Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The rest of the day/night

So I left off with the early afternoon feeding last time. Here's a continuation of a "typical" day:

After the 12-1:30 feeding, I fold baby laundry and put it away, rinse more bottles, pump more milk, console crying babies, take Winnie out to do her business, and try to eat a little more. By the time I'm done with getting these things done, it's time to feed AGAIN!

3-4:30-Last feeding before Billy comes home! I divide up my day into the number of feedings until Billy gets home because it gives me a way to break up the day, and when I'm alone, it gives me something to look forward to...help with the babies.

I've been working on ways to feed more than one at a time. Yesterday, I propped one up on the boppy pillow next to me on the couch and held one in my arms. I held the bottle in the mouth of the one on the boppy and fed the one in my arms one-handed. It worked well. I hate to prop, but I also hate to hear a baby crying because he/she is hungry.

4:30-6:30-I try to relax a little during this time if the babies are being good, which isn't usually the case. I sit on the couch, but I don't usually sleep. My problem is that if I take a nap, I wake up feeling worse than I did to begin with. Yesterday during this time, I put Abby, Marie, and Will on the couch with me. Winnie decided that if the whole family was up there, she should also join us so she did. It was hilarious. All 5 of us were on the couch!

I also have to pump again during this time. I try to pump every time I have a "spare" 10 minutes. The babies are constantly increasing the amount of milk they want, and I need my milk supply to keep up. It ain't easy feeding 3 babies from 2 small boobies!

6:30-7-Billy gets home. After he changes, he helps me with the next feeding, which may last until about 8. After that, we try to eat a quick dinner. