If I have seemed a bit stressed lately here is the D.L.:
1) My midwife discovered that I have retained placenta tissue which should have resolved itself by now. She gave me meds to fix it and we thought it had, but it turns out it hasn't. Fun.
2) I got a cold which I then passed on to my dear sweet baby. We have not been handling it well.
3) A clogged milk duct thanks to a fussy sick baby who didn't want to nurse and being out of the house all weekend and thus unable to pump.
4) An extremely busy weekend with family coming in for the baby blessing and everyone wanting to see Ravenna at once!
5) Running around the Salt Lake Valley trying to attend a 50th Wedding Anniversary Party, meet up with Andrew's family, and somehow keep my baby happy all at the same time.
6) Putting on a luncheon for out of town guests here for the blessing.
Basically, by this afternoon I was trying so hard to keep smiling while holding back tears. I loved seeing my family, but this was all just too much for one Carrie to handle. So now I am trying to pack for Andrew's family reunion which we are leaving for tomorrow. Unforunately I didn't realize that I needed Ravenna's birth certificate to get on the airplane so I have to rush over to the health department tomorrow morning and see if I can get it. It seems like the stress will never end, or at least abate! I am also really sad because I felt like I didn't get to enjoy the time I had with the family and having Ravenna get blessed. I hope that upon my return I will have been able to enjoy the family reunion and we will all be healthy again.
Anyone else survived this kind of week? Care to share survival skills?
8 comments:
Survival tips....hmmm...I am not good at this. I was such a stress case around my kids baby blessings trying to feed everyone, feed newborn, make newborn look beautiful on special day, etc. Try to get as much rest as possible and ask for HELP from family. Let them know you need to go and take a nap. Have someone else run an errand for you or sweep the floor, etc. Try not to worry about doing it all yourself and please everyone. Rest and try to get help from others and then tell them you are sick and tired and need a bit of a break.
Why is it that the times that are supposed to be so special for us, we run around worrying about everyone else's comfort and enjoyment? :) It seems to happen with blessings, weddings, baptisms, etc. I hope you enjoy the reunion. Just remember that in the end, very few things matter. You do the best you can and the things that slip by you, you just can't worry about. If other people have negative opinions about what's happened, that's their issue. (And, apparently, they've never had a new baby.) :) I hope you feel less stressed soon!
I have had weeks like this. I feel for you! My biggest tip is just say no to non-essential things and simplify as much as possible. This is going to sound obvious and it is, but I both times after I have had a baby I have had to remind myself that new babies are lots of hard, exhausting work. You can do an amazing job caring for a baby all day long and be really busy all day long and your house could still be a mess and you could still even be in your pjs at the end of the day... In my experience as they get older they take a lot less physical work (but still lots of work in other ways...) and as a result you get to sleep a lot more and relax a lot more and your energy goes back up to were it used to be--but, at least for me, it takes time for that to come. Good luck. Hope this week is better for you!
It does get easier! And I usually repeat in my head, "this too shall pass, this too shall pass.." Because no trial lasts forever, not even mortality. :) Remember the happy weeks!
Wish I had been there to help you out with things. Looks like you have gotten some advice already, so I won't get into that. Hopefully things are better now. Hope the reunion will be (or was) a good one. Crossing my fingers ;)
Love- and miss you tons!
Elisabeth
I just thought of something else. I know what it's like to get unwanted advice from someone so I hope I'm not being annoying especially since I already commented. Since Hailey was born I forgot my breast pump on a weekend excursion and she wasn't eating great and I was really engorged--somewhat similar to what you said happened to you. My sister told me to do the following when I don't have a pump or a baby to get the milk out for me: take a hot shower, massage the areas most discomfort and then manually express the milk out while you're showering...Sure, it's a bummer you don't get to save the milk, but it does keep your supply up, offer relief, and prevent some problems like engorgement. It really helped me that weekend so I thought I'd pass it on since you mentioned your clogged duct. Sorry for all the comments I make again--I really hope I'm not over commenting!! but I wanted to share in case it could ever help... I hope you guys are doing great!
I'm sorry Carrie. :( I'm not really sure why the already stressed out/overly tired mom is responsible for everything when it comes to the blessing weekend. Especially the whole luncheon thing. It's quite backwards. I'll forever be bitter towards the bishopric for asking me to speak the same sunday Carter got blessed. :P Next time around, I'm doing the blessing at home, and then we'll probably break the sabbath and go out to eat. ;) You did a wonderful job keeping a smile on your face that weekend, better than I could have considering the circumstances.
I've done baby blessings a few different ways (at home, during sacrament, at church when there was no church...)what I've found most helpful were--my Visiting Teachers. Lean heavily on them, whatever you decide to do. They may be moms too and understand what a stressful,fleeting, and yet special day that is.They wrote down the blessing, prepped all the food I brought, and cleaned it all up too!(I think your fabulous Carrie! First-time mom anything is thrilling, vulnerable, and irreplaceably precious--I don't think that changes even as our children age.
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