Thursday, August 09, 2007

3 Weeks Old and Searching for a Routine

Oh, who am I kidding? We definitely have a routine, it just isn't the most productive routine. My life is incredibly boring right now, a far cry from my usual life, so if you snooze easily you may want to skip this post. My days since all the company left have shaken out something like this:

7am - 8am CindyLou barges into the room, wakes me if I'm sleeping, ignores me if I'm not, and searches immediately for Mr. Whoo. Mr. Whoo and CindyLou get ready for work and school as per as normal routine as they can manage. (Yes, she is still in school, especially this week while I am adjusting to being alone with the Bean), we are trying to keep her life as normal as possible and not to break routine.) It goes without saying that sometime during this period we are nursing, changing diapers, etc.

8am-10am - Variably spent napping, nursing, and lazing about in bed with the Bean. We have mastered side-lying nursing, which I highly recommend for maximum sleep. When I'm not sleeping, I am composing the day's to-do list in my mind. You see, I *have* to be productive if I'm staying home.

10am-1pm - The Bean's usual morning "awake" period. I have managed to shower (once) during this time and at the very least am able to attend to some basic self-care like the brushing of teeth, changing of clothes, using the bathroom, and even, sometimes, eating! I can usually entertain the Bean with the bouncy seat or swing while I attend to basic personal needs, and sometimes I am even able to get some chores done. It is this time of day that I am usually contemplating on writing/typing out a to do list. It is day 4 of this not happening yet. Nursing happens toward the end of this time period to put the Bean into a "milk coma."

1pm- 3pm - The Bean is sleeping. I'm finding it very hard to put him down when he sleeps because he is oh so very snuggly and sweet. I usually will compromise and hold him for a bit before putting him down and working on the day's to-dos and, more likely, surfing the internet.

3pm-5pm - I eat my second lunch because I am hungry *all* of the time. This is probably why my weight loss has plateaued this week. Then there is dinner planning, chores, nursing, and napping (both Bean and myself). Did I mention that I am a rotten housewife?

5pm-8pm - Mr. Whoo and CindyLou come home. We have dinner, a little play time, CindyLou has her bath, if I haven't showered, I get a shower, and CindyLou goes to bed. Mr. Whoo gets some Bean time, and Bean sometimes will have a little fussy period at this time.

8pm- 11pm - It is nurse-a-thon time. The Bean is at the breast every hour, cluster feeding like crazy, drifting into light sleep, awaking and nursing again. Once he is sated, we both tend to pass out on the couch until Mr. Whoo rousts us up to go to bed.

11pm - 2am - My blissful, longest sleep period of the day.

2am - Nursing, diaper changing, dozing, watching Disco.very Health, TLC, Brav.o, and WE. I even saw my own OB on one of the "Special Delivery" shows on Discovery Health. Awesome.

4am- Nursing, diaper changing, dozing, watching only Disco.very Health or one of the news channels because all of the rest of the cable channels turn to infomercials after 3 am.

*Aside* Let me just say that DH and TLC need some more commercial sponsors, or at the very least, they need to run different commercials for the same shows. Some of their commercials are burned into my subconscious - The Last Days of Diana (where they have made some kind of dirge out of "Modern Love." Mightily depressing.) and Diagnosis X (where there is an equally depressing snippet of song playing over and over in my head.) I am also convinced that the lead singer from Cake is the vocalist for the Coc.oa Krispi.es "cereal straws" jingle. That's just *sad* y'all.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Why yes, I *am* slowly losing my mind, why do you ask? I am having a hard time putting the baby down to sleep 1) because he doesn't sleep very well on his back 2) he sleeps great on his tummy, but I can't sleep worrying about SIDS 3) the kiddo is a very noisy breather, squeaking, squawking, and snoring (I have made the totally non-professional diagnosis of laryngomalacia) making me think that he is awake when he is not, and 4) selfishness, he's only going to be this little and cuddly once. This results in me sitting semi-reclined in bed, propped up on pillows, with Bean sleeping on my chest.

