22 Aug 2010
Tis is my 4th day staying in NICU. Within this short stay, I'd already broke down in tears 4nites. It's not because of d babies, but it's d physical & mental exhaustion that causes the emotional breakdown.
Here, we do hv very busy schedule. Breastfeeding(BF) every 3hrs. Lets say BF@1130am, we need to b thr slightly early, latest 1115am, then get d baby wakeup & ready 4 feeding. Try/teach/BF baby for at least 20-30mins. Since baby still learning to suck, so we need to top up baby's feeding with tube. After feeding baby with tube, I'll usually stay for awhile to ensure baby is alright after the feeding. This whole process actually takes up an hour. By the time i leave d room, it's almost 1pm.
Get back to my bed, get ready d breastpump, need to express breastmilk for feeding. During of pumping takes 30-40mins. After that, clean up the utensils & sterilize it with hot water. Take the expressed breastmilk to keep in the fridge which is quite a distance away. by the time tis finishes, the time is 2pm.
Quickly get back to grab some food cos the next feeding starts at 230pm... N this goes on d whole day.
It's quite tiring especially for new mothers -- new as in the sense just gave birth. Cos physically we have yet to recover from d operation, now we need to do lots of standing & walking. My back & incision area actually aches every nite. And not forgetting my both wrist which had carpal tunnel syndrome due to pregnancy had not reduce.
Other than that, for chinese, this is the crucial month to 调养身体。Food wise, not suitable for confinement. Even malay also does not take those food during their 'pantang' period. So, hubby had to send my meals which r cooked by mother in law in d morning.
Emotionally, when physically tired & can't enjoy every meal nicely will definately affect d emotion. At times, I feel like requesting to go home to rest.
However.....
Although there r many unpleasant things, once I saw d improvement in each on d babies...all these pain will be forgotten.
Today is the '12day' for the babies!
Eldest son: improves in sucking, at least he is more initiative to opens up his mouth & able to suck for more times. He is also more awake, rolling his eyes left & right.
2nd son: weight increase, came out of incubator today! Bravo. Should b learning to BF soon.
3rd son: had increase from 1.1kg (birth weight) to 1.3kg. He is still in incubators, but soon when his weight is 1.6, then he should be out from incubator too.
So, when i think of all of their improvements & achiements... I'm happily continuing my stay here in the NICU.
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