Babymama Alpha Mae Del Rosario
I am a mom of Silas, he is 7 months old now. He was born premature at 29 weeks due to leaking amniotic fluid, early contractions, and infection. He stayed in the NICU for 38 days. He was not allowed any milk intake for two weeks because of high volume of liquid aspirated from him brought by immature digestive track. His birth weight was 1.19 kg but after two weeks of just IV fluid, his weight dropped significantly. He also acquired neonatal pneumonia, had Grade 1 bleeding of the brain and was monitored every two weeks for retina of prematurity screening.
But God is great. My son is thriving and is now clear from the complications of prematurity. We continue to hope and pray that things continue to improve for him and his bright future ahead.
Even if my son came out full term, I was really decided to breastfeed him. So when he came out prematurely, I was even more decided to breastfeed. I may have failed at keeping my son full term but I will not fail at breastfeeding and giving him the best start at life.
I experienced a lot of memorable moments. The first drop of colostrum was quite an emotional experience. My son cannot latch yet and he was not allowed to feed for two weeks but I needed to stock up and save milk for him for once he is ready.After all the painful squeezing and massaging and with my husband’s help and the aid of a syringe, I was able to hand express 1ml of colostrum.
Equally memorable was the first latch of my little one. His OGT was already out and I was engorged. I was very ready to have him latch on me. Thank heavens we were able to connect and he latched on me for about 5 minutes. I did not know how it was supposed to feel but the feeling was heaven. I was crying and laughing at the same time.
I also had challenges like I had a flat nipple on the right and a small nipple on the left. The first week at home was a struggle. I was told that only my son can pull out my nipple by continuous latching. So I did. I did not know it would be that hard. It took him a week to accept both my nipples and eventually pull the right one out. There were lots of tears and frustration in between but I’m thankful we were able to get through it. And I’m thankful because my number 1 cheerleader is my husband. I also got the nagging (haha) and love from my parents and my breastfeeding mommy friends.