First Week Without Mom...

First week without mom helping us.... Joe took a week off to help out in the house. Here is a recap of what happened this week:

Saturday: Drove mom to the airport... cried a bit on the way home. Stayed home till 12am for Bethany's feeding. I was exhausted by the time Joe finished burping her. I had a big lump in the left boob (clogged milk duct again... arrrggghhhh!) Woke up at 4am as Baby Bethany was awake for her "mid-night snack" I was surprised that Joe heard the baby crying first time in 7 weeks at nights. When mom was here, he usually slept through all the cryings at nights, and even slept in a few days for work!

Sunday: Woke up with a swollen and "hot" left boob! I bought a heating pad on Friday...I put the heating pad on my left boob 15 mins prior to my pumping session... and the lump was gone after pumping. Yay! Joe went to church and I bathed Bethany! Then I hand-washed all her clothes and managed to iron some of her clothes.

Monday: Woke with with a swollen and "hot" right boob! Seriously!!!!! It seems that I have clogged milk ducts everyday! The pain was so bad that I had to take a Tynenol! Joe went for an afternoon nap and he told me he was "sleep deprived". I laughed and said, "Welcome to my world! Now you know what mom and I went through the last 7 weeks while you were happily snoring away at nights!"

Tuesday: Tried the heating pad on my right boob prior to pumping... and no mircale this time! Arrrgggghhhh! Managed to run a few errands while Joe stayed home and watched Bethany. I ordered turkey dinner at Farm Boy. Joe is a big fan on turkey (I, on the other hand, find the smell of a cooked turkey disgusting.) . With the baby with us this year, there is no way I will be able to cook a complete turkey dinner while I pump once every three hours, change Bethany's diaper every hour and do other household chores. Bethany slept from 11pm till 5am!

Wednesday: Went for my 8 weeks post partum doctor appointment. My OB/GYN checked the incision on my tummy and everything was healing up nicely. She asked about our "plan" next and if we want any more kids! Without even giving Joe a chance to do his speech, I quickly said "NOOOOOOO!" and Dr. Dy just laughed. I told Dr. Dy about my experience with pumping and we discussed various ways of weaning off pumping. So instead of pumping every three hours, I am going to pump once every four hours, and gradually lengthen the time between each pumping and decrease the pumping frequency. After the doctor's appointment, we stopped by at the office to say Hi to some of the coworkers. Everyone at work said that Bethany looks just like me! :-) We got a bunch of gifts from my coworkers: a Chicco Highchair, a Fisher Price Infant to Toddler Rocker and a few other plush toys. On our way home, we stopped by a the Well Baby Clinic so that we could get Bethany weighed in. When we got there, we found out the Clinic has moved to another location, and is only open on Mondays from 1:30pm to 3pm. We then rushed home as at this point, I was in so much pain that I needed to "pump the lump" out... miraculously... after the pumping, the lump was gone! I pumped out 4oz of BM! Though the lump was gone, the spot where the lump was before was a bit bruised and sore! The pumpings for the rest of the day were very smooth! :-) Bethany slept for almost 7 hours... I only had to wake up once around 3am to pump! Joe slept through the night! :-)

Thursday: I went to Starbucks for a Chai Latte in the morning while Joe stayed home with the baby. After I got home, Joe took my car in for rust-proofing. While he was gone, I gave Bee Bee a bath. I then gave Bethany a bath. I pumped almost 5oz of BM (still no lump in my boobs!) and then fed Bethany! By the time everthing was done, it was mid afternoon! I managed to do a load of laundry (Bethnay's clothes and linens). Barry and Annette stopped by in the evening to see Bethany. They stayed for an hour or so..... I enjoy their visit as I do not have much adult conversations these days!
Once again, Bethany slept from 11pm till 6am!