Back to the Grind

Well this week brought my return to work, much to the relief of my coworkers. I was warmly welcomed back after my 8 week maternity leave. That also meant that it was time for Kiernan to begin attending daycare during the day.

I had previously discussed coming over to the daycare at lunch each day as it is right across the street from my work. I would use the time to check in on Kiernan and breastfeed him if he so desired. It would be one less time I would have to pump to express milk each day that way. My work is supportive of this idea as family is very important to them as well, plus it gives me a good excuse to take a break from the grind for a few minutes each day as I am notorious for working through lunch and eating at my desk.

Kiernan seemed to be adapting fairly well to the daycare scene, but was having a bit of trouble sleeping there for naps etc. He seemed to only average about 20 minutes of sleep each time. However he does seem to be doing well with the bottle feedings during the time I am not there to feed him. His teacher said it generally takes about 3 weeks for babies to adapt & be able to sleep well at daycare.

The thing with breastfeeding is there is no real accurate method to determine just how many ounces of milk Kiernan consumes during a feeding, so that makes bottles a challenge. It is more or less of a guessing game to figure out how many ounces to put in a bottle for him. I started low and am gradually increasing it as the daycare is required to discard any left over after one hour. Milk is just too hard to work for to see it discarded, so I would rather err on the cautious side. I made a habit of providing an extra bottle for the daycare each day just in case Kiernan got particularly hungry.

Tuesday I took Kiernan to the doctor for his 2 month checkup and first vaccines. Technically he wasn't 2 months old until today, but I did not want to delay since germs spread like wildfire in the daycare and he had not yet has his rotateq vaccine (a variety of infant flu). It was hard to watch him get poked with three needles (two in the left leg, one in the right) but he only hollered for a couple of minutes before calming right down. He crashed and slept the rest of the day essentially. That morning before heading to the doctor's office I got the picture you see next to this post - it makes me giggle and smile everytime I look at it. I set the photo to my desktop at work. Stats from this doctor's visit are below:

Height: 24.25" (95th percentile)
Weight: 12 lbs 10 ozs (75th percentile)
Head circumference: 15.75" (50th percentile)

Last night I joined some friends for dinner and took Kiernan with me. It was good to get out. One of the ladies asked me how I felt about putting Kiernan in daycare. I don't recall my response really, but honestly I can't say I like the idea - however necessary it may be. Someone else is raising my kid during the day. I miss spending the day with him and it makes for short nights in which to prepare things for daycare the next day, care of the animals and fix and eat dinner. It leaves very little time to reconnect with Kiernan or to deal with other things that may come up before it's time to go to bed. Don't get me wrong though, the daycare does a fine job from what I can tell and from the feedback from other parents.

Motherhood Week 8

It doesn't seem possible, but this was the last week I had at home with Kiernan before returning to work full time. It flew by much too quickly. I always used to think that I would never want to do the stay-at-home mom thing, that I would go out of my mind with boredom being stuck at home, but man was I wrong. If we could afford it, I would do it in a heartbeat. However a 50%+ income loss just doesn't make that feasible.


Tuesday brought my post partum checkup with the doctor. I got the all clear there as everything is healed up.

Thursday I took Kiernan to Denver to visit the daycare he was going to enroll in and take his things he needs there. I also stopped to visit some former coworkers while in town and show him off to them. We learned what room Kiernan would be in and met his teacher at the daycare. I dreaded the arrival of Monday and leaving him there.

Just to take my mind off of things for the weekend, I took Kiernan and Picasso to a cat show up in Loveland. While the show itself was uneventful and we didn't win anything, it was good to get out of town for the weekend and see the folks I know from other cat shows. Plus it was a good test to see if I can handle showing a cat and taking care of Kiernan at the same time.

Motherhood Week 7

During delivery I had an episode of SVT (super ventricular tachicardia) and as a result had an echocardiogram and EKG done to look a little further into it. I was then referred to an electrophysiologist. This week I went to see him.

I was essentially told that since I have only had the single occurrence that I can choose which treatment to go with. My options were no treatment, continue on the prescription given (Digoxin .25mg/day) or have surgery (ablation) to permanently correct the problem.

Surgery is risky at best and the idea of messing with my heart when it isn’t really necessary at this point freaks me out a bit, so I think I’ll pass. Digoxin won’t eliminate future episodes of SVT but it will reduce the chance of it recurring. It is a low dose and safe for long term use and during breastfeeding and pregnancy (if we had more kids that is). Doc told me it could recur again but it isn’t life threatening – a severe episode could result in a trip to the ER to remedy with a dose of adenosine. I told him I’d stick with the Digoxin. It’s cheap and an easy solution.

This week Beosig’s mom also came to visit and see her grandson. As expected she fawned over him plenty as any good grandparent should. Many cute pics came from the visit and she enjoyed her visit. We enjoyed having her up here. I think she will be suffering from baby withdrawl though.

Motherhood Week 6

Kiernan gets stronger each day. He is now holding his head up as frequently as he can, even pushing against your shoulder to do so when holding him. Head control is vastly improving as well. We rarely have to hold his head so it doesn’t fall forward any longer. He seems to have control over that now. I can tell it will just be a little longer before he will have complete control over his head so it won’t fall backwards at all either.

Kiernan has made it through his first new years. We went to a new years party at a friend's house and of course played "pass the baby". It was quite funny to see how each woman that held him became so engrossed in baby it was as if the world around them ceased to exist. Some were enthralled with smelling his head for that baby smell - a smell like no other. Others just enjoyed the way he cuddles when being held.

Bonus! This week I discovered that regular jeans fit again! No more maternity pants, yay!