Fast Forward

This week feels like everything has been switched to fast forward. As well as walks around the hospital, our dr approved gate-passes so Clem could join us in the evenings while we had dinner at the appartment. 

Clem tolerated the switchover from continuous intestinal-tube feeds to continuos stomach-tube feeds just fine, so the next step was bolus feeds (another of the lovely words we've recently added to our vocabulary, from the Greek bōlus meaning 'clod', or a rounded mass of something, in this case, breastmilk)

To start, the surgeons really wanted to know exactly how much of a bolus he was getting, and since there's unfortunately no gauge on my breasts, this meant either tube or bottle feeds of expressed milk. Also, Clem kinda forgot how to latch at the breast since his third surgery.  We discussed that while getting to full breastfeeds was our ultimate goal, staying in hospital til this was achieved seemed unnecessary given the lactation support I can access from home as needed. So, keen on getting us released from hospital as soon as possible, we went with bottles as Clem does enjoy his milk by mouth, and it was an option we could easily go home with. 

On Monday, he had hourly 29ml bottles of expressed milk. But yes, he was still hungry. On Tuesday he had his Hickman central IV line removed in a brief procedure in the operating theatre, so was extra hungry as he had to fast part of the day. On Wednesday he had 2 hourly bottles of 60 ml. Wednesday night the pump went off and Mike fed him bottles on demand overnight, and he proved himself quite capable of knowing when he was hungry and letting his dad know about it. Thursday it was 3 hourly/on demand 90ml bottles to be sure his gut could tolerate this amount. 

And on Friday, our surgeons were confident his gut had proved itself, and hospital care was no longer required. Both his precious feeding tubes were finally removed, and he was discharged from hospital to our accommodation accross the street. 

We spent a (mostly) lovely afternoon not having to be anywhere. Mike is back in Orange for a few shifts at work again, but thankfully Grandma has been able to come help again. 

Now feeling very glad we didn't wait around hospital til we'd established full breastfeeding! Within a couple of hours of being in the appartment, after a proper bath and a good yell and a lie down, he suddenly remembered how to latch and has been feeding at the breast ever since. 

We have some wrapping up and packing up to do, but all going well, we will be all the way home to Orange within the week. Once again, massive gratitude to everyone who has been so supportive over the last three months. 

There was a moment yesterday when both my children were screaming full volume and there was a strong realisation of all the new adjustments to come. But somewhere in there was the start of our new normal family life, screams and all. And a hard earned nap.