This is it

A few weeks ago we sent in the official notarized form asking Big Scary Fertility Center to destroy to remaining vials of sperm that we had stored there.  This is it.  We’re done with TTC.  It’s an incredible relief to not be in the midst of that struggle.  And I’m so grateful that we are walking away with the family size that we wanted. It didn’t happen the way we’d pictured or in the time-frame we had planned, and there are still scars there (especially for Roo).  But every day I feel grateful that we have Tadpole and Sprout, (even when they are both screaming at the tops of their lungs simultaneously as they were tonight!).

Of course, like lots of bloggers before me, finishing TTC means trying to figure out what the purpose of this blog is.  After some drama-filled months (pregnancy! job layoff! new baby! new job!), things have settled down quite a bit.  There are (knock on wood) no more big changes in our future.  So what do I blog about?  I enjoy writing about the little daily joys and struggles that fill our lives now. Writing about them helps me to be more present to them now, and I hope will help me have a record of this fleeting time for the future.  But I’m not sure how interesting those things are to anyone else.

I’m also not sure what tone to take.  I don’t know how many of my readers are still TTC or are trying to make peace with a smaller family than they wanted.  But I think a lot about any who might be.  Taking too celebratory a tone seems like gloating, like going on and on about the amazing vacation I’m having to the friend whose flight to the same destination was cancelled.  But complaining too much doesn’t seem fair either, given that I know we’re incredibly lucky to be where we are.  And yet, if I avoid both the fabulous things and the hard things about my life, what do I write about?

I’m also struggling with the logistics of finding time to blog.  Our family has settled into our new routines and figured out how to get all of us out the door in the mornings (mostly) on time.  Unfortunately, the secret seems to be doing a lot of tasks (packing lunches, showering, etc.) in the evenings rather than the mornings.  This means less free time in the evening, which means less time for blogging.

I’m still not sure where this blog will go from here.  I’ve found this space useful over the last two-plus years, both as a place to write about my thoughts and feelings and as a place to get feedback from others.  So I don’t think I’m ready to give it up.  I’ll try out some things in the next few weeks/months and see how it goes.  I’d also love to hear your thoughts on what you’d like to see here, or how you’ve navigated the transition to a post-TTC blog.

In the spirit of trying things out, and holding onto the small moments, here are a few recent favorites:

• Snuggling with Sprout every night after I give her her dream feed before I go to bed.  Her whole body is so limp and trusting.  I love the feel of my cheek against her soft one, her soft breath against my neck.
• Sitting at the dining room table with our little family after dinner a few days ago.  Tadpole “helped” me bounce Sprout on my lap, she looked down at him and giggled her funny squeaky giggle, which led to laughter all around.
• Sprout and Roo working together last weekend to plant some flowers in the window boxes of his playhouse in our backyard.  He took the task so seriously and was so excited about every step of the process.
• Sprout and Tadpole having long conversations in the back seat that consist entirely of blowing raspberries at each other.

This is our life now.  We’re tired, but so lucky.

Not a fan

Things of which I am not a fan:

Working five days a week  On weekdays I only see Sprout for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.  She’s changing so fast that it feels like the kid I see each weekend is a totally different one than the weekend before.  She learned to roll from back to front while at daycare last week, and I didn’t see her do it until Saturday.  It’s hard to only have two days a week when we really get to hang out, and those days are full of chores, laundry, trips to the grocery store, etc.  I know that there are plenty of parents who have this schedule (or worse), but it’s still hard.

Power struggles with Tadpole in the mornings Tadpole was doing better at getting himself dressed in the mornings without a fuss, but lately things have gotten tough again.  Some mornings he crawls back into bed and pulls the covers over his head.  On other mornings it takes a threat to take away some important privilege before he puts on each item of clothing.  We had a reward chart, and that seemed to help for a while, but I think we need to adjust it somehow in order to get his attention again.

Things of which I am a fan:

Weekends  In my pre-kid life, weekends were a time to fit in as many fun activities as possible.  This past weekend we went to one event on Saturday and went to the grocery store on Sunday.  Other than that, the four of us hung out at home, and it was so nice.  There was time to catch up on some chores (I think Roo did 7 loads of laundry!), and also time to just be present to each other.

