The New Normal

It’s been 7 weeks now, and I’m not sure if we’ve really found our new normal yet, but we are getting there!

   I think Alan’s birthday was pretty indicative of what it’s like around here:

Alan woke up sick, and we all hung out at the house doing nothing special at all…..sorry, Alan.  Well, we’ll just call the new baby our ‘something special’ for this year!

New babies are such a serious show stopper.  I have a friend from college that calls this phase “baby jail.”  I think that sums it up pretty well.  I have several overdue appointments scheduled for this week, and with a breastfeeding baby that can be a challenge…..

So it’s always a mathematical problem of how to handle each appointment….ugh…..and in this sprawling metropolis, you often have to just take what appt. time you can get.  So here are my options, this week, with Alan being off work:

#1. Feed the baby right before I leave (Look, Bobby, I know you just fed an hour and a half ago, but please please eat again for my convenience!!!)

……..and dash back between 2-3 hours later to spare Alan having to deal with a crying baby.

2.   Pump before I leave, and let Alan give him a bottle while I’m gone.  (We’ve actually pulled this off once now!  So exciting!  He drank 5 ounces).

3.  Take baby with me….risking having to listen to him scream and cry in the car seat, while I feel awful about it.  PLUS risk having to breastfeed the baby in …..dumdumdum……public.  *gasp*

Now how is it that I have nursed four babies and yet am still not good at that?

I tend to tuck away into the nursery to feed the baby at home, so I’m not in the habit of covering.  I haven’t had a baby yet that seems to appreciate being hidden under a blanket for his meal.

Plus, what if the office timing is bad??  What if he needs to be fed at 3ish, but I end up at the doctor’s office too long, not leaving me time to feed him?

This has also happened already, at his two well baby exams.  Thankfully, we had an understanding doctor who let me feed him while she did paperwork, ha!  Then another time, they took f-o-r-e-v-e-r drawing his blood, and he was starving by the time we got him out of there.

See, this is why I don’t enjoy leaving the house like I used to!

Now, I suppose at this point I have completely ruined your delusion that I am an easy going person, as you have just read all of my neurotic thoughts on breastfeeding.

By the way,  good news:  He is doing much better with his feeding routine.  He now sleeps one 5 or more hour stretch.  One night he actually slept 6 1/2 hours straight.  I was GIDDY.

….So if you come visit us, and suddenly I disappear for a while, do not be offended.

I’m just an inept public breast-feeder.  Maybe when I get used to this again I’ll be able to *chill* a bit!

 They always have the father excused from the room to do the epidural or spinal block.  This was their first mistake.  There is only one person that can calm April during a terrified-of -medical-procedures-panic attack, and that person is Alan.
First spinal block:  failed.  She put it in some kind of bony protrusion in my back, so it did nothing.
Second spinal block:  already reached my full level of pain tolerance from having the first spinal block with the also failed local anesthesia that keeps you from feeling the spinal…..leaving them with….
crazy April.
I survived.  They survived.  They laid me down on the table, I suddenly (psychologically) felt like I couldn’t breathe at all, and the panic hit full on.
The smart anesthesiologist said, “Okay, I did not do a good job of handling your anxiety.  Someone get her husband in here now.”  “I know.  Bring him in early–right away.”

“Hi, I’m Super Dad.  All you have to do is rub Crazy April’s head, just like this, and promise her everything will be okay and she’s doing great.”  : )  Thank God for Alan!

How come the women with scheduled-c-sections on t.v. are always so calm?  Actually, I was calm for my first c-section (Daniel).  Oh well.   Let’s get back to what you really want to see:  baby pictures!

Recovery:
Recovery from a c-section is never fun.  This hospital was really great at staying on top of pain medication though.  We still couldn’t wait to get home.  Hospitals do not let you sleep!  Someone was constantly coming in, even waking up the baby, to check temperatures, give meds, paperwork, pictures, etc.
Right now I’m only supposed to use the stairs a couple times/day and need to be assisted, in case of losing consciousness.

Having done both types of birth, regular and c-section, I now say with full confidence that one should do their best to avoid a c-section.  This baby turned out to be fairly average sized, so maybe I could have delivered him without a problem, but there was no way for us to know that.  All docs/ midwives I talked to recommended this route for me b/c of my scary natural deliveries.
There is no easy way out of having a baby, but natural is definitely easier, even if you do get a 3rd degree or have a hot spot from your epidural.
So we are calling our family complete.  All present and accounted for.  If I weren’t a c-section patient, I’d have a dozen babies.  I really do love babies so much, but it’s not good to have too many c-sections.
We are just going to super-enjoy the babies that we have.

John David has been a perfect gentleman of a baby, so far.  He likes swaddling, but hates having his arms swaddled, so I just leave those out.  He has yet to see a pacifier.  In the beginning, he wanted to nurse 30 minutes on each side, and I was a bit concerned for our future….but now that my milk is in, he is done after 7-15 minutes on each side.  Phew!
He sleeps pretty much 24 hours/day.  I figure I might as well enjoy that now, as that will be over pretty quickly!
So far he has been very easy going, which we SO appreciate!!!!

My parents leave with the three oldest boys tomorrow, so next week would be a great time for any of you to visit if you’d like and get to hold little John David.
Right now Alan is squeezing in a little quality time with the big bros.  He took them to a baseball game, and I’m sure they’re having a great time.
What would I do without Alan, Dad, and Mom this week???
I’d like to thank all three of them for being so wonderful and getting us through this exciting but crazy time!!!