Yes, I *know* this isn't the best arrangement. Actually, I slept with CindyLou this way for the first 6 weeks of her life due to her horrible reflux, but we slept out on the couch, not in the bed. I am attempting to get the Bean to sleep on his back during his daytime naps in preparation of trying to get him down at night. It's sad that I get better sleep with him on me than in his own bed.

I'm trying desperately not to think that my maternity leave is just about half over (sob!) because right now I'm just not ready to go back to that chaos. I am seriously considering cutting my schedule as much as I can and cutting back deliveries for a while until we adjust to the two child family. There is nothing I can do about the call, unfortunately. Also looming on the horizon is the Oral Boards. Argh. I don't even want to think about this. Thank you all for your congratulations and compliments on the Bean. You guys are the best, and I promise that I will get back to more witty, interesting posts as I become more witty and interesting. I am starting to think this is directly proportional to the amount of continuous sleep that I get. Back to the laundry for now....

17 comments:

3carnations said...

Wow. That brings back memories. Except I only have the one child, but the whole nursing, lucky to get a shower, lap nap routine...Sounds like you're handling it well. :)

Trope said...

That sounds wonderful! Much congratulations to you, the little Bean, and the rest of the Whoo family. I'm also dreading the end of my maternity leave... I love sitting around doing nothing but baby! At some point my dear spouse will start requesting meals, though...
You're right, he will never be this small and cuddly again. Relax and enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Okay....this may be totally dumb, and I do not have children, but my friend just had a baby in Nov. The only way she could get a decent amount of sleep was to prop her up in her boppy (if you have one). She even put her in bed in the boppy between her and her husband. Anyway....here's hoping you get some good sleep soon! Laura

RoseAG said...

Try some detective shows. Too much TLC is bad for you! All those shows are made up anyway -- go for some fiction that isn't pretending to be anything else.

How come there isn't any putting Bean in the stroller and going for a walk? I know the weather is hot but some fresh air is a good thing.

Lizzie said...

My youngest "bean" will be 19 years old in a few days ... yikes! And yet your post brings back memories like it was just yesterday that I felt guilty about holding him too much and side lying breastfeeding. Sigh. I'm glad you are enjoying every single second. Time does FLY!!

Anonymous said...

This post made me cry...
I'm one of those incredibly bizarre people who LOVE this time with babies... LOVE LOVE LOVE the first few months...
sick I know...
Wish I could come and let Bean snooze in my arms for a bit, so you could shower! I promise to give him back after I've gotten a good dose of baby! sigh....
Best wishes on returning to work. It must be so incredibly hard!

Anonymous said...

He is soooo cute! Congrats ob-gyn! I read with great interest about your bout with pre-ecc. My new baby is due in 4 weeks and my feet have swelled to monstrous proportions but fortunately, my bp is so far so good. Hoping I can hang in there for natural childbirth. Enjoy him!

Ottoette said...

Congrats! I'm sure Little Bean will settle into a better routine soon - my Maile just did last week at 6 weeks. She's actually sleeping from 11p to 4a so I'm THRILLED!
He is just beautiful too.

Anonymous said...

:) Belated congratulations on The Bean!

I have been lurking for most of your pregnancy ... and my own. I was three weeks ahead of you and I had a baby boy (#3 joining DD 7 and DS 5) :) at the end of June (C-section #3).

It was good to see you hit your milestones as I was clearing them myself, just ahead of you. It took me 22 months to get pg this time -- secondary infertility. So instead of being a super-casual, BTDT multip, I was a super-paranoid, AMA multip. (Lost a lot of my innocence watching bad things happen to women in my IF support groups.) Thank goodness I had the most medically boring pg ever. But I held at least part of my breath the whole time and I related to your posts about viability around 23 weeks. I can only imagine what pg is like when you "know too much."

I really appreciate my excellent female OB's. They have some male partners now (used to be a group of four women -- so cool) and the men are mostly fine (no offense!). But JMO nothing beats the care of someone who has BTDT. I appreciate the challenges that you endure to have a family and do what you do! Women like me are lucky to have doctors like you.

