I finally found my groove as a mom. I know that sounds pitiful considering I have a five month old and not a one month old, but it is true. It is not that my life was crazy chaos before this, but there was always something that needed tweaking In the beginning I was so busy taking care of Kaylee's needs that my own needs (besides my CF needs, those were always tended to) became hard to meet. Showering wasn't a daily occurrence and shaving my legs was a joke. It didn't help that my husband had to return to work 2 days after we got home from the hospital.
Soon I was able to care for Kaylee and my own needs, but found the household needs were lagging. I struggled to keep the house clean and making dinner seemed like a major accomplishment. Not long ago I felt like I could take care of the entire family and keep a clean house, and cook dinner everyday, BUT I kept falling asleep after I would put Kaylee down at 8pm!
Now, finally, after 5 whole months of motherhood I feel like I have figured out how to juggle everything and not be completely exhausted. Although, knowing babies, in a week her schedule will change or she will start teething and I will be back to square one. For now I am basking in feeling like I rock at this mom thing.
I use to do that all the time with Colton! We'd get in a nice groove and then he would change it up on me!
ReplyDeleteI think they want to keep you on your toes! It sure keeps life interesting.
DeleteCongrats! And I think that it is VERY normal even for non-CF moms to take a few months to get their "groove" down. Personally, I'm impressed by how darn well you handle everything! And Mahon and I were just discussing yesterday the fact that I feel like the kicker is trying to care for a baby AND take care of the house, LOL. One or the other, I can definitely do. Two together??? It will take me awhile! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, and something that has always given me comfort is something I realized a few years ago while reading "Little Women." In lots of older books like that, when a girl gets married, she automatically has an older woman who comes to live in with her... even when she is DIRT poor. It seems like it was just the standard back then, and that there was a total expectation that one woman on her own couldn't handle housework and babies at the same time. So, this modern idea that we should all be able to work AND mom AND clean is definitely a new, strange idea according to history! ;)
I agree it is trying to "do it all" that seems to be a problem. There are times when I am doing treatments that I get resentful thinking how much I could get done (cook, clean, play with baby) instead of being strapped to a bunch of machines. Oh well.
DeleteI think that the first month of a baby's life is a 2 person job. Sadly, most men don't get paternity leave and most women don't have family nearby anymore. I guess in a society that maternity leave is only 6 weeks it isn't surprising that women don't get the help they need.
To add to this...I am so grateful I can stay home while she is little. I have no idea how any woman (CF or not) can manage a young baby, home, and work. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
DeleteYeah, there definitely isn't enough of a support system! Mahon has vacation time saved up for the first week after the baby comes, and my mom is hopefully coming sometime in there too... the tricky thing is trying to figure out when to get her plane ticket for!
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