In the realm of birth stories, Rosalía Lupita Valentina Neubauer's arrival didn't unfold precisely as her parents had envisioned. Her mother, April Neubauer, was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition marked by dangerously high blood pressure. As circumstances took a serious turn, doctors made the decision to break her water and induce labor, ensuring the safe arrival of little Rosalía.
But April and her husband, Maxamillian, knew that no matter what, breastfeeding and immediate skin-to-skin were two aspects of their birth plan that they didn’t want to compromise. Luckily, they didn’t have to thanks to a creative nurse and an equally eager dad.
A nurse made Max an offer he couldn’t refuse as he was doing skin-to-skin with his baby girl: the opportunity to be the first one to “breastfeed” her. “Me being a big joker and the ability to try just about anything once, I said sure why not,” he says. “The nursing staff were giggling and jumping for joy.”
They planned to feed Rosalía with a bit of formula until mom was well enough to nurse and instead of finger feeding it, they got creative. April didn’t find out that her husband was the first to “breastfeed” their baby until after, and appreciates how Max and her nurse stepped in.
“After my procedure, I was out for hours. It was very important for us to breastfeed her and my doctors and nurses knew how important this was to us,” she says. “So our nurse came up with the plan for my husband to breastfeed her for the first time until I was up and alert. It was definitely unexpected but he would never do anything he would feel I wasn’t comfortable with. Since I was unable to right away due to some health issues, I’m glad my husband was able to step in.”
When April’s mother and grandfather walked in, they didn’t realize what they were in for. Max’s mother-in-law’s reaction was priceless: “‘Only you Maxie … I didn’t believe the nurses, my God, only you,’ shaking her head,” he recalls her saying. “Great Grandpa didn’t have anything to say. Very old-school guy, just kinda looked at me funny. He came around in the end.”