Sunny days and springtime Our little family spent a lot of Sunday afternoon outside in our yard, which was lovely.  With the cold and snowy/rainy winter that we’ve had, it feels like Sprout has hardly seen the sun!  But this weekend she got to roll around on a blanket in the grass.  And the rest of us did some work in the garden and set up our hammock.  Unlike last year, when Tad appropriated most of Roo’s tools and then did almost nothing useful with them, this time he actually did quite a bit of good weeding.

Our many-gendered boy On Saturday we went to a fairytale festival at the local library. There were a variety of costumes that kids could try on, and Tad went back to the costume booth multiple times and created a variety of outfits for his alter egos, “Princess Jack” and “an armored pirate fairy”.  At various points he had on a tutu, a knight’s hat, a purple princess dress, pirate face paint, armor, fairy wings, and a magic wand.

Familiar routines  It hasn’t taken as long as I thought it would to get back into some of our pre-Sprout routines.  I’ve made pancakes or waffles with Tad on several recent weekend mornings.  And we’re back to our old Sunday nights, which include me cooking a big dish for the week and weekly baths for the kids (yes, weekly).

Watching Tadpole and Sprout together Tad loves to be wherever Sprout is, and is constantly touching her, talking to her and making faces at her.  He is so full of affection for her that he often needs reminders to hug her more gently or to give her a little space.  One of his favorite things (and mine!) is when they have a bath together.  On Sunday night in the tub he gently poured water over her and sang her little made up songs.  And she just grinned and grinned and kicked her legs with joy as she looked up at him.   This is the kind of thing I dreamed about when we were TTC, and it’s magical to have a part of that dream come true.

one year

I’m working on a post about the ups and downs of breastfeeding, but haven’t had time to finish it.  Partly because of the time that I’m spending breastfeeding.

But I miss this space.  And it feels important to remember that a year ago this week we found out that I was pregnant.  Despite the exhaustion and the not-having-time-for-anything, I’m so grateful to be where I am now.  And grateful for all of you who have come along on the long journey to get here.

Cuteness overload

Tadpole did Sprout’s bedtime tonight.  He read her two stories and sang her a lullaby.  I am exhausted after the first few days at my new job, but so happy to watch my kids(!) together. 

3 Months In

 

Our little Sprout turned 3 months old on Monday.  She really seems to be coming out of the “4th trimester” and seems more “here”, if that makes any sense.  She continues to be more solemn than smiley, but when she does smile it’s awesome.  She stares intently into our eyes, and has long conversations with us (“oooooh”  “aaahgoooo” “strange-gargling-noise”).  Last night she had a long chat with an invisible friend as she was falling asleep, which was adorable.  She has discovered that these things at the end of her arms seem to be attached to her, and she can get them into her mouth regularly.  It’s fun to watch her get closer each day to being able to grab for things.

Sprout continues to be a fairly mellow baby.  She’s usually awake for 1 1/2 hours at a time and then naps for about an hour.  She falls asleep relatively easily, and wakes up in the middle of the night only once most nights.  I was cleaning up yesterday and came across a paper from December on which I had been recording her feeding times.  It has notes like “slept 2 hours!”  There are still plenty of challenging moments, but that time of chaos and crazy sleep deprivation already seems so far away.  I’m not really sure how we got through it, but I’m glad that we won’t have to do it again!

It seems unfair that the time when the baby is finally easier to spend time with is also the time when I have to go back to work.  I ended up accepting the 40-hour-a-week job, and I start in 2 1/2 weeks.  I’m sad about not having found something part time, but am starting to get excited about this job.  I interviewed for several other positions (all full-time), and this one seemed like the best fit.    While I wouldn’t choose the 5-day-a-week schedule,  I think it was helpful to see what else was out there, and to choose this over several other possibilities.  This job is quite different from most work I have done before–it’s with adults rather than kids, and is more connected to somatic health than mental health.  But I think it will be really interesting.  And Roo and I are both excited about what we’ll be able to do with more income.

My new boss has been very flexible, and has let me push my start date back to March 17th.  It will make money tight to be on unemployment for a few more weeks, but it will also let me wait to start work until Sprout is 16 weeks old, which feels quite decadent (not compared to civlilzed places like Canada, but a pretty good deal for here).  Plus, the week that I start work is Roo’s spring break, which means that I have a week to settle into things before we have to start getting all four of us out of the house in the mornings.

