Chapter IV
Rin arrived at the hospital bright and early the next day to pick up Kazumi and say goodbye to Melody, since it'll be the last time she'll see her again in who knows how long. After parking car and checking in on her friend, she walked to the room that belonged to Melody, knocked, and waited to be allowed in. After hearing the distinct call to come in, Rin walked inside to find Melody dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a plain white tee shirt, as well as wearing a pair of sneakers. She was holding Kazumi in her arms while she talked to her uncle and finalized things with the nurse and doctor; when Rin stepped into Melody's line of vision, she waved her over, said a few last things to the doctor, and turned her full attention on her.
"Ohayo gozaimasu," Melody greeted Rin in a slight English accent before she took a seat on the bed and handed Rin, the burrito wrapped baby.
"Ohayo gozaimasu," replied Rin in kind, as she took Kazumi in her arms and shifted her slightly in her arms so that she was a bit more comfortable. A calm silence engulfed the two as they waited for Melody's uncle to finish talking to the doctors and they left, before Melody said her goodbyes to Kazumi and Rin, and quickly left the room in tears. A few seconds passed before her uncle joined her outside.
After a few minutes passed Melody's uncle came inside the room again followed by a nurse carrying a cream coloured car seat and a diaper bag, before placing them on top of the hospital bed. Rin looked at the nurse in confusion for a moment, before asking, "What are you doing?"
"The hospital is providing you with the necessary things you'll need for the first couple of days with Kazumi until you're settled and have the time to buy the things you need. You can return the car seat and bag once you don't need it anymore to the front desk," the nurse replied. "Now bring the child over and I'll help you strap her on."
A few minutes later, the nurse left after showing Rin how to change a diaper, strap her in a car seat, and recommending her on trying to breastfeed Kazumi.* Once they were sure the nurse had left, Melody's uncle turned to Rin and said,
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Rin-san, but I'm afraid my niece and I have to catch a plane back home in an hour and still have to pack."
"I understand. Have a pleasant trip back home."
After bowing to show his respects, Melody's uncle left and Rin was left alone with Kazumi. After waiting for a few minutes in silence, Rin grabbed the car seat and diaper bag from the bed, left the room, and walked right out the hospital doors.
~Day 1~
The first full night with Kazumi was hell for Rin. Waking up every hour to either feed or change her diaper was torture. All she wanted was to do was fall asleep without being interrupted halfway through the night.
~Day 3~
Although the nights were still hell, and she'll only gotten a total of eight hours of sleep the last few days, Rin was finally getting the hang of things. She started researching ways to breastfeed an adopted baby, like the nurse recommended, and found that there were ways to induce lactation in mothers who haven't ever given birth yet but still wanted to breastfeed their adopted child.
~Day 5~
After finding out she was running low on the supplies the hospital gave her, Rin decided to go to a baby supermarket near her. So grabbing a quick shower while Kazumi was taking a nap, she changed into some every day clothes, did her makeup so she looked somewhat decent, before grabbing a sleeping Kazumi and strapping her into her car seat. Grabbing her keys and wallet, Rin left the penthouse for the first time in five days.
~Day 7~
It was Kazumi's first week check-up and Rin couldn't be more exhausted. During the whole check-up, Rin was close to falling dead on her feet from how tired she was. After the long one hour check-up, Rin dozed on and off, only snapping herself awake when she thought the doctor was saying anything of great importance. During this check-up the doctor recommended her the use of an at-breast supplementer** to help with breastfeeding when she mentioned it in passing. Once the doctor finished his check-up on Kazumi, Rin thanked him and bid him farewell.
~Day 9~
When the first week with Kazumi at home came to an end, Rin had adjusted to her new life of limited amounts of sleep and everything revolving around Kazumi. Her crib was built up in her room, her kitchen was now laden with bottles and formal, and her living room was a mixture between being over ridden with baby things and documents from the office that needed her approval on. However, she had everything up and running and she was up to date on everything Kazumi needed, she had even ordered an at-breast supplementer at the hospital and was expecting it to arrive in a week or so.
~Day 16~
A little over two weeks has passed since Kazumi joined Rin in her life. Now, Rin has become accustomed to the late night feedings and diaper changes throughout all hours of the night, and she has become used to getting sleep whenever she had the time. Rin is now fully trying to breastfeed Kazumi with the help of an at-breast supplementer, and also trying to increase her milk supply by pumping and hand expression.
~Day 26~
A little under four weeks have passed since Rin has gotten used to having Kazumi in her life and only one of her friends so far knows that she has a baby to take care of now. After continuous ignored calls and messages, her friend, Kagome, barged right into her house and demanded an explanation. After explaining her situation, Kagome agreed on helping her in anyway she could. Rin, grateful for the help, cried tears of happiness.
~Day 51~
It's been a little under eight weeks since Rin brought Kazumi home, and exactly three days since she started producing milk***. The first symptom she noticed before her milk came in was that her breast felt firmer and larger. The second was the tender breasts, and finally the third before her milk came was the protruding nipples. She couldn't have been more excited and happier than on that day, other than when Kazumi learnt how to roll over at six weeks.
~Day 84~
For the first time in twelve weeks Rin ventured out of her penthouse without a baby, and she couldn't have felt more relaxed and anxious than she's felt in a while. Every five minutes she was calling Kagome to check on Kazumi, and if it wasn't for Kagome threatening her to call Sango, another one of her friends who know about Kazumi, and telling her to help her relax, she would have been back inside the apartment complex in under an hour. After thirty minutes of wondering around, Rin decided on going to the spa to help her relax. She couldn't help but be relieved that she decided to go to the spa, for she hadn't ever felt as relaxed as she was since Kazumi arrived home that fateful day, twelve weeks ago.
~Day 98~
It's now three months since Kazumi came to live with Rin, she finally learnt how to crawl without grabbing onto things and dragging herself over to where her toys and mom were.
~Day 142~
A little over four months have passed, and Kazumi's teethes are coming in. Rin is reminded every day of the first couple of weeks she had with Kazumi. Sleepless nights and a lot of comforting. She couldn't wait until this phase was over.
~Day 210~
It's been a little over six months and Kazumi is learning how to walk by herself. Rin's been remembering the day Kazumi was only a baby.
~Day 228~
At seven months Kazumi finally spoke her first words!
~Day 366~
A year has passed since Rin's had Kazumi and now it's little Kazumi's first birthday, Rin's wondering where the time went for she was sure that she was just bringing Kazumi home for the first time yesterday.
1. (*) You may be surprised to learn that you don't have to give birth to nurse a baby — you can breastfeed an adopted baby. But only half of all adopting mothers who attempt to breastfeed will make any milk at all and few will produce enough to fully satisfy their babies. It's the suckling of a child that triggers milk production, not an automatic physiological reaction that begins during pregnancy. Hormones drive the production of breast milk. Protactinium, a hormone created by the pituitary gland, makes breast milk, and if you stimulate the breast enough to increase protactinium levels, you will get milk. An increase in the hormones estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy do help prepare a woman's body for breastfeeding by enlarging the ducts and alveolar — so it's more difficult to start the milk flowing in mothers who haven't delivered a child.
2. (**)This is a device that allows a baby to receive extra milk at the breast rather than by bottle and teat.
3.(***) For first time mother's who are trying to breastfeed an adopted child it might take longer to produce actual milk, but because of the thing Melody did to Rin, I made it so that Rin could make milk at a somewhat faster pace than an actual attempting mother.
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REVISED