Week Six Update

This new momhood thing takes a lot of time.

I haven't had a chance to post in more than a week now, but things have been good. I've been going to a few new mommy and me classes, and there's enough activities in my community that make me realize I could go to mom classes all week long.

Some people have complained about being bored at home with their newborns, but honestly, between the Internet, things to read, pumping breast milk and oh yeah, taking care of my kid, who's got time to be bored?

My diabetes care has been OK. I had an A1c taken at my six-week postpartum appointment last Friday, and am waiting to see how that's going, but I expect it'll be fine.

New motherhood, particularly the breastfeeding quest, reminds me a bit of what it must be like for people who are newly diagnosed with diabetes. It's a new way of living your life, it's far different than anything you've done before, and sometimes, it's an easy transition and sometimes it isn't.

I'm still writing down every time my kid eats, poops, pees, and how much he eats when he does eat. It reminds me of writing down my blood sugars and eating patterns and carb counts (except I stopped all that diabetic charting awhile back. I'm still married to charting Baby L's patterns; it's still new and novel for me.)

Baby L continues to be a great kid. He sleeps a lot (though NO, not through the night at all). In a Mommy and Me class I started today, I noted how much people talked about soothing their fussy babies, what they did at 4am last night (running the hair dryer and tuning the radio in between stations for the static) to calm their kids. My kid wakes up crying, drinks what he needs to from a bottle, gets changed, and generally nods off again. Sometimes I hold him and he calms down, and when it's the 4-to-5 am feeding, I might put him in bed with me and watch him as he goes to sleep and I sleep on my side, not so deeply, so that I can make sure a blanket doesn't cover his face or I don't roll over on him. People are divided about whether co-sleeping is bad or not, but it's pretty cozy with the baby next to me.

We have him in a bassinet next to our bed and will eventually transition him into his own crib in his own room when it seems obvious he's outgrowing the bassinet. But for now, it's nice having him nearby. It's also nice having him fall asleep on my chest, or carrying him and dancing around with him, or singing to him. (I've moved on to new baby songs, like Itsy-Bitsy Spider, as well as new songs I make up, such as "Who's The Greatest Boy In the Land? (Baby L is! Baby L is!)"

What else? I'm totally behind reading other people's blogs. I haven't thought much about my full-time job at all. I've been contacted by one or two of my freelance contacts asking when I can start working again, and I'm wondering when to start freelancing again. But so far, I've been enjoying most of my new role as a new mom and really enjoying my son when he's awake and alert.