The Milkman

The amount of support you receive surrounding the birth of your child, or in our case children, can really make or break you. In my case, I had always known that my husband was a strong man and a wonderful partner but I had no idea how much I would rely on him and just how supportive he would be.

During labour he was right by my side in the operating room cheering me on and keeping me focused. Being a cameraman I shouldn’t have been surprised that he also managed to snap a few pictures as Baby A was being born!

When I found out Baby B had to come out via C-Section I was terrified. I hadn’t really prepared myself for major surgery. My hubby kept me calm and kept telling me it would be okay. Without his support I’m not sure how I would’ve handled the whole delivery process.

After giving birth to the girls I didn’t know if or when my milk would come in. The first two to three days I was producing colostrum, not a tonne, but enough for my 3 lb baby girls. Since babies don’t understand the sucking motion until about 35 weeks and our girls were born at less than 32 weeks I relied on my pump. The amount I was pumping was so minor that it only filled the neck of the pump and I wasn’t sure how to get it to our babies. The next thing I knew my husband was in there with a syringe from the NICU siphoning what I had pumped into a vile and rushing it off to the NICU. He would label all of the vials, wash all of the pump parts and deliver whatever I had pumped. He was quickly dubbed ‘The Milkman’ by the nurses.

After a vaginal AND C-Section birth I tried to be as mobile as possible but found that I needed the use of a wheelchair for about a week after the delivery. My husband was there to ensure that I had a wheelchair anytime we were on the move.

I was discharged from hospital 48 hours after delivery, but the girls weren’t transferred to the hospital near our home for four days so we needed to figure out where we were going to call home as the drive from our house to the hospital was too far to travel each day. Our friend that worked in the NICU helped my husband arrange a preferred rate as a nearby hotel. My hubby found me a wheelchair once we arrived at the hotel and the doorman helped us upgrade to a wheelchair accessible room. For all of you moms delivering via C-Section and find themselves in a similar situation, trust me, get a wheelchair accessible room. These rooms have showers with a bench seat which was the most amazing feature to have. It allowed me to have my independence without having to strain myself to stand during a shower.

Getting back to my hubby…along with demonstrating an incredible amount of patience during my physical and emotional recovery, and taking as much time off work as possible to be with me and the girls, he also surprised me with a beautiful necklace with the girls’ initials engraved on it.

After all of the love and support my husband showed me during what could have been a very difficult time I wanted to do something to thank him. I found a leather and stainless steel bracelet and engraved it with the girls’ initials and birthdate. I also decided to engrave a stainless steel keychain with one word the sums it all up…’Milkman’.