I am a cow. A milking cow. Every 3 hours (except at night - I skip one session at night), I hook my breasts up to a pump that takes the milk out of my breasts for 10-15 minutes and puts it in little 2 oz bottles that are provided by the hospital (thankfully; otherwise that would get expensive!). It's a bit tedious pumping 7 times a day, but I can watch tv or go online at the same time, so it's not too bad. Of course I'd rather be actually breastfeeding, which should start happening in the next couple of weeks. I get on average 100-120 CC's (2 oz = 120cc) at every session. When Sophie was eating before the surgery, she would get 55 cc's at a feeding (every 3 hours). You can do the math - I have a lot of extra milk saved up. At one point the hospital told Keith I had a week's worth of feeds saved up. A week ago they told me to stop bringing what I pumped at home into the hospital. So I am freezing it at home. As I write this I am helping to make room in our freezer by eating ice cream (yes, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it). I'm not sure how we're going to use up all of that milk, but it lasts 6 months in the freezer, and up to a year in a deep freeze. Since her surgery Sophie hasn't been getting any milk, so even more is going into the freezer.
Until today. Sophie's recovery is going well, so they gave her 5 cc's of milk this afternoon. She seemed to tolerate it just fine, so they will continue to up her feedings, slowly. She was much more alert today than yesterday, and continues to get various tubes taken out of her. They let me try holding her today, but she was too uncomfortable, so she went back in her bed.
Before I went to the hospital today, Owen and I went to the new aquarium in Tempe (he has this week off from daycare). Owen wasn't as excited as I was expecting, but I think that was because it was a bit overwhelming for him. It wasn't busy, but they have loud music in the background (that was annoying to me), and it really is a different experience for a toddler, especially a shy one like Owen. His favorite part was the sharks, which there were a lot of.
Tomorrow Owen and I will be going to Sedona with my parents. It will be nice to get away for a bit, if even for just 24 hours. Although I will miss Sophie, of course.
But maybe we'll see some cows along the way and I can say hi. Mooooo.
there is room in the deep freezer. We will take some home on Friday.
ReplyDeleteYou can also donate milk that you won't use to a milk bank - check it out online, it's a nice way to help other preemie babies whose moms can't breastfeed!
ReplyDelete-Emily C