Going back to my room was so difficult as I wanted to spend my days with George and Rich, especially considering they put me in a room right to next to some insanely loud construction. You cannot imagine how many people I had telling me to get some rest. Eventually, a kind nurse said she was going to make the effort to get me moved to another room, which was right by the elevator (closer to George!).

I took comfort knowing that George was being monitored 24/7 especially with Rich sleeping next to him. On day 2 of life, they found that George had high levels of bilirubin, so he was in need of some phototherapy. Of course, we tried to find humor in everything and told people he was just topping up his tan. He had some really stylish glasses while he was under the lights. Rich even made a video of George under the lights and dubbed it with Kanye West’s ‘All of the lights’ song and sent it to friends and family. He found ways to stay busy while keeping George company.

 

By this point, I had already started pumping and anytime I didn’t spend with George, I was trying to produce as much milk as possible. At first, I was entirely discouraged because I wasn’t getting much, but as soon as the liquid gold started coming in George was ready to eat!! It was becoming so hard to keep up with him because if you remember George was 8lbs7oz, which meant he was taking in a lot! I mean he was the largest preemie this unit has seen in the time it has been open (6 months). Rich was running up and down knocking down my door saying, “BABE! George needs milk!” Of course, I’d give him “THE LOOK” saying, “Um.. I’m recovering! Can’t I get ‘Hi! how are you feeling?'” This happened several times until I’d quickly learn George was on a every 3 hour feed around the clock.

George was doing well, but a huge part of me kept thinking that I was doing all the wrong things. Like I mentioned, he had a feeding tube and it felt as though he would always fall asleep on me during feeds. I kept wondering what Rich was doing that I wasn’t. Eventually, we saw a speech therapist who came to see how George was feeding and she gave us some valuable information. I came to understand that babies have a tendency to fall asleep when mom feeds because of the scent of breastmilk. She suggested I wear one of Rich’s hoodies to disguise myself. He quickly mastered sleep eating and eventually we learned that music really  stimulated George during his feeds. We started off with Christmas music and continue to play everything from Bruno Mars to Sam Hunt to Avicii.

Eventually, George came off CPAP at day 7 of life.