I absolutely can NOT imagine returning to work after six weeks. This first six weeks have flown by. Both momma and baby have undergone lots of changes.
I am so thankful that I can now get out of bed without a lot of pain. At the same time, I'm a little surprised by how much recovering my body still has to do. My muscles are still sore to the touch and the incision still hurts quite a bit...maybe because it was infected? Playing around with Amos sometimes can be painful when I accidentally move the wrong way. Nonetheless, I am feeling up to playing with Amos. I am also walking faster and faster. Pretty soon, I should be back to my normal speed walking ways!
As for Amos, it is amazing how much he has changed. At first, he was this tiny, balled up, almost lifeless little guy. Now, he weighs 1 1/2 times more than when he was born. He smiles, coos, and moves constantly. Some of my favorite moments have been when he is nursing, and I catch him staring at me. When I gaze back at him, he gives me one of his goofy, toothless grins. It melts a momma's heart. Amos is also become more independent. At first, I literally could not put him down without him squalling. Now, he happily goes to bed in his bassinet around 10:30 pm, he will spend many quiet moments in his crib cooing, and he will nap consistently in his swing (we're still working on napping elsewhere consistently).
Monday, 2-13:
While I can't imagine returning full-time to work, on Monday, I did go visit. It was parent teacher conference day, so I thought it was the perfect time to introduce Amos to the faculty and staff at Ballard. Because Ballard is pretty spread out with lots of stairs, I decided that the Moby was my best choice for transporting Amos. At first, he was wide-eyed checking everyone out. He even smiled and cooed for Ronda, a fellow chemistry teacher. Soon, however, he was happily snoozing...until it was time to eat. I was visiting one last colleague, and I warned him that Amos would likely wake up in 5 minutes crying for food. My plan, though, was to just head home and feed him when we got there. However, this male colleague insisted that I should feed him before going home. I hesitated because Amos was squalling at this point. He adamantly insisted that I follow him to the teacher's lounge where he planned to ensure I could feed my baby. When we were almost there, he changed his mind, and decided that he knew of a "better" place. We went to the south office, and he asked the vice principal if he would let me into Mrs. Riggs old office to nurse. WELL, the vice principal decided that it would work because there was a window on the door. Keep in mind that Amos is screaming, so I'm at their mercy. He ends up leading me into a closet with a rickety old chair. I needed to get Amos out of the Moby, but there was no place for me to lay him while I get myself out of it. I held back tears while I struggled to figure out what to do while he continued to cry. I awkwardly nursed him for about five minutes...long enough to quiet his screams...then I slipped out a back door so that the men wouldn't know that I left. For one thing, I knew that I would cry. And I also realize that they were only trying to help, so I didn't want to make them feel bad. I went back to Ronda, and she held Amos so that I could wrap him up and head out. It was exhausting!
Tuesday, 2-14:
Amos and I went to see Dr. Price for my six weeks appointment. Unfortunately, we got two inches of snow, so I had to take extra time getting the snow off my car. (It was melted by the afternoon, so it's too bad that my appointment was in the morning!) Instead of lugging the heavy carrier, I used my stroller, which turned out to be both a nuisance and a life saver. The exam rooms are so tiny that the big and bulky stroller was in the way. However, when Amos was fussy, I was able to rock him by moving the stroller back and forth. I worried that we would have another meltdown because my appointmet was at 9:20 am and his next feeding was due around 9:45 am. Thankfully, by the time Dr. Price arrived, Amos was snoozing.
I tried to talk with Dr. Price about my labor, but it wasn't that fruitful. I asked her about the injection that stopped my labor, and she acknowledged that it wasn't ideal. She told me that the C-section was only due to fetal distress and with my incision, I would be a perfect candidate for a VBAC. However, they do not induce patients who want a VBAC. She said that if I went into labor around 38 weeks on my own then I would likely be able to get a VBAC. But if I follow a similar pattern as in this pregnancy where I had no contractions by 41 weeks, I would have to get another C-section. It's WAY too early for me to worry about this, but it's kind of a bummer to know that I'll have to deal with all of this in the future.
