I thought I was tired and worn out before I got pregnant. Then, I whined all the time about how I never got any sleep and all I could do after work was collapse on the couch and stay there all night...
I didn't know what the heck I was talking about!
Nothing prepares you for how hard it is to go back to work when you have a baby. Especially when you're a teacher and you have to spend so much of your own time getting your room and lessons prepared. It's amazing. Here's a sample of my day:
5:30am Wake up. Have to get up this early so I can squeeze in a shower and a bowl of cereal before baby wakes up.
6:15am Try to dry hair and see sparks in dryer. Realize that blow dryer has finally died after 8 faithful years and thank God that it waited till hair was just about dry.
6:30am Wake baby up. She's in a fantastic mood so try to feed her.
6:45am She's too excited to eat and she wants to play. With extreme sadness, I put her in her crib so I can pump out what she didn't want to eat. Listen to her kicking and squealing in her crib and wish like hell that I could go play with her all day and not go to work.
7:00am Pack up my stuff. I need a bag full of Maelin's milk for the day, I need my empty bottles and pump, my lunch, my bag with my teaching stuff and bottled water and my purse.
7:05am Take baby in to Kevin to say good-bye. She's in such a great mood, we play with her for a bit before we load her into her carseat.
7:15am Load baby and all the crap into the car and jump on the highway for the 20 minute drive to daycare. I usually try to sing or talk to Maelin the whole way to make myself feel better about leaving her.
7:40am Arrive at Sandra's house. She's very happy to see Maelin and immediately starts talking and cooing to her. Maelin is all smiles and goes right to her. I put her stuff away and give her a quick good-bye before I start to cry.
7:50am I leave Sandra's and drive the 6 minutes to work.
7:56am Arrive at work and put pumping stuff in pumping room (the file closet...with the copier. At least it has a lock on the door!) and get stuff ready for the day. This includes checking email, making copies, cleaning room, meeting with principal, multiple meetings, coaching my student teacher about the day, etc.
9:00am Kids arrive. Spend the next 2 hours teaching. Usually too busy to think about the baby much.
11:00am Kids go to music, gym, etc. I go pump in the hot closet room. Try not to think about how much I'd rather be feeding her in person instead of what I'm actually doing.
11:20am Finish planning, have more meetings, run to the restroom, make more copies, rearrange more things, do some grading, filing, calls to parents, write newsletter home, prepare PowerPoint for Back to School Night, answer emails about new autistic student, meet with child advocate about special ed students, etc.
12:00pm Kids come back. More teaching.
12:40pm Time for lunch. After I take kids to the cafeteria, I have about 19 minutes to eat lunch, go to restroom, fill up water bottle, visit with other teachers, check mailbox, talk to parents, etc.
1:10pm Kids come back. More teaching.
3:00pm Kids go to recess. Send student teacher out for recess duty so I can go pump again in hot closet. Try to finish super quickly before kids come back.
3:20pm Came back in after kids...thank God for student teacher. Wonder what I'll do on Friday because she's only here on W and Th.
4:05pm Kids go home. I walk them out and talk to parents and teachers.
4:15pm Run out of work before I get stuck in a meeting or doing work (I really should be getting more stuff done, but I just can't! I'm dying to see my baby!)
4:30pm Get to Sandra's. Today, she met me at the door smiling and motioned for me to go upstairs. I went up there and Maelin was lying on her playmat: kicking, squealing and batting at her toys. When she saw me, she gave me a huge toothless grin and squealed.
4:45pm Chat with Sandra (her daughter interprets for us) and load Maelin up in the car to fight I25 traffic home. Usually Maelin falls asleep at some point.
5:15pm Get home with baby. Put all pumped milk in fridge, throw old bottles in sink, go to the bathroom and settle down to play with my baby. End up falling asleep with her on my lap for a bit...what quality time.
6:00pm Feed baby. Start thinking about dinner and really wishing we had a maid...
6:30pm Put frozen pizza or pasta in oven with one hand while holding baby.
7:00pm Kevin comes home and plays with baby while I scarf dinner down. Then I play with her while he eats.
7:30pm We both take baby outside for a walk. She loves this...this is the best part of our day. Yesterday, the neighbors dog was out and every time he barked, Maelin laughed. She really laughed and giggled and had a great time. It was hilarious!
8:00pm Give baby her bath. She loves her bath and it's a good way to wash up from the day and give her a chance to relax.
8:30pm Feed baby. I feed her first and then Kevin finishes her off with a bottle. This process, along with the burping and changing (Maelin always lets loose on us while she's eating!) goes till around 9.
9:00pm Rock baby to sleep. I love this time with her. She snuggles into me and just looks at me while I sing songs to her. She doesn't mind that I'm off-key or that I get the words wrong...she just loves being close and hearing my voice. Eventually, she drifts off to sleep.
9:30pm Kevin comes in and we lay her in bed gently so she doesn't wake up. Little thing stirs a bit but then goes right back to sleep. We tip-toe out.
9:35pm I sit for 10 minutes to catch my breath...the first time all day that I haven't had something else I should be doing. Then I have to get up: there's more to do.
9:45pm I pump..this takes about 20 minutes. Usually, I try to sit so I can see the weather for the next day so I know how to dress in the heat inferno which is my classroom.
10:15pm Kevin and I clean up and I pack up everything for the next morning...bottles, lunches, clothes, etc. I give the kitties a pat on the head and go check on the baby.
10:30pm I watch a bit of Jay Leno and then go lay down. It takes me a good 30 minutes to settle down, so I read a book or a magazine.
10:31pm Darn it! Just remembered the blow dryer and how I forgot to stop on my way home to pick up a new one. I guess curly hair is in the forecast...
11:15pm I check on the baby again. She's so cute...
11:20pm Finally...to sleep. There's been no friends time, no drinking wine or beer on a patio, no getting laundry or dishes done, no vegging out in front of the TV, none of that. It's amazing.
3:15am Baby gets up to eat. Luckily, she eats and goes right back to sleep. I, however, am awake so it takes me a bit longer...
4:45am Go to sleep.
5:30am The alarm goes off and we do it all over again.
I asked in a previous post...how do working moms do it???? It's only been a week that I've been back and as you can see, I'm wasted! What's the secret??
(p.s. I wrote this post over a period of 3 days. That's how long it took to actually have time to sit down and finish it)
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1 comment:
It is daunting all the stuff any mom has to try to cram into the day. Even though I haven't worked FT, w/ kids, my guess is it will take a few weeks and then you will have a routine down hopefully that will help.
LOL about "how tired" you were, when pregnant- I remember telling you that was actually the EASY part, and enjoy it while it lasts! Before I had kids, if I didn't get 8 full hours of sleep, I was a wreck, and yawned all day, and *had* to take a nap, etc. Now, I can count on zero fingers how many nights I have had 8 hours of sleep UNINTERRUPTED since having kids...zero, ziltch.
If only we could go back in time- we didn't know how much we should be savoring those times. I would have enjoyed sleeping in till 10 a heck of a lot more back then. :-)
Hang in there, it will get easier.
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