I fell really lucky that Jaime's job has flexibility for him to work full time with part of it from home and my mom can be in town for this month to help me recover and take care of the baby. Jaime's parents will be in town next month, which is great as well. After that, hopefully, we will get the hang of it to do it by ourselves.
So why does a new baby take so much work? well, here is a breakdown for all those interested.
- Breastfeeding: I am the only one who can do this for now until I pump milk, so it takes me anywhere from 8 -12 hours to feed her. But I do need help when I feed her as I am still healing. Either mom or Jaime would position her for me each time once I sit down with the Boppy pillow.
- Burping Isabel: This is a lot harder than we thought. Jaime is the champion at this and mom and I burp her when he is at work. We burp her after she eats on each side and sometime it takes a good 5-10 min and she still may not burp. We try our best since if she doesn't burp, she is likely to choke a little or spit up milk.
- Changing Diapers: Jaime and my mom usually do this, so I can take a break
- Bathing Isabel: We only give her sponge bath now since her umbilical cord hasn't fallen off. Mom and I do this once a day during the day. Every few days, Jaime and I will wash her hair.
- Soothing Isabel: Between feedings, Isabel would get fussy if she is not sleepy and all three of us rotate to sooth her. Jaime is great at doing this right before her first night sleep. My mom would hum melodies to her, walk her around the apt, cradle her, and talk to her throughout the day as needed. Once or twice a day, I will cradle her after a feeding and let her sleep on me for an hour or walk her or hum to her. It really helps that Jaime and mom help with this as it can get really draining on any one person
- Night shift: Jaime and mom rotate to help me so they can try to get a longer stretch of sleep and I get up each time - usually 2-3 times at night to feed her. I am getting used to it now and actually wake up after every 2-3 hour of sleep naturally. Go figure
- Food for all of us: My mom cooks fresh food for me everyday to help with my milk supply. This includes organic chicken or pork soup, porridges, noodles, fresh vegetables, etc... My milk supply is wonderful for Isabel as a result. Jaime helps get us food from the outside when we need a change from Chinese food (such as Italian, burger, hawaiian, take out chinese, etc)
- Getting baby supply: Jaime goes out every few days to Target or Babies r us for supplies like wash cloth, diapers, bras, swaddle blankets.
- Pediatrician visit: Jaime should get the "husband of the year award" for this. He has taken Isabel to Dr. Langston/ Dr. Simon twice now BY HIMSELF. This included driving her, undressing her and dressing her at the office, changing her diaper, and soothing her. Even the office was amazed he has done this by himself. This really gives me and my mom time to catch a nap at home. He has been so thoughtful to let us do that. Thanks so much, honey!
- Housework: Jaime organizes everything in the house everyday including making the bed. Mom hand washes some of Isabel's soiled laundry every day and does my and hers downstairs every other day.
I think that covers it. We are getting more of a good routine down day after day. Yesterday, Isabel slept for 4 hours, 2 hours, and 2 hours at night which was great. I actually got 7 hours of sleep in 3 segments!
- Lei
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