I just wanted to share my personal experience concerning separation and
intervention - looking back, I think I gained a new perspective.  

My first two pregnancies were full term vaginal deliveries - breastfeeding
was initiated and all went well for both of them.  My third pregnancy was
twins who were born at 30 weeks 5 days via emergency C Section.  I had
assumed I would deliver early (I'm 4 ft 11 in and under 100 lbs pre
pregnancy wt), but also assumed things would not be too much different than
my other pregnancies - that we would deliver vaginally and initiate
breastfeeding.  

Having gone through the emergency C section (which was indeed necessary), I
wasn't allowed the process of labor, delivery and breastfeeding that I
believe connects everything and begins the bonding process - it may seem
silly, but like the butterfly coming from its cocoon - if the process and
"struggle" of emerging from the cocoon is interrupted, the butterfly cannot
fly because it did not complete the process the way it was intended.  They
were born - hung over my head for a second, taken away and I was left to be
stitched up in a room that went from controlled commotion to almost empty
silence.    I was sent to recovery, and polaroid shots of the girls were
brought to me - my husband had been able to go in to see them.  It was
surreal - I tried to mentally connect, but it just wasn't the same.  I
remember later being wheeled in to the NICU, and seeing my girls, but
feeling like an observer, outsider, still trying to remind myself that these
were my children, feeling disconnected.  Once I started pumping, I finally
began to feel a bit of connection to them.  Interestingly, the LC assumed
that since I had nursed my other children, I knew how to pump - I didn't. 
Never pumped with my boys - she wheeled the pump in the room and left.  

My husband and I got to hold them 1 week later - it was finally the
beginning of the bonding - but when I was "allowed" to let them try to
latch, and my girls made that first latch, that was a moment I will never
forget - as close to the feeling of birth as it could get.  Even my husband
noticed my reaction and said that he could see the joy and that he knew I
had been waiting for that type of moment with them.  It was almost as though
I had a rush of the emotion and connection crammed into that first few
moments- everything I had missed from the normal process of delivery was
trying to catch up at that point.  This was all so different than what I had
experienced with my birthing and breastfeeding with my boys - I wish I had
known more of what I have learned in the last few years to help manage
breastfeeding with this situation.  While medical intervention was needed, I
still believe the breastfeeding relationship was not encouraged by the NICU
staff, and actually seen as more of a hinderance to them - something I
didn't see as clearly as I do now.  It interfered with their way of
medically charting and caring for them.  At least I had prior experience
with successful breastfeeding - I'm sure that was a helpful factor.

My girls are 4 now.  We didn't have as wonderful a breastfeeding experience
as I did with my boys, but I know that the milk I gave them was a huge
contributing factor to them having NO complications in the NICU, coming home
2 weeks before their due date and not needing any special care once they
came home.  I 'm thinking that in cases where C sections may not be
medically needed, or babies are induced, they are all going through this
same type of process - missing the essential pieces needed to create the
successful transition from pregnancy to breastfeeding.   When that
disconnect happens - moms and babies have to adjust to a new set of
processes - ones that can certainly interfere with breastfeeding, patience
in latching, and understanding that they are now playing by a different set
of rules.

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