From March until June, Sprout will be going to daycare at Roo’s work three days a week, and will be with Roo’s mom (who recently retired) for two days a week.  And then Sprout will be home with Roo over the summer.  Tadpole went to the same daycare and loved it, and I love that Roo can visit her during the day.  I know that Sprout and her grandmother will have a fabulous time hanging out together on Mondays and Fridays.  And then it will be great for Roo and Sprout to spend some quality time together over the summer.  In terms of childcare arrangements, we have it pretty good.  My sadness about going back to work is less for Sprout (since I know she’ll be well cared for in all of the above situations) than for me (since I will be missing out on time with her).  But I’m also excited about getting back a work identity, meeting new co-workers, and using a different part of my brain.

My big worries about going back to work have to do with feeding Sprout.  First of all, she has been refusing to take a bottle lately.  Early on we were doing a really good job of offering her bottles from time to time.  But then Roo went back to work, and Sprout started sleeping longer at night, so it seemed easier for me to just feed her whenever she needed to be fed.  The last few times that we have tried to give her a bottle, she has screamed and refused to eat.  Fortunately, we have 2 1/2 more weeks to work on this, and she has been doing a little better with it in the last few days.

Related to this, I’m nervous about figuring out pumping at a brand-new workplace.  I emailed my new boss about the office arrangements, and she initially said that I would be in a shared office space.  Since a lot of the job involves working in teams to help clients, this makes sense.  But it’s not exactly conducive to pumping.  But when I asked about pumping arrangements, my new boss said she would try hard to make something work, and that (worst-case-scenario), I could use her office.  I’m not thrilled with that idea–it seems pretty awkward to come knocking on my boss’ door three times a day in order to kick her out of her office. But it was nice of her to offer.  And a more recent email said that she was working on finding me a good space and thought she had something.   That seems promising, but I’m still nervous about figuring it all out.  When I went back to work after having Tadpole, he was already mostly on formula anyway.  Plus I was at a familiar place with familiar co-workers, and I worked mostly independently and had my own office.  This time around, I don’t really know what my schedule will look like during the day, and I’m worried that it will be awkward to explain my pumping needs to a brand-new group of colleagues, most of whom I’ll be working with very closely.  I’m glad that my boss seems supportive, but am still not sure how it will all go.

Aside from these worries and my mixed feelings about going back to work, things are going well.  I’m excited about all that this spring will bring–new challenges at work, new adventures with both kids, decisions about Tad’s school for next year (more on that soon), and maybe even some warmer weather.

 

Let down

I found out on Thursday that I didn’t get the part time position that I had applied for, but I did get a very generous offer for the full time one. I haven’t seen many other positions out there that are a similar number of hours to the part time job, so it looks like I’ll be going back to work full time.  I’m so sad about this. I loved the time I spent with Tadpole on Fridays, and wish that I could have that same set-up with Sprout.

I’m trying to remember that there’s nothing magical that happens on Fridays that couldn’t happen another day. Most of what made those days with Tad fun were the one-on-one time that we had, and paying a particular kind of attention to him. There’s nothing preventing me from spending one-on-one time with Sprout, or from taking her to library story times or going on light rail adventures on a Saturday or Sunday. I can still pay attention to her on other days.
And the job that I’ll probably take will be 9-5, with no evenings, which is a nice change.
And this job decision is not permanent. I plan to keep looking, and may end up back at part time in a few months or a year. Or I may find a position with a school system, which will let me have extra time with the kids in the summers and on winter/spring breaks.
And there are some things that we can do with a little bit more money which will be really good for our whole family.
And the position wouldn’t start until early- to mid-March, which will give me a few extra weeks with her now.
And I’m certainly not the only person to be working this kind of schedule and wishing for more time with my kids.
And the big thing that Roo was reminding me about last night–when I look at the big picture, we are really really lucky. We have a cozy house, and I’m not going to be unemployed long-term, and we have extended families who we’re close with, and Roo has a job that she loves. And we have each other (just celebrated 13 years together!), and two healthy happy kiddoes.

