Mom Post #5, What a day looks like

     

While I feel like we're adjusting much better, I think we're in another growth spurt. Jake is sleeping more, and we're feeding smaller amounts more frequently...during the day. Knock on wood, he's been quite kind at night. And while I can't bank on him sticking to a routine, I have seemed to find one that doesn't really follow a timeline per say, but follows his lead. Here is what my day generally looks like.

      He wakes up for his second feeding of the night around 3-3:30 typically. He usually has a good size feed at this point, which is good because it's the feed to carry him into the morning. I pump here too, generally one of my bigger pumps. Some times he nurses, we had one week where he was a super star, but where it's only like 50% of the time he nurses successfully, during a spurt it's almost impossible to nurse him. I still try but I only give him 5 min to try (or when the vein is popping out of his head because he's so angry) then dad takes one of my pre pumped bottles and handles it. This is also the feed where Cale starts getting ready for work, so I usually make a coffee for Cale, and get the coffee maker ready for when I get up.

     At 6:00 am, I get up. He usually wakes up around 6:30-7. This gives me time to get breast feeding stuff ready, his bottles, and my mommy fuel. When he gets up, we feed, and change multiple diapers...this is the point of day he goes through the most. Then I try and play with him.

    8:30-9 am is when he gets sleepy and takes a nap. I try and pump, eat and take my meds at this point ( I am still on meds, but they have reduced a LOT).

   9:30- 10am he wakes up and has another feeding. His timing is awesome with this, because it's when dad goes to lunch...usually the first thing he wants when he walks through the door is his son. If I'm nursing, he settles for the dog (sorry Alice). If I am bottle feeding, he takes it from me and lets me pump. Dad also takes on the diaper duty (no pun intended) when I pump too. There is a little play time in here too.

   11:30...ish...This is when he zonks out again, I get the chance to grab lunch, and then I try and take a nap around noon.

   1:30-2pm  We wake up and do the feed thing again. Dad is off work at 2, so I get a chance to pump too. Then play time or snuggles.

   3:00-3:30 Nap time again. This is when Cale and I either pack him up to run errands, just go out for a drive (because for the love of god I need to get out of this house) get some house work done, or just hang out ( I've also encouraged Cale to nap at this time...but that generally doesn't happen)

   5:00-6:00 He gets more drowsy as the day goes on, so this is when we try and get supper done. Depending on when he wakes up it can be a juggling act, but typically I eat really fast so I'm ready when he wakes up. This is feeding time, but probably his shortest. This is the time of night we get Mr. Fuss Bucket. So he takes a slightly smaller feeding, which is fine because he will take a bigger one later. We generally can't get play time in here, so it's mostly cuddles.

   7:30 Typically bed time routine starts here. If it's a bath night, we man the battlefield, because he's not a huge fan of his bath...really depends on the day. But to date, we've only had one night where he hasn't started screaming as soon as he's out of the tub...I get it though, who likes to get out of the tub? it's cold. Either way we snuggle, get some lotion on him, and bundle him up in his swaddle for the night. A friend offered us her halo swaddles, which have been a life saver. Jake has that startle reflex and pops his arms up waking himself up without the halo swaddle, WE can't sleep without it.

   8-8:30 This is when story time starts, and a bedtime feed. Most of the time he falls asleep during story time.

   9:00 is bedtime. If I have anything I need to do (like y'know a shower or something) I do it here, but follow close behind him to bed.

   11:30-Midnight, This is generally when we see feed #1 through the night. Luckily we usually only have 2, and they last about an hour each.

    So this is what my day usually looks like now. We have an appointment today so it's gonna be way out of wack, and he's all over the place so that helps too. I work better when I can be on a schedule, so having this lined up helps me (so does my nap...and caffeine). He also seems less fussy with structure as well, so this timeline has been a bit of a security blanket too. It was helpful when I was an emotional wreck. I also think I had some postpartum depression, I did talk to some one, and they said it was the baby blues, but I'm not convinced. I luckily did have some supportive friends for that part. And then of course he and I have been getting used to each other. I'm not sure if he's at the point of happy to see me yet, but he's gotten used to me for sure.

K, Luv Ya, Bye
Nancy