March 1st marked the end of my maternity leave. 'Twas a sad day indeed!
I enjoyed staying home with Charlie, and it was certainly a great bonding experience for us. I tried my best to enjoy every moment, even the difficult and frustrating times that come along with parenting a newborn. I know he'll never be that little again, so I'm glad I was able to spend that time with him and help him acclimate to the "outside" world.
So back to work I go. While it will be nice to be drawing a full paycheck again, I'm really going to miss my baby! I'm sure the regular adult conversation will be nice, there's only so much you can talk about with a baby.
We are fortunate that my Mom is able to watch him twice a week, so he only needs to be in daycare three times a week. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm happy about daycare though. I felt SO guilty having to send him to daycare. I know that they're "pros", and he is in good hands there, but what parent doesn't feel at least a little apprehensive about shipping their baby off to a strange place for a decent chunk of the day?
I've been trying to make myself feel better by telling myself that he's only technically in daycare for 24 hours a week. 24 out of 168 isn't that bad... right?
I did say "trying" to make myself feel better.
It's not quite working yet.
** I'm going to talk about breastfeeding now. So this is your warning to stop reading if you're one of those weirdos that gets offended/grossed out/awkward about boob talk. (I advise you to get over that, it's a completely natural thing, but I'll save that speech for another time.) Consider yourself warned. **
Being a working Mom and breastfeeding is no walk in the park. But I'm determined to make it work for as long as possible.
I've only been back to work for about a week now, but I really miss the bonding time with Charlie that nursing him provides. With my schedule, I'm only able to nurse him twice a day during the week. I'm pumping 5 times a day Monday thru Friday. And you know what? I've never felt more "cow-like". That thought is a bit disturbing, but I try to push it to the back of my mind.
I was lucky enough to be able to build up a sizeable freezer stash before returning to work - I think there's roughly 300oz (10 full days worth) in there right now. So far, I only dip into it to make Mondays bottles, and that's really only to rotate the stash so it doesn't go bad.
I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up with him through pumping alone, but so far I'm able to get 5 or 6oz more than what he drinks from bottles each day. I hope I can keep it up!
With Charlie 3 months old already, I'm now half way to my short term goal of 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. Considering the struggles we had during the early weeks, I feel pretty great about making it this far! My ultimate goal is to make it to a full year, or when he starts to wean himself, but we'll take it a day a time and see how far we make it!
**end boob talk**
The amount of crap I haul to work with me daily is nearly enough to warrant a paper check list everyday. If I forget just one thing, I could be up a creek with out a paddle. Just a little peek....
- Pump
- All the parts that go with said pump
- Extra parts in case the other break or get lost
- Bottles
- Cooler & Ice Packs
- Towel
- Lunch
- Laptop
- Purse (wallet, time card.. etc)
By the time all of that is packed up I show up to work with... count 'em.... FOUR bags. Yes, four. It's a bit ridiculous really, but it must be done. *sigh*
Then on top of that, on the days I pick Charlie up from daycare, I have those four bags PLUS his bottle cooler bag and the car seat (and the baby, but I figure that must be a give in)! Watching me try to haul all that stuff into the house must be a sight.
Anyways, this is a bit long-winded, so I'll wrap this up.
Here's a smile for your reading time:
I'm bummed, yet happy to be back to work. It makes those evenings and weekends all the more special. Now I just need to figure out how to get house work done!
Charlies 3 Month update will be coming soon!
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