Up in the air

I’m a planner by nature.  I like to make to-do lists, and have been known to write tasks that I’ve already done on a list just so I can cross them off.  When I have a busy day coming up, I tend to go over the plan for it over and over in my head.  So it’s driving me a little nuts that there’s so much I don’t know about what the future holds.  There’s all of the usual unknowns about what life with Sprout will be like in a few months.  We don’t know much about her personality at this point. She seems fairly laid-back, but that could change.  Her smiles are heartwarming but still rare–will she be a solemn kid?  And Tadpole is eager for her to be more of a playmate than she can be at this point–but will that change when she’s big enough to start getting into his toys?

There are also some other big unknowns about the future.  After getting laid off three weeks before Sprout was born, I’m in the middle of looking for a new job.  And we’re also trying to figure out where Tadpole will go for kindergarten next year.

I’ve been sending out resumes and cover letters since early January, and have been happy to be asked for a number of interviews.  There seem to be a lot of jobs out there for folks with my background, which is promising.  Last week I had two second interviews, and I think my chances of being offered at least one of those jobs is really good.  They both seem interesting, and are both a move away from the kind of work that I’ve done in the past.  There’s two big differences between them though–one would be a regular full-time, 40-hour-a-week position and would pay about what I was making at my old job.  The other would be about 28 hours a week and would involve making a fair amount less (both hourly and total pay) than my old job.  I have a lead on a part time job that could supplement that, but it still wouldn’t be as much as I was making before.

I don’t know if I’ll be offered the part time one, but if I am I’m not sure which to choose.  It has been amazing to have an extra day home with Tadpole for the first five years of his life.  Working most days, but also having one day for library story times or trips to the zoo or adventures on the light rail was the perfect balance for me.  The age Sprout is now is not my favorite, but I also know how quickly Tad became a more interesting companion.  I don’t want Sprout to be short-changed and to miss out on something that Tad had.  And it seems like the time might be even more important to have with her because she is a second kid and won’t have as much one-on-one time with Roo or me.  I know how short these early years can be.

But I’m also really really tired of having money be so tight.  The last several months have been incredibly stressful in terms of money, but they also came on top of the years when money was tight because of putting every available dime into our TTC efforts.  We really need to be putting more (some!) money away for retirement and/or the kids’ college funds.  And it would be nice to be able to chose the best school for Tadpole without having the cost be such a huge consideration.   And it would be lovely to pay for extras like Tad’s soccer program without having to cut something else.  And there are some major expenses (like some home repairs and getting a car to replace mine before it completely falls apart) that we’ve been putting off, and which I’m not sure can be put off much longer.  I know we’re very lucky to have my part time work even be an option, but I’m not sure if I’m up for the belt-tightening that would come with it.

If that weren’t enough stress, we’re also in the midst of having to make decisions about where Tadpole will go to kindergarten next year.  There’s room for a whole post here about why we’re considering the schools that we are.  But for now I’ll just explain that we’ve applied to a number of area charter schools, as well as two private schools.  For the charter schools, the spots are all awarded by lottery so there’s no way to predict which of them he’ll get into (if any).  For the private schools, he first has to get in and then we have to figure out whether we can afford whatever financial aid deal they are offering.  And of course which job I take also has implications there.  So all of this is up in the air as well.

It has been frustrating to have both the job search and the school search take up so much of my maternity leave.  Instead of spending the days staring into my newborn’s eyes, I have been trying to get her to sleep so I can write more cover letters.  And the school application process also involves a huge time commitment–open houses at the different schools we are considering, parent and child interviews at the private schools, digging out all of our financial information to complete the financial aid applications, etc.  I’m not sure how we would have managed it all if I was working now, especially if it were a new job where I hadn’t built up much leave.

In addition to the times when I can’t be physically with Sprout because of job interviews or school interviews, there are also the times when I’m with her but distracted.  I spend a lot of time thinking about the various job prospects and trying to discern which is the right one.  I’m also nervous about pumping/breastfeeding once I’m back at work, so I spend time trying to figure out a plan for that.  But it’s hard to come up with a plan when I have no idea what my schedule will look like or how far from Sprout’s daycare I will be.

I spent so much of my time during the TTC process living in the future, imagining what it would feel like if this try worked, or picturing our kids with the age spread they would have or…  I don’t want to do that now.  I want to be present to Sprout during my last few weeks of leave.  But I also have to do some projecting into the future.  Part of making these big decisions involves picturing myself in various situations and seeing what feels right–how will I feel if I’m dropping Tad off at school x in the fall?  What would it be like to come to this building to go to work?  I want to focus on Sprout, but it is hard when I’m pondering all of these big decisions.

