17 Feb 2013

Birthday Post




After two months, I have recovered and am raring to go.

“To go where?” is the question.

My schedule these days is tied to the baby’s schedule. He is quite a sweet one, all things considered. He mostly cries to indicate hunger, wet diaper, sleepiness and general requirement of TLC.  Except that all of this happens in a two to three hour loop. So after I have run the gamut of activities, it is time to start nursing him.

I have a full time helper and D is a pretty hands-on dad. Yet a lot of the work does fall onto me considering I am at home on maternity leave. I would have palmed off a lot of the work to mom except that the folks have decamped for a couple of weeks on other unavoidable engagements.

There are the lovely smiles of recognition the baby gives me and the times he coos, but most of the time, it is just work.

When D said that my birthday present this year would be a day of me-time I whooped in joy. All I had to do was nurse him and the rest of the time was mine to do what I wanted to.

I could not wait for my birthday to arrive.                                                    

This is how the day went

2.40 a.m. – Nurse the baby, burp him and hold him straight for half an hour (He has a mild case of infant reflux. So the-burp-and-holding-him routine needs to be done after every feed) and then put him to sleep

5.50 a.m. - Nurse the baby, do burp-and-holding routine and then put him to sleep
Both times D offers to take over after the nursing but I figure out he has to manage the whole day and I may as well cut him some slack

7.25 a.m. – Nurse the baby, hand him to D and go back to sleep. Sleep the sleep of the dead. D and helper put the baby down for a nap. Baby does not sleep the sleep of the dead. Like always, a struggle ensues to get him to nap on his own while he tries to insist on being held. (Luckily, most nights, he goes down without a struggle). This part is the most frustrating in his routine and hearing him cry can be very distressing.

9.50 a.m. – Nurse the baby. Hand him to D. Go about morning activities in a leisurely manner instead of pretending I am in the Teeth Brushing Olympics. Have hot dosas one by one instead of swallowing the whole bunch cold. D and the helper start the napping routine again.

11.15 a.m. – Hear the helper and D bathe and massage the baby. Turn back to reading the newspaper.

12.15 p.m. –Nurse the baby. Hand him back to D.

1.15 p.m. – D and I take the baby out for lunch to a nearby mall. First proper outing for baby. He sleeps for half an hour in the stroller and then stares around in wonder at the bright shop lights for half an hour. The only person staring around in more wonder than the baby is me. Wow, this is what wandering around aimlessly feels like! I had forgotten in three months.

2.30 p.m. – Reluctantly return home with a fidgeting baby. D and the helper entertain the baby.

3.00 p.m. – Nurse the baby. Hand him to D. Ponder for a minute if I should use this time to go shopping or if I should nap. I am asleep before I can finish pondering. (In all honesty, I take a nap daily at this time. So no change there).  D and the helper start the baby’s napping routine.

5.00 p.m. – Wake up. Nurse the baby. Hand him to D.  Attend phone calls from India as people begin to realise it is my birthday and Singapore is ahead of India and so they better call now.

6.00 p.m –Get dressed and head out to Orchard Road by myself.

Window Shop

Window Shop

Window Shop

Sigh. The bright lights of Topshop, Promod, Zara, H&M, Forever 21.

7.00 p.m. –Speak to D. Baby fed with expressed milk stored the previous day. Plus playtime done. Plus more naptime struggles.

Window Shop

Shop.  Yes, I could not have possibly had my first post-baby shopping trip and just done window shopping!

Think about how blessed I am to have D and the baby in my life. Distance does make the heart grow fonder.

I am ready to head home to the smiles of my little boy. Though, I am still going to make the most of the rest of the day. 

8.30 p.m. – Head back home. Have dinner, chewing every mouthful. Drink, not gulp the water after the meal.

9.15 p.m. – Nurse baby. Hand him back to D. D changes him into his night suit and puts him to sleep.

Watch back to back episodes of How I met your mother on DVD.

12 a.m. –Birthday comes to an end. I hit the bed

The next day, I am back on the job. Feeling much much better.  



5 comments:

SK said...

Many congrats Anita on the baby news!
Have fun!
:--)

Aparna said...

The day sounds just perfect!!! Here's to more such :)

Anita said...

SK - Thank you!

Aparna - Yup, I have now negotiated with D that he shall be sole in-charge of the baby in the evenings. Am loving it!

Priyanthi said...

Probably the best gift any new mother can get is me time. Good for you. Happy Birthday.

Jerina J said...

I dunno why my comments are not getting uploaded ani. I had already written here.