For me, the genetic screening/testing part of the pg was especially interesting ... the counseling that I received this time ... 5 years older ... was surprisingly different/less aggressive from last time, even though results were good (amazingly good for my age) both times. I fully expected and (thought that I) desired an amnio (had one at barely 35 with DS) but was essentially talked out of it by a genetic counselor and two perinatologists this time. A mostly pleasant -- if confusing -- surprise.

As for this post, I didn't find it boring, LOL, just *familiar*. I have been sitting here, hunched over my not-quite-sleeping New Guy, wondering if he will take his customary late evening doze (which can end anywhere from 12:30 to 2:30ish) *sooner* or *later* ... so I can quit wrecking my back, get some circulation back in my legs and eat the sandwich that DH brought up to me an hour ago. Also staring at the web. Not the kind of multi-tasking that will get me very far. But you are right ... they are so delicious at this stage. Have to focus on that.

We got cable the first week we were home ... yes, we were one of the last homes in America to get cable. The good channels (DH) are only downstairs, so I don't get Special Delivery up here in the nursing cave. I'm intrigued that I might see one of my own docs there now that you mention it (probably not).

In addition to the shows you mention, I've been watching a lot of HGTV ... flipping and designing on-and-on-and-on (all the women home-owners seem to be pregnant). I can't remember how long it will be before I can even dream of that kind of free time or ambition again. LOL. Makes me feel kind of panicky if I think about it (being tied down) too much when I am too tired. LOL.

Funny what a difference there is between my intentions at the beginning of the day and what I actually accomplish. I should know better, but every morning I think, 'Today will be different ...' Not.

Sorry to ramble. New Guy is finally asleep. Gotta go pass out. Thanks for the blog! :)

Cheers,
D.

Mary said...

Don't pressure yourself, you are doing everything right. It's good for the Bean to have all that cuddle time with you. It's not like he'll be sleeping on your chest when he's in college! :)

I remember so well when my twins were newborns. It IS hard to adjust to a two child family. And I know you're probably sick of advice, but...

The NICU had our babies sleep on an incline and they wouldn't sleep on their backs after that. But put them in their carseats and it was snoozeville. When they moved out of the carseats they had no trouble sleeping flat on their backs because they were used to it in the seats. I think the seats gave them some of the cuddly feeling that sleeping on their stomachs would have. So we put both carseats in a pack n play next to our bed. It was the perfect size to hold the seats aloft so we didn't need to get out of bed to pick them up.

And my husband did something better than giving me a dozen roses a day for life. He slept on the baby side every night he didn't work so I copuld sleep more soundly. I love that man!

Jenny said...

I thought this was interesting! I'm due with our first in February, and it gives me a glimpse of what life will be like with a little one around. :) And congrats, he's adorable!!

Sheri said...

I'm a lurker (coming out now).
Love your blog - I'm pregnant - almost 29 weeks with #2, so I'm definately not finding you boring.

Anonymous said...

He's beautiful! Congratulations! As for the middle of the night-type stuff, at 4 am there are no chores, there are no distractions, nothing else has any pull whatsoever. It's just you and your child, a little slice of heaven and eternity right there for the savoring. It's physically tiring, but it's absolutely wonderful.

(Wrote the mother of kids now 19, 21, 23, and 25 years old. I so remember the days... The nights, too.)

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, kiddo! Congratulations on your beautiful boy!

Midwife with a Knife said...

I haven't had a chance to congratulate you, but congratulations! Ergh, I have to start collecting for the oral boards. Ugh!

Doc's Girl said...

The laundry never stops when you have kids....

I know the commercials you were talking about and they were driving me nuts as well! I actually knew the song before and it totally ruined it for me. :(

clara said...

congratulations! One thing that might help with sleep is getting of those $9 sleep positioner (on baby's back) thingies they sell at every baby store & Target. You put baby on his side in there and nurse the night away, he's safe and you are getting more sleep. I'm a volunteer LC & I see a lot of moms get a lot of rest this way!