The hospital has since been renovated and redone the layout, but when she delivered there the NICU was several floors down from the pp unit. In those first hours, when all she could think was this was a punishment for something that I did wrong. What a cruel, cruel, cruel thing to be able to hear other babies and she could not even hold mine. Her second birth was with a midwifery practice as well as my other babies. This time was in a hospital and there was an LC and she said and was sympathetic and acknowledged how difficult this task was wanting to breastfeed a baby who was in NICU. She brought me a pump and so she pumped during those early hours. At least this time, because I had pumped at work before. The breastpump was not a foreign object to her. You don’t grow up learning how to use a breastpump. Once you get it down pat, it comes easily as habitual as brushing your teeth and flossing. She brought me an electric pump and I had only used a manual pump. I told her I always had used the Avent isis pump and she said oh no that is not going to help you with a NICU baby. Christine does say that she hated the electric pump and wound up using the manual pump. It was so comfortable and it is what she was used to and did her best with. By the time she was discharged, she was still not breastfeeding.