|
 After
her first home birth and a fairly straightforward experience of
breastfeeding her daughter, Fiona Wallace Carvall then had her son
Cameron. Breastfeeding and caring for Cameron was to be a dramatically
different experience, involving a night-time dash to Paediatric
Intensive Care and a road traffic accident involving the ambulance
her son was in…
Sorcha was born at home after a five hour natural labour and she
fed well from birth. I had a bit of pain to begin with, but after
some positioning advice from my midwife, homeopathic medicines,
cabbage leaves in my bra (yes, I really did this....I'd try anything!!)
everything settled down. I had a couple of splits in my nipples
which were really painful for a while but they gradually healed
up. La Leche League were also incredibly helpful - I spoke the local
leader several times on the telephone. I went on to feed Sorcha
for 18 months. She weaned herself naturally at this time, I believe
because I was pregnant with Cameron, and it is said that the hormonal
changes make the milk flavour change!
Cameron was born only five months later, again a natural labour
at home, taking around half an hour longer. He did feed immediately
after birth but his feeding was patchy for the following two days
and I did worry. On day three he became cold and a bit blue, so
the midwife suggested doing skin to skin for an hour to raise his
temperature. His temperature came up but his lips were still blue,
so she did a blood glucose test which was very low.
We rushed him to the Special Care Baby Unit, where after many tests,
it was thought that he had a life threatening heart defect, whereby
he wasn't getting enough oxygen around his body. He was sedated
and put on a drug to keep the special valve open in the heart which
mixes oxygen into the blood from the umbilical cord in the womb
- this valve closes naturally two or three days after birth, hence
there being no indication previously of the condition. Even the
GP had sounded Cameron's heart on his visit on day one and pronounced
everything ok, as there was no way of telling.
Nothing could have prepared us for the shock. At this point my
breasts had filled up so much they were hurting, and worried I would
get a blocked duct, or mastitis, I kept expressing by hand into
a polystyrene cup, which was exhausting and painful and very emotional.
All I wanted to do was to cuddle Cameron and feed him.
The only way of confirming the condition was to have Cameron transferred
to Guy's Hospital in London, where they had the specialist equipment,
and where surgery could take place. Several hours later a retrieval
team arrived from Guy's with an ambulance, cardiac paediatrician
and nurse from the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. At around 2.30pm
in the morning my husband and I left Eastbourne in our car to travel
to Guy's, leaving Cameron in the hands of the expert team.
I had filled a couple of small bottles with milk but had to throw
it away as it wouldn't have stayed fresh for the journey. I was
reassured that there would be proper expressing facilities at Guy's.
We really thought the worse had happened, but more was yet to come.
Only a mile from Guy's in London, the ambulance passed us at some
lights and turned a corner. Following a couple of minutes later,
we came across the scene of a road traffic accident on our route.
A police car on a chase had smashed into the side of the ambulance
turning it over. We waited several minutes whilst police searched
for Cameron. Owing the amount of complicated equipment needed to
keep him alive, he had been strapped to a stretcher (they can't
incubate them) which had broken and he was lost underneath the wreckage.
He was naked, bloody and dirty, his heart had stopped beating and
he had a depressed skull fracture. But there was a miracle - out
of many drips he had in his limbs, one had stayed intact, in one
foot. All the others had come out. Also, the ventilator had broken
off but the tube had stayed in his airway. This meant that the injured
doctor and nurse could work on reviving him in the new ambulance
whilst we all travelled together to Kings College Hospital - and
this is exactly what they did.
The hours we spent in the waiting room at Kings College Hospital
whilst the damage was assessed and Cameron was re-stabilised, were
agony for me, not just emotionally but physically as well, as by
this time my breasts were fit to explode and the hand expressing
was become increasingly difficult and painful. I am thankful that
I had breastfed before and had some experiencing of hand expressing,
as I remember I found it hard to get to grips with the first time
around. I honestly think I would have been in danger of getting
mastitis had I not known how to do it, but somehow I managed to
keep getting enough milk off to prevent my ducts from blocking.
