Well, I survived my first day away from Stella!! I won’t say it was my first day of work, because the past eight weeks have been filled with the hardest, most time-consuming work I’ve ever experienced. However, it was my first day of work that didn’t include caring for Stella 24/7, and that was definitely a huge adjustment.
First things first. I somehow managed to not cry ONCE, and I also managed to pump or feed her every 2 1/2 hours, so even though I definitely had the tingly let-down feeling quite a few times throughout the day, I never leaked. Whoop whoop!!
7:30am – about to head out the door to drop her off at daycare!
Pre-baby, if I had to work at 8am, I’d get up at 7:30, shower, eat breakfast, and be at work at 8:00. Have I mentioned that I am not a morning person?
Now, I woke up at 2am and 5am to feed Stella, then grudgingly got up at 6am for the day. Thankfully she kept sleeping, so from 6:00-6:30 I pumped (8 oz – the most I’ve ever gotten!) and ate breakfast (granola, yogurt, and strawberries – fast and easy). From 6:30-7:00 I showered and got ready. From 7:00-7:15, I packed the diaper bag (4 cloth diapers, 2 disposables just in case, wipes, wet bag, an extra outfit, a muslin blanket for swaddling, pacifiers, & burp rags), milk (5 bottles, 3-4oz each), and loaded up the car. At 7:15 I woke her up and changed her and dressed her for the day. By 7:30, after I jumped my car because the damn battery needs to be replaced, we were on the way to the babysitter’s (5min drive), where I hauled in a diaper bag, a cooler, and a car seat with a now-fussy, hungry baby. From 7:35-7:50, I nursed her (at the daycare lady’s house) and worked really hard on talking like normal and not letting myself cry. By 7:55, I was walking out the door and repeating to myself I will not cry I will not cry I will not cry…because if I start to cry, there is NO stopping me.
8am – I finally arrive at my new office after having been up for hours already. I actually trained in a different area than this, but I think this seat is where I’ll be spending 2-3 days a week once we’re in the swing of things (it’s a medical office). Thankfully I was so freakin’ busy all day that it kept me from obsessing too much about Stella and being away from her.
Thankfully, my daycare lady is awesome, and without my asking her (though I had actually restrained myself from asking), she started sending me pictures.
9am – Campbell is a big helper with Stella. 🙂
Hope you are having a good day, everything is fine here.
10am – She is talking away telling us all about her first 2 months on the outside. 🙂
How sweet of her was that? At 10am I also took a 15 minute pumping break (4oz), and at 12:30 on my lunch break, after jumping my car again, I swung by daycare to breastfeed Stella. I probably won’t do this consistently, but I tell ya, it was sure nice that first day to break up my time away from her into 4 1/2 hr segments (plus I got the bonus of cuddling and breastfeeding instead of being hooked up to my pump yet again). Charlie also stopped by at that point to see how I was doing and to say hi to Stella. Luckily our daycare lady thought this was funny, not crazy. 🙂 I went back to work, took another pumping break at 3pm (3oz), finished at 5pm, jumped my car again, picked up Stella, and then stopped by our buddies’ house (1 block down) for some Friday night drinks at the new “bar” Charlie just built for them. After about an hour of cuddle time where I didn’t want to put her down, I finally shared her with the boys. They’re so great with her. 🙂
All in all, it was a great day. I missed Stella like crazy, but it was a good feeling to make some money, know my baby was in good hands, and have some drinks with good friends afterwards. I am so thankful that I’ll still get three days a week at home with her, but I’m hoping that taking this job was the right choice. We shall see!
