a stringe. at first you could barely see anything at all.. and finally .. 0.1ml... 0.2ml... I was so proud when I upgraded from a stringe to a container! and it was tiring waking up every 2 hours in the middle of the night. I eventually got use to it now with a crying baby to wake me.

his glucose stabilized by day 3. he then had to learn to latch... well I had to learn to stuff my booby into his mouth at the right time. it was tough not knowing for such if I has it right. thank goodness for the midwives. although everyone had different style and advise, I eventually kinda got it. and practice makes perfect! if he didn't learn to drink on his own, I would have check out of hospital without him. he did but we did have to stay an extra day at the hospital. There were a pair of twins there that had to stay while their mother checked out and she was so upset. can't imagine how it feels. so glad he got to come home with me.

there was a silver lining of him being in special care. a routine was set that he ate every 3 hours. i had enough breast milk to feed him without the frustration of running out and I'm pretty sure a got more rest than other moms there as the midwives at special care would watch over him when I wasn't feeding. still I can't believe he was made inside me....