After the appointment, Amos shocked me by going 2 1/2 and then 3 hours between feedings! I had registered for a returning to work class at Babyology, and I worried that we would be late when Amos didn't wake up! The Returning to Work class only had two people in attendance: me and Raechel. So, we got lots of one-on-one attention regarding our concerns. I had already read about most everything, but it was nice to have someone confirm in person what I had already read. A couple of interesting tidbits: sage and peppermint are bad for your milk supply while caffeine (in small doses) and oatmeal are beneficial. Green poop and lots of spitting up (if it's not acid reflux) may indicate that the baby is getting too much food. Breast milk is organic and changes on a daily basis. So, if I'm exposed to bacteria at school, my body makes antibodies that Amos will also receive to keep him well. While bottle fed babies need more and more milk as they grow, breast fed babies stay needing only 2-4 oz because the milk changes to satiate them appropriately. Since we are currently a bottle feeding culture, care givers of breast fed babies often try to overfeed them at first. We also got great tips about how and when to pump at work. She also encouraged me to start pumping every day after the first feeding.
Tuesday was also obviously Valentine's Day. Tim had a coworker who was willing to babysit for us so that we could go out, but I said absolutely not. I was not ready to leave my baby with someone that I barely knew. Is that crazy and and neurotic of me? I think in a few more weeks, but just not yet. Tim and I tend to go low key on commercialized holidays like this one, but he did come home with this:
A funny/pathetic moment that evening was that I started to cuddle with Tim on the couch for a few minutes while Amos dozed in the swing. Well, Amos started crying at that same moment for food. So, I ended up cuddling with Amos on the couch and falling asleep past our bedtime. Poor Tim.
Wednesday, 2-15:
We stayed home all day. I did put Amos in the Moby and walk the 30 minutes round trip to the YMCA in order to cancel our membership. Along the way, I actually got honked and whistled at as this truck of men approached me. I bet they felt super silly as they passed and saw that I had a baby! Why are men so dumb, by the way? I could never imagine a group of women behaving like that. Then, Amos continued to stretch out his feeding times. He also slept five hours through the night again. Yay!
Thursday, 2-16:
I spent Thursday waiting for my cousin Melissa's daughter to arrive. The plan was to head to the hospital with Amos as soon as she was born. However, it was 10:03 pm when Layla Claire made her big entrance, so I decided to head out Friday morning.
Friday, 2-17:
It was no easy task to get Amos, myself, and all of our stuff into the CR-V. I was up at 7 am trying to get everything done. We were on the road by 10 am and then we arrived at the Women's Hospital around 11 am. Amos did super well until...you guessed it...it was time to eat. So, I lugged in the stroller and carrier while Amos cried. Jeremy met me in the waiting room, and I fed him there. FINALLY, around noon we got to meet Layla:
(Amos's shirt says, "Party in my Crib at 3 am!" He wore it just for Layla!)
Isn't Uncle Jeremy such a natural with kids?
Then, Amos and I went to my parents. Mom cooked a delicious dinner, and we all just hung out for a bit. Uncle Jeremy got some more QT with Amos:
We had a bit of a rough night. I think Amos might be outgrowing the bassinet because he kept hitting the side of it all night, which would then wake him up. At his 2 am feeding, he also felt super cold, so I then couldn't sleep well because I worried about him. Finally, we got up around 6 am. My dad, who is an early bird, took him from 7 am - 8 am so I could sleep a bit more.
Later that morning, Grammy feed Amos his first "real" bottle. Last weekend, he just sipped a bit. This time, he drank it all! Yay!
Then, Amos, Mom, and I made our way to Kroger's to buy food for my cousin and her family. Here is Amos all ready to go:
(That pacifier stayed in his mouth for about 0.5 seconds.) Amos slept in the Moby throughout our Kroger trip. Nonetheless, here's what he did while we were cooking:
We planned to deliver the food around 6:30 pm, but beforehand Tim called to tell me that my father-in-law was coming for a visit and also that he was worried about the roads. After deliberating, I decided to go ahead to Melissa's. She had a full house!
It was Amos's cranky hour, so I quieted him by putting him in the Moby. Mom got to meet Layla for the first time:
After dinner, we gave Amos a bath. It was quite the event. Aunt Gina, Uncle Jeremy, Grammy, Emma, and Lucas all helped!
Amos loved it...until we took him out of the water!
Sunday, 2-19:
We had an even rougher night. Amos just could not get to sleep. I finally put him in bed with me until his first night feeding. Then, he stayed in the bassinet until his last night feeding. He had a blow out that woke him up, and the poor baby couldn't get back to sleep. I finally just got up and got ready to get back to Louisville. Bill had spent the night, and I didn't want to deprive him of his grandson any longer! Thankfully, the bad weather missed us, so we made it home without incident.
Amos was a bit cranky after all the travel, but he did charm Grandaddy Jones with some smiles and coos. Here, Amos is making his Elvis face:
After lunch at Chili's, Grandaddy headed out. We missed seeing Grandma Berta!



Recent Comments