Mothers Day - The Little Things

We chose a realistic Mother's Day wish - to take Clem 'somewhere, anywhere' as a family, and thanks to the wonderful and highly accommodating staff here at the Grace, our little dream was realised. 

Complete with IV pole, mobile monitor and nurse escort, we enjoyed a Mother's Day afternoon tea in the little courtyard that is physically just a hallway away from Clem's bed, yet feels like a whole other world. He saw sky for the first time! Well, he would have, if he hadn't slept peacefully through the whole adventure. 

Very appreciative of our nurse escort. While Clem didn't need her skills, she joyfully played endless fun games with Lena while Mike and I hung out with Clem and ate cake. It's the little things. 

Lena also made my Mother's Day special by using her crafting skills to create two lovely cards, as well as repeatedly throughout the day giving me a hug and saying "happy Mother's Day mummy". Clem, with a little help from his nurses, also made me a card with his footprint on it. 

(Skip this next paragraph if you don't want to read detailed breastfeeding information)

Clem is still technically nil-by-mouth, but we want him to be ready to breastfeed once we know his intestines can tolerate milk. So this week's exciting development is getting the go-ahead from the surgeons to try comfort suckling at an 'empty' breast. While lactating breasts are never truly 'empty', the idea is that I pump first so at least he won't suddenly get a massive amount of milk. Then, I put him in the zone and see what happens. At first he had no idea what to do, so found it all a bit confusing and frustrating. Understandable after so long without the chance to practise, as well as having used a dummy (pacifier) for his comfort sucking needs up til this point. But he gets much closer each day to putting it all together. He has managed to latch a couple of times and even trigger a let-down and drink a little. I was a little worried he'd get too much, but he seems to fall asleep very quickly after his tastes of success. Plus he has tubes into his stomach and jejeunal bowel that are 'aspirated' every four hours, so if he happens to get too much, the nurses will simply suction it back up the tubes. 

Apart from some concern about an infection that had him on antibiotics again, he seems to be recovering well from his surgery last week and all going well, the surgeons are hoping to start small tube feeds again early next week. Fingers crossed things have settled to a point where his digestive system starts to work better this time. 

We're all hanging in there...