By the numbers

It has been a long time, and I’m not sure where to start in catching up.

Since my last post:

Number of Christmas celebrations with various combinations of family members: 4

Number of birthday parties for Tadpole: 2 (a small one for family on his actual birthday and a larger one for friends later on)

Number of days Tadpole’s school was closed (a combination of winter break and snow days): 10

The story of last week:

Number of doctor appointments for members of my family: 6

Number of trips to the pharmacy over 8 days: 9

Number of diagnoses: 4 (colds for all four of us, conjunctivitis for Roo and Sprout, thrush for me and Sprout, bronchitis for Roo)

Number of mysteriously inactive health insurance policies: 1 (Sprout’s)

The story of this week:

Number of days Roo has now been back at work: 5

Number of pipes in our house that were frozen on Tuesday: 3

Number of hours of using a space heater in our crawlspace and number of hours of using a hair drier under the sink that it took to unfreeze the pipes: 5, 3

Number of pipes that burst after being frozen for many hours: 0 (thankyouthankyouthankyou!)

There were some rough days in there.  I kept thinking, “okay, we can make this work as long as I don’t have to deal with one more thing.”  And then one more thing would happen.  Fortunately, we’re a bit better today.  I got a total of 7 hours of sleep last night (in several different chunks), and that makes everything feel more manageable.  Everyone seems to be getting over their various ailments with the unfortunate exception of me and my thrush.  I’m on a second course of  diflucan, plus a cream, plus Sprout is on an oral med.  Some days I think things are almost all better and I can nurse with almost no pain, but other days there’s toe-curling, can’t-scream-because-it-will-scare-the-baby pain.  I’m supposed to call the midwives back on Monday if things haven’t improved.  I don’t know what they’ll do at that point, but I hope there’s another plan because I’m really tired of this.  I’m tired of the pain, but also tired of having to be on top of various medications and tired of the incessant hand washing and pump parts washing and bra washing.

Roo started back at work on Monday, and that has been hard on all of us.  She misses being home, and I miss having her here.  Plus we were just barely getting done everything that needed to be done around the house before she went back.  Now she needs to get enough hours of sleep to function at work, and there are many hours a day when she is not available to do things here.   We’re finding that we have to re-negotiate who is responsible for what around the house, which can be tough when we’re both feeling like we’re doing all that we can possibly do.  I remember this feeling from when Tadpole was little–that there are all of the things that I think I can manage when working really hard, and all of the things Roo thinks she can manage when working really hard….but there are still things leftover that need to be done but that neither of us feels able to do.

Tadpole is back at school.  I think it’s helpful to him to be back in his usual routine, and in a familiar place where not much has changed since the arrival of his sister.  His teacher commented the other day that he has been weepy lately, bursting into tears about things that don’t seem to be a big deal.  We’ve noticed this at home too.  It’s a big change for our usually even-keeled kid.  I feel sad about it, and wish that there were a way to make the adjustment to big brotherhood painless for him.  But I also think it’s a pretty normal reaction, and we’re doing all we can to make space for him to talk about his complicated feelings about his moms being less available.

There’s more I’d like to say about job-hunting, about breastfeeding and more. But I probably ought to just hit publish now, and try to get to the rest another day.  Apologies for not commenting more.  I’m following all of your blogs, but mostly while feeding the baby, and it’s hard to type then.  Thinking of you all, and hoping for many good things (including lots of healthy babies!) in the new year.

Settling

One of the parenting books that we have (Your Baby and Child by Penelope Leach)  has a chapter on “The Newborn”, followed by a chapter on “The Settled Baby.”  I find this distinction really helpful. Leach explains,

“One day you will find that you have stopped regarding your baby as an unpredictable and therefore rather alarming novelty, and have begun instead to think of him as a person with tastes, preferences, and characteristics of his own.  When that happens you will know that he has moved on from being a “newborn” and has got himself settled into life…A settled baby is a manageable proposition.  If you feel he’s a little devil, at least he is a little devil who you know.  You can tell how he likes to be handled even if it is not the way you would chose to handle him.  You know what to expect from him even if it is the worst, know what frightens him even if it is almost everything.  Above all, you can tell when he is happy…So once your baby is settled you know what you are up against.  Instead of trying to survive from hour to hour, get through another day, avoid thinking about another week, you can begin to work and plan for reasonable compromises between his needs and those of everyone else”

I think we’re approaching having a settled baby.  We know at least a few things about who this kid is, and are starting to find ways to make life with her work.

