Today completes my first full week back at work, and so far everything is going well. This is in part due to the fact that Jean is here to care for James (I would feel much different if we had needed to start daycare and resume work at the same time) and in part because I eased back into things last week when I worked a quick 2 hours on Thursday as a trial run, then half a day on Friday. I used the weekend to think of ways to make things even easier this week (we decided to start working toward an actual feeding schedule, rather than just feeding on demand, for example - and forget what the pediatrician said... we're going back to 3-hour feedings during the day because it seemed that James had been making up for a "missed feeding" at 3:30am for the 3 nights after the appointment). I did another half day on Monday, then resumed my full-time status on Tuesday. And boy is it ever full-time! I always knew I would (and wanted to) be a working mom, I just didn't realize how much work it would be (full-time at the office during the day and full-time at home at night makes for one tired mommy!) We're making it work though, and I'm feeling good about it. But now it's Friday again, so it's time to celebrate the start of another weekend together. Here's my little sweetie getting his dinner and staring me right in the eyes - gotta love the nursing bonding time (pardon the close-up, but I had to crop the actual "dinner" out of the photo!):
Jay's mom calls James' nursing feeds his "Happy Meals". Isn't that cute? Then, here's the silly boy drinking his bedtime bottle with his pants on his head (courtesy of his daddy, of course):
And here he is with the crazy eyes that he always gives his daddy after his bath while getting towel-dried (cracks us up every time):
Finally, in considering my preparations for returning to work, I'd also been thinking about how my pregnancy prepared me for being a new mom. Here's what I've come up with:
1. Those frequent trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night due to the pressure of the baby on your bladder train you for frequent trips to the baby's room in the middle of the night for feedings, diaper changes, soothing, etc. And also for frequent trips to the bathroom as you loose all those extra pregnancy fluids...
2. That decreased appetitite during the last month of your pregnancy because there was no room left for your stomach due to the baby hogging all the space in your belly trains you for the first couple of weeks at home when you have no time to eat because the baby seems to need you every time a fork gets near your mouth. Not that you have an appetite anyway. Well, not for anything other than baby!
3. The inability to reach your toes due to your huge belly and thus the lack of a home pedicure during the last 2-3 months of your pregnancy trains you to let those little luxeries go. Who has time for pretty toes when the baby needs you? And who cares that you haven't showered or changed your PJ's in two days? Or who really notices that baby drool all down your cleavage?
4. The endless fun questions (example: Are you having a boy or girl?), annoying questions (example: How far along are you? Oh. Really? - Implying that your belly size is somehow inappropriate for your gestation), and ridiculous questions (example: Are you going to keep the placenta? - Um, no) from strangers during your pregnancy prepare you for the endless fun questions (example: How much does he weigh?) , annoying questions (example: Is he sleeping through the night yet? - No, of course not, he's 4 weeks old and eats every 2-3 hours!), and ridiculous questions (example: Is it a boy or girl? - Asked of a baby dressed all in blue) from strangers about your newborn.
5. The extremely crazy dreams that you have during pregnancy (such as the one where the baby pushed his little hands out through my belly, or the one where I was taking him out of my belly now and then to check on him, then putting him back in to cook a little longer) get you ready for the scary waking moments that you have once the baby is born (such as the constant fear that you've fallen asleep with the baby in bed and squished him, when he's really sleeping in his basinet, or the even more constant fear that he's stopped breathing, just because he happens to be sleeping quietly for once).
Jay's mom calls James' nursing feeds his "Happy Meals". Isn't that cute? Then, here's the silly boy drinking his bedtime bottle with his pants on his head (courtesy of his daddy, of course): And here he is with the crazy eyes that he always gives his daddy after his bath while getting towel-dried (cracks us up every time):Finally, in considering my preparations for returning to work, I'd also been thinking about how my pregnancy prepared me for being a new mom. Here's what I've come up with:1. Those frequent trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night due to the pressure of the baby on your bladder train you for frequent trips to the baby's room in the middle of the night for feedings, diaper changes, soothing, etc. And also for frequent trips to the bathroom as you loose all those extra pregnancy fluids...
2. That decreased appetitite during the last month of your pregnancy because there was no room left for your stomach due to the baby hogging all the space in your belly trains you for the first couple of weeks at home when you have no time to eat because the baby seems to need you every time a fork gets near your mouth. Not that you have an appetite anyway. Well, not for anything other than baby!
3. The inability to reach your toes due to your huge belly and thus the lack of a home pedicure during the last 2-3 months of your pregnancy trains you to let those little luxeries go. Who has time for pretty toes when the baby needs you? And who cares that you haven't showered or changed your PJ's in two days? Or who really notices that baby drool all down your cleavage?
4. The endless fun questions (example: Are you having a boy or girl?), annoying questions (example: How far along are you? Oh. Really? - Implying that your belly size is somehow inappropriate for your gestation), and ridiculous questions (example: Are you going to keep the placenta? - Um, no) from strangers during your pregnancy prepare you for the endless fun questions (example: How much does he weigh?) , annoying questions (example: Is he sleeping through the night yet? - No, of course not, he's 4 weeks old and eats every 2-3 hours!), and ridiculous questions (example: Is it a boy or girl? - Asked of a baby dressed all in blue) from strangers about your newborn.
5. The extremely crazy dreams that you have during pregnancy (such as the one where the baby pushed his little hands out through my belly, or the one where I was taking him out of my belly now and then to check on him, then putting him back in to cook a little longer) get you ready for the scary waking moments that you have once the baby is born (such as the constant fear that you've fallen asleep with the baby in bed and squished him, when he's really sleeping in his basinet, or the even more constant fear that he's stopped breathing, just because he happens to be sleeping quietly for once).
No comments:
Post a Comment