Last weekend we kind of reemerged from our home and quickly began looking for things outside of the home to do. At first it was difficult to find activities that we felt we could do with a nearly five week old child since her schedule is still unpredictable and she does not have perfect head control yet which prevents us from going on hikes and putting her in the jogger. We put on our thinking caps and positive attitudes to try and find things we could do with her.
We decided that we could go shopping downtown and put Belén in her stroller. We perused Title Nine and the North Face store and any time the little chicky would get fussy, Andy wheeled her around the store or on the sidewalk outside of the store. We still weren’t in the mood for going home so we ended up going to REI to spend our dividend. Andy was able to keep her entertained through all of our shopping (we didn’t buy much so it was more just looking.) We also decided to try hiking really slowly on the Corrals trail to try out our baby jogger.
Belén in the Burley
Belén looked tiny in the large double wide stroller but her head seemed to be supported by the straps and infant carrier. We walked fairly slowly as she still seemed to jiggle much more than she does in her normal stroller. We also took it slow for me as well as this was my first time hiking in the hills since the surgery. It was VERY nice to get out on the trails again after my hiatus even if it was at turtle pace.
One of the most exciting things around our home recently is Belén’s new ability to smile at us. It is easy to spend hours talking to her and watching her smile back at us. It has been nice to be able to occasionally have an alcoholic beverage again. I have read and heard from other mothers and medical personal that alcohol leaves your breast milk at about the same pace as it leaves your blood stream so if you have one beverage, it should be gone in about an hour. This has allowed me to have an occasional glass of wine or port but usually I still stick to a sip of Andy’s or a half glass.
Yet another sign of a return to pre-pregnancy normalcy. With as much as I have loved motherhood it has made me question a lot of things. I chose my college major because I was good at math and science and therefore always gravitated towards engineering and professions with few other women. I always prided myself on doing things that most other women were not doing. Now I wonder if I was too quick to rule out some of the more female dominated professions. Maybe I was born to be a teacher or nurse but I never even considered that as an option. Hmmm. I do still love the logical nature of engineering and sometimes business so I probably did choose wisely but it has been interesting how my enjoyment the last six weeks has caused me to question that. To be honest, I really thought that all of those parents who said being a parent was so wonderful were lying to some extent. It just goes to show how important it is to reevaluate your values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations from time to time…otherwise, you might miss an important, life changing opportunity.
Too Much Information
Remember, this is the section you should not read if you do not want to know the gross parts of pregnancy and child birth…. I am pretty well healed so anything in the TMI section from now on will probably be about breastfeeding. My breasts seem to have taken on a life of their own, it is crazy. I am not experiencing “let down” where I get a tingly sensation when I even think about the baby or breast feeding. If the baby is not feeding when the let down occurs, I usually try and catch the milk with breast pads (either disposable or some organic hemp fabric ones I like), otherwise, I have about five seconds until my bra and t-shirt begin to become damp. I cannot tell you how many more shirts I am laundering these days. Today it was crazy…I hadn’t even consciously heard the baby crying, yet my boobs tingled telling me she was crying. I heard her crying with my ears a few seconds later.
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