Mostly we know that she likes to eat!  She goes from “hey guys, I’m feeling a little peckish” to blood-curdling screams and “OMG, I’m starving and no one ever feeds me!!!” in about 30 seconds.  But not much else (wet/dirty diapers, being poked by her brother, etc.) seems to bother her.  When she cries, about 85% of the time it means she’s hungry and the other 15% of the time it’s related to gas.

We’ve fallen in to at least a rough schedule.  Sprout eats pretty constantly all evening long (starting anywhere between 5pm and 8pm and finishing between 10pm and 2am), but then sleeps for a few several-hour stretches after that.  We had one growth spurt where she ate pretty constantly for about 24 hours, which was really tough.  But other than that I’m managing to get a relatively decent amount of sleep as long as I don’t try to leave the house before noon.

We’re finding our way with feeding as well.  Sprout is no longer screaming or sleeping instead of eating when she’s hungry (though I do often have to change her diaper halfway through a feeding to wake her up).  I’m breastfeeding her most of the time, but we’ve started offering her bottles sometimes too.  I feel much less claustrophobic knowing that other people can feed the baby.  And it has been incredibly helpful to know that Roo can give Sprout a bottle when I’m worn out from nursing all evening, or when I need a break in the middle of the night.  I’m pumping some, and trying to find a balance between keeping my supply up and being so worried about it that I lose the benefits of having someone else able to feed the baby.  I think Roo has really enjoyed having time on her own with Sprout, and I have enjoyed being able to give more time and attention to Tad.

We’d had some anxiety about Sprout’s weight gain early on, and we went for yet another weight check at her pediatrician’s office yesterday.  We’d been told that they like to see babies gaining 1/2 to 1 ounce per day.  Yesterday we found out that BabyGirl had gained a pound in ten days!  Our lovely pediatrician said multiple times, “I don’t want you to worry about the feeding.  It’s clear that the breastfeeding is going well.  I just want you to enjoy your baby.”    It’s exciting to feel like the hard work and sleepless nights are paying off.  It’s a huge relief to stop rigorously charting feeding times, number of wet diapers, etc.  And the really fabulous outcome of this is that we no longer have to wake her up to feed her, so we might get a few longer stretches of sleep at night.  I feel so lucky to have a baby who was able to figure this stuff out with relatively little drama.

Tadpole also seems to be settling into this new life.  He did inform us the other day, “did you know that some kids don’t want to have a baby sister or brother?”, and we had a long conversation about how “some kids” might feel.  He has occasionally been not-so-gentle with Sprout.  But he also often asks to hold her and calls her lots of silly affectionate names and usually demands that she be present for his bedtimes.  The other morning I had gone upstairs to get something and left Sprout in her car seat next to Tad, who was eating breakfast.  Sprout started fussing and Tad came over to her and said, “it’s okay!  Your big brother is here” and tried to make faces to entertain her.

Roo and I are finding our way as well.  I’ve been able to help out with Tad’s bedtimes more (though often with the baby attached to me).  Roo is getting up with Tad and getting him to school most days, which has let me get some more sleep.  Of course the next two weeks (when Tad’s preschool is closed) will require reconfiguring everything.  And I’m a little freaked out about how we’ll arrange things when Roo goes back to work the first week of January.  But I feel like I know a lot more about what we’re up against and have a few strategies for managing life with this particular kiddo.  It’s exhausting and overwhelming and still unpredictable.  And it’s hard to get much of anything done outside of keeping the kids clothed and fed.  But I think we’re all settling into life as a family of four.

Lopsided

I’m sitting on our living room couch with a snoring baby snuggled under my chin.  We’re the only ones home.  Tadpole and Roo are out at Tad’s art class.  My mom left last Monday.  I’m enjoying cozy quiet moments like this as we all settle into this crazy newborn period and our lives as a family of four.

