After a bit of convincing, the midwives at the hospital decided that Claire and Baby Jack are ok to go home, after 6 days of being there. It took a bit of convincing, but it mostly seemed to boil down to the fact that Claire had already bought a breastfeeding pump, which she will be able to use herself at home, in order to produce the milk that Jack will have.
He’s still not feeding off of her directly, as he goes on there ok and gives up after a few goes. He’s still making improvements and Claire is determined to keep trying, as we’re told that he may one day just do as he should. Until then, Claire is expressing the milk using the pump, which goes into bottles and we go from there without a problem, it seems.
Having the milk in convenient bottles means that I can feed him too, but more importantly, I can help feed him and get him settled down in the middle of the night, and leave Claire to sleep in. I can’t help but think that she’s got one over on me with this, and I’m slowing starting to figure it out...
But we’re home. We’ve been home just a few hours and managed to feed him and ourselves without a great deal of fuss. I say, or type, this rather tentatively, as I am expecting things to get a whole lot worse before we can declare some normality in all of this!
Before leaving tonight, we took 3 boxes of chocolates in for the midwives and care assistants in the Lilac ward and in the Delivery Suite, where Jack was actually born, to try to show our appreciation for them all in their efforts over the past week. I know it’s their job, but they could have done it without being pleasant and extremely helpful. So, anyway - enough about them and how good people they all are.
As I write this at 21:20 – Claire is trying to get a couple of hours sleep, as she didn’t get very much at all last night, and Jack has had his milk and is sleeping in the pram attachment on top of a crib-rocker, sited just outside my office door so that I can hear him if he stirs but not dazzle him with the halogen lights inside here.
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