Monday, March 24, 2008

How We're Getting Along

Hubby bought a little step stool for Dear Little Fellow to use to get up on things, so I don't need to lift him. It is plastic and lightweight, so I can move it around from place to place easily. He uses it to get up in his high chair, onto the queen-size bed in his room where we change his diaper (he sleeps in a crib, but we don't have anywhere else to put the queen bed, so we're storing it in there), etc. Hubby has rearranged his schedule so that he can work 6 6-1/2 hour days a week and come home for lunch. This way, he can play with D.L.F. a bit mid-day, get him into and out of the high chair, change his diaper, put him down for a nap, and then go back to work.

Today was challenging for me. D.L.F. was up by 6:15. Hubby went to work before 7, and didn't come home until noon, and it was hard for me to come up with things for D.L.F. to do for five hours that didn't involve me lifting anything or bending over (my back and legs are really hurting). We read books, sang songs, and D.L.F. played with toys for a while on his own. Around 10, I took him outside for a walk because we were both getting stir-crazy being cooped up inside. He always wants me to carry him down the stairs, but I made him hold my hand and walk down out of sheer necessity today. He wasn't very happy about it, but then he was glad when we got outside. We just walked a couple blocks and back again, but at least it filled up half an hour. I had very noticeable Braxton-Hicks contractions the whole time we were walking. They stopped right away, though, when we got back inside and I was able to sit down for a minute and drink some water.

I have to admit that I am feeling kind of discouraged. It's hard to think about every day from now until Baby Girl is born being as long and hard and physically challenging as today. I'm super-emotional, too, just with regular pregnancy hormones, plus the craziness of trying to get used to having a baby in a hospital instead of my peaceful, familiar birth center. However, I am extremely grateful for all of Hubby's help and tender care. I just wish I could fast-forward several weeks to when I'm not pregnant anymore and I have a sweet baby girl to snuggle.

On a more positive note, I just ordered a cute and very reasonably-priced ($15.99, with $2.50 shipping) nursing cover off Ebay from the seller mariuszjoanna. Because of the ever-changing nature of Ebay, I don't think I can really link to it, but if you are interested, do a search on Ebay for "Joanna Design nursing cover," and it should come up. I ordered print number 141, which is a sage green fabric with a brown vintage print of children playing. Hopefully, I can get Baby Girl used to nursing under this nursing cover at home, so I will be able to nurse her during church without having to leave the room. I was never really able to discreetly nurse D.L.F. in public, because I didn't practice at home, so he wouldn't stand for a blanket covering his face if I ever did try to nurse away from home. I like the design of this nursing cover. It has boning along the top edge, which holds the cover out a bit so you can peek in and see how baby is doing. It's really similar to other nursing covers, e.g. Bebe au Lait, which cost upwards of $40. It should come pretty soon. I'll try to remember to post about how I like it when I get it in the mail.

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