In the morning we were transferred to Guy's Hospital with a baby
who not only had a fatal heart defect but also a potentially brain-damaging
head injury. What followed were many meetings with different consultants
and doctors, a month living in (fantastic) accommodation at the
hospital, Ronald McDonald House, with Sorcha - thankfully - and
eventually, a baby with a good chance at life to take home.
At Guy's they have a fantastic set-up for expressing milk. Every
mum is given her own pack of accessories for the electric pumps,
which are located in comfy rooms in every ward or unit, along with
steam units to clean everything. There is an unlimited supply of
little plastic bottles to put your milk in, and strict rules regarding
cleanliness must be adhered to for the milk to stay uncontaminated.
You then label your bottle with the baby's name, date and time of
expression, and put these in a freezer. Then, when the milk is used,
it is in date and time order.
After a week Cameron was started on 1ml of my milk, which was built
up gradually, through a nasogastric tube. I was so relieved to be
able to express - every three hours or so - and got into a rhythm
easily as I had so much milk and, I suppose, my body knew what to
do! I had so many bottles filling up the freezer I needed one of
my own!!
Cameron had to wait two weeks to have his heart operation, because
of the head injury. Two days before he went to theatre I was able
to breastfeed him again, which wasn't easy as he was covered in
drips and wires and it was difficult to get into a comfortable position,
and I was worried I'd pull something I shouldn't! But it went fine.
'Heart' babies are notoriously lazy feeders, they get very tired.
So he would feed for ten minutes and then drop off. Later on, when
I stayed a couple of nights in a room off the ward, I was up every
half an hour to feed him for ten minutes each time!
After the operation Cameron was in intensive care again, and again
had to work up to his 1ml of expressed milk! So we went through
the process again until I could breastfeed, but this time his feeding
times got longer and longer as he built up some stamina. Before
we went home I still had around thirty bottles of milk in the freezer,
which sadly had to be discarded, as they never would have made it
home! The nurses used to joke with me about my supply but I was
so proud I had managed to keep going in the face of all the stress.
I had to spend one night away at a friend's house because I was
so stressed and my milk was starting to wane, but I came back refreshed
and kept going.
Then, once we were home.....well, Cameron was never parted from
my breasts, much to Sorcha's annoyance because she was jealous for
cuddles, and sometimes asked to have 'booby'! So I would say 'okay,
come on then' and she'd have a quick look, or take the nipple in
her mouth for a second and then pull my bra back up, saying 'all
done'. I felt it was important for her, as all she wanted was to
know she could still 'have me'!
Cameron fed so much in the first few months of his life, I was
exhausted, but knew I was doing the right thing for him. He had
lost such a lot of weight but gained it back really quickly. He
was plagued with colds, and has a damaged nostril so sometimes couldn't
breathe well during the night. I carried on feeding him during the
night (both kids slept in our bed for at least a year) until he
was around 18 months old. It was a wrench for him - he'd wake in
the middle of the night and have a conversation about it...(..."no
booby night night mama?"....) but he soon started sleeping through
the night. Towards his second birthday he wasn't feeding very much,
but I was very keen to knock the 6.30am feed on the head! So just
after his birthday I weaned him off completely - I spent a couple
of nights at my mum's so I wasn't there in the morning (he'd already
spent nights away from me but then I'd fed him during the day) and
that was that. He did keep asking for a while, but now just has
a healthy appreciation for my boobs...he'll say "Oh, I like your
boobies mummy!!"....bless. He now has a completely healthy head
and heart and is bright, strong and fit and if anything a bit advanced.....!
Oh, and he'll eat any fruit or vegetable....I've never seen a child
eat so healthily.
My breasts have gone down a cup size from before I had my children,
but after an initial despondency about it, I now look at my body
and remember everything that I have given my children, and feel
so much pride that I managed to feed Cameron despite everything.
I know that breastfeeding has benefited him in ways science will
maybe never understand, but all I know is, I've got a happy healthy
boy who thinks my boobs are better then Kylie's!!
Where to next?
|
