Being Momma G: Day 77

Homeward bound. And armed with a bag of tricks that were slightly different from the ones we already had to better help Sean settle to sleep, and resettle to sleep.

After being so fussy late yesterday afternoon and evening, I was kind of expecting Sean to have an unsettled night. Sean woke at midnight to have a feed, and at first, he was very unwilling to feed. Kathleen sat with me to try and help me get Sean to feed properly, and after watching for a short time, decided to call Heather for help. Heather was not just any nurse; she was also a lactation consultant, and she sat down to see what the story was. Heather wanted to see if my milk flow was good, and she barely touched my boob to see a spray of milk shoot out of my nipple. Heather tried the other boob, and the same thing happened. Heather was most impressed with my milk flow, but suggested perhaps that Sean may not appreciate the super fast flow when he first latched on. She suggested that I expressed some milk into a cup or bottle before putting Sean on the breast, so that the flow would be slower and he may then feed better.

Under Heather and Kathleen's watchful eyes, we had a relatively good feed. Heather told me that she felt Sean was a very efficient feeder, and even though he had been fussy during feeds, he was still gaining weight at a good pace, so he must be getting enough milk. Perhaps, at times, 10 minutes was all that Sean needed to drain the milk from my boob, so I should really stop timing how long Sean was on each boob and start feeling my boobs to see if they were soft and supple and therefore drained at the end of each feed.

Kathleen offered to take Sean again after he was finished. I accepted and went back to sleep. Sean woke again at 4am, and we had another fairly good feed. I put Sean back into the cot in our room and went back to sleep. Sean woke just after 6.30am, and it took me 10 minutes to resettle him. I felt he needed a bit more sleep, and I wanted a tinge more myself. Thankfully, Sean resettled and slept until 8.30am when we got up for our final feed at Tresillian.

Michelle and I both fed our babies at the same time on the couch in the nursery. Sean was quite fussy, while Zack was good to start with but became fussy when he saw Sean was being a wriggler. Michelle was all packed and ready to go by the time we had both finished feeding - she had been up since 5.30am with Zack, and after the earlier feed, Zack went back to sleep, allowing Michelle to have a shower and get her things in order. Michelle had taken a bunch of photos of Sean late yesterday afternoon, so I gave her our contact details so we could stay in touch, and so she could mail a CD of photos to us.

After Sean was fed and playing happily on the floor, I asked Jennifer the nurse to look after him while I had a quick shower. Jonathan arrived while I was just finishing, so he took over looking after Sean while Jennifer went up to a meeting. I hurriedly finished packing, as we were the last to leave and the hospital manager was hovering over us, waiting for us to exit the hospital.

When I had called my parents yesterday during the measles vaccination panic, I had arranged to have lunch with them today, but at the time we left Tresillian, it was far too early to head to Chatswood to wait for lunch. Sean was happy enough to be in the car capsule, so we swung by Lane Cove to see our darling friend Sveta, to sign necessary paperwork to officially engage her as our conveyancer for the sale of the St Leonards apartment.

Sean was asleep by the time we pulled up in the car park, so we left him in the capsule and carried it up to Sveta's office. Sveta was happy to see us and thrilled to meet the little one. We talked for a bit and Sveta took me through all the processes and procedures, explaining everything in detail before I signed on the dotted line. It was good to catch up with Sveta, and hoped we would catch up again with her husband Stuart and their kids Sofia and Brian.

Sean was still asleep when we left Sveta's office, and we continued on to Chatswood, as we were now much closer to lunch time for everyone, especially Sean. We arrived in Chatswood and immediately went to the Parents Room, where I gave Sean his lunch so we could enjoy ours in peace later. It was not a good feed, but Sean at least got some milk into him. He behaved perfectly through lunch, which meant Jonathan and I could talk to Dad and Mum without having to tend to a screaming baby. We told them all about our week at Tresillian and how Sean had progressed through the week. It was nice to have yum cha for lunch.

We took a side trip to the supermarket after lunch to pick up a few groceries before heading home. Once we got home, we put Sean to bed - in his own cot, in his own room - and amazingly, Sean went to sleep. And stayed asleep for over 2 hours!

Sean was a hungry hungry boy by the time he woke up around 4.30pm, and he had a very good feed before enjoying a bit of play time at home. We pulled out a number of toys to entice him with, and Sean had fun kicking at the mobiles hanging off the jungle gym. A short time later, Sean was ready for bed again, so we popped him back in his cot and let him drift off to dream land.

I caught up on a few things while Sean was asleep, such as email and Facebook. The St Leonards apartment was having its first open house inspection tomorrow, so we went in search of the listing online, and here it is! We hoped there would be plenty of interest at the open house tomorrow.

Dinner time came and went, and Sean was still asleep. Amazingly, the little guy finally woke just before 8.30pm, and drank ferociously. Jonathan gave Sean a bath for the first time this week, and they enjoyed rebonding over bath time. Afterwards, Sean nibbled at the top up and only took 10mL - he must have had a good feed earlier!

We're home. We're home! I get to sleep in my own bed tonight, next to my darling husband, who I've missed so much. We hope Sean will continue to improve after our week at Tresillian. In the meantime, I have some cuddles to collect from Jonathan. Good night!