It was actually a big help that Naama woke up around 5am, because she wasn't starving when my husband left for work around 7. Before leaving, my husband changed her and put her in the swing. Naama fell asleep shortly afterward and stayed asleep for almost 2 hours which was good and bad. Doggie needed to go out and it looked like it was going to rain which was weird since the rainy season is basically over, but of course on the day I had no help it rained! While Naama was asleep, I took advantage of the time, had breakfast and made a few phone calls. One of those phone calls was to try and see if our washing machine could be fixed, but it looks like our machine has gone to washing machine heaven. REALLY bad timing!! but is there ever a good time to lose your washing machine???
As Naama was waking up, the sun began shining (thank god). I put Naama in her stroller and took a very desperate Doggie for a walk. On our way back, I was kicking myself for not pumping milk while Naama was asleep. I knew she would be hungry when we got back. I considered going to a neighbor so I could have help nursing her, but I'm tired of bothering people. I had what to give Naama, I just prayed that she could hold off until I had enough pumped for a single feed. She usually eats a bit over (150ml) 5 oz. in a feeding. I swore to myself I would never be one of those mothers who sticks their child in front of a TV, but seriously, THANK GOD for YouTube. It really helps when I'm in a bind. Naama loves watching children's videos. She loves the colors and the movements and it's really cute when she gurggles at the screen=) When we got back, I plopped her in front of the screen, put it on auto mode and let her watch as much as she wanted while I got her second breakfast ready.
What is usually an easy feed was anything but. At first she ate and burped just fine. When she's bottle fed, her burps crack me up. She lets loose a loud, long belch. It's so cute to hear such a sound coming from such a little body. Her father says she makes him proud=) I put her back in her swing and began feeding her some more, only this time she wanted to play instead of eat, so she semi-ate and cried each time I burped her. I finally realized what she wanted because she kept batting my hand away. She wanted to hold the bottle on her own!! She may burp like her daddy, but she's got her mommy's independent streak! I gave in and let her hold the bottle for as long as she was able.
After her meal, Naama fell asleep again for over an hour. As I was making lunch, I got a call from my South African Mary Poppins. She wanted to schedule time for me. As we spoke, she said "Dahling, are you eating? You neglect yourself dahling. You must eat!" Did I mention I love this woman?? For one she's really funny and has a lot of spunk for an older woman. She's also really sweet and brings me things from time to time, like black beer and leben yogurt. She says both foods will give my milk supply a kick. As it happened, I was using the yogurt she brought me in the lunch I was making and she was happy to hear it=) Thank god I had enough milk to pump for her today:)
After Naama's second feed, I changed her diaper and prayed I wouldn't find any presents in her diaper that required me to change her onezie. I have trouble taking the onezie off and I can't put a new one back on. Thankfully, Naama didn't leave me any gifts=) I played with Naama for awhile and then decided to give her some tummy time. I'm a little nervous to give her tummy time when I'm on my own, and a lot of the time, I simply forget about it, but if this baby is going to hit the rolling over milestone soon, she won't do it sitting in her swing!! I put her in her stroller, wheeled her to the couch and lifted her on to her tummy time mat. She had a good ten minutes on her tummy. I was so proud to see her trying to turn the bottom half of her body=) She will roll over soon enough! When she started to get cranky, I went to turn her on her back. It was a bit difficult for me to get a good grip on her and I kept pulling her butt and legs more towards me, so I could get a better grip on her. Poor baby with her face down was probably thinking what the hell is mommy trying to do here?! because she started to cry. I finally flipped her on her back and we played some more.
She could've used more tummy time, but I know the whole flipping thing is hard on her and me so I didn't give her anymore tummy time. I put her back in the stroller and wheeled her 3 paces back to her swing.
Towards the end of the day I was totally wiped, but I felt amazing physically and emotionally. Lifting Naama several times throughout the day and working with both hands simultaneously strengthened my arms and hands almost immediately. Also, doing more physical tasks has really helped alleviate the horrible pain I had for months in my rotator cuff. My doctor prescribed physical therapy for the pain. Taking care of my daughter is my physical therapy! I was so happy to finally realize I CAN take care of Naama. I realized that having a nanny hindered me. I used the help as too much of a crutch so I didn't realize what I am actually capable of. That said, I will still have help off and on. I now know I can take care of my baby on my own if I need to and that's enough for me.
I had about an hour till my husband came home from work. As I was talking to him on the phone, I hear Naama leaving me a present=) I smiled at her and said "daddy's turn!"