I feel really lucky that breastfeeding is going well overall.  Tadpole struggled with breastfeeding from the very beginning.  The saga of that is in this old post, but the gist of it is that he couldn’t figure out breastfeeding and we struggled with it for weeks and weeks.  So it is a huge relief to have a kid who is breastfeeding without that level of struggle.  Sprout usually latches on well, eats as often as she is supposed to, etc.  She is gaining weight (though not quite as much as they wanted to se at her last weight check, after being on overachiever at the one before).   Last week there were several times when I spent an hour and a half in the middle of the night struggling with a baby who alternately screamed (and refused to eat) or slept (and therefore wasn’t eating), but that is getting better.   There are still some times when she takes a while to settle into a feeding, but that means maybe 5 or 10 minutes of working with her instead of 90 minutes.   I’m supposed to be feeding her every two hours during the day and every three hours at night, and of course there are lots of times when she wants to eat more often than that.  It’s exhausting, and doesn’t leave much time for anything else (especially when one feeding can take an hour).  But I know this level of craziness is temporary and realize that things could be much worse.

I remember from Tadpole’s early days that this kind of schedule can be tough.  I can get mostly enough sleep if I keep getting up with the baby and going to sleep when she sleeps until I’ve gotten about 7 hours total (albeit in less-than-two-hour chunks).  But that means starting going to bed around 8 or 9 and getting up for the day somewhere between 10am and noon.  And it means hardly leaving the house (especially since during the day I’m supposed to be feeding every two hours, and given Sprout’s resistance to eating I haven’t felt up for trying to feed her in public much yet).  If I stay home too much I get stir-crazy.  But if I go out too much, I get exhausted and get stressed about fitting all of Sprout’s feedings in.  So I alternate between staying home and feeling on top of things but claustrophobic or going out and feeling less stuck, but also tired and worried about feedings.  I’ve gone on walks around the neighborhood the last few days, which has been a good compromise.  I’m hopeful that, as we both settle into nursing, I’ll feel confident enough to feed her in public soon, and that should make a big difference in terms of feeling more mobile.

I’m really glad that breastfeeding is going well this time around.  It is so much easier to have these occasional struggles with her about eating, rather than the huge battles we had with Tad.  And as hard as it is fit in all of the feedings, it is easier than fitting in pumping plus bottle feeding plus attempts to breastfeed (which is what we tried to do in Tad’s early weeks).  But the fact that we are breastfeeding means that Roo’s and my roles are different this time around.  With Tad, we could share middle-of-the-night feedings, and each of us could go out with the baby on our own.  But since we’re still working on getting  breastfeeding going smoothly, we’re not ready to introduce bottles yet.  This means that I’m almost exclusively focused on feeding Sprout, while Roo is taking care of practically everything else.  She has been getting Tad ready in the morning, taking him to and from school, and getting him out of the house for some fun adventures.  She also has done countless loads of laundry and dishcs and just about every other household chore.  For some families, this kind of trade-off might not be too unusual.  But for us, we have long taken pride in dividing things up relatively equally.  In our pre-Sprout life, we each had time on our own with Tad and we each helped out with most household chores. I miss spending one-on-one time with Tadpole.  I miss being able to go out to run a quick errand without having to think about where Sprout is in terms of feedings.  I miss being able to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time!  And Roo has mentioned feeling disconnected from Sprout and worrying about how they will bond when she’s not the milk-producing parent.  She has been uncomplaing about the chores, but I know she is tired of carrying all of that as well.

We’re working on sharing what we can.  Roo has done some important late-night soothing of Sprout when the baby was upset but not hungry.  And I have been conscious of fitting in cozy times with Tad, either short out-of-the-house adventures, or reading books together or doing bedtime with him at home.  As I’m settling into more of a routine with feeding and am more physically recovered from birth, I am able to help Roo out more around the house.  And one good thing about this being our second baby is that we have a little perspective.  When Tadpole was a newborn, all that we knew about ourselves as parents was those first few hectic and exhausting weeks.  But now we’ve been parents for almost five years, and those first few weeks are just a very small piece of the relationships that we have with Tadpole.  So I have faith that my relationship with Tad will weather this crazy time, and that Roo’s relationship with Sprout will have plenty of time to develop.  And, most importantly, I know that the sleep deprivation and claustrophobia and lopsided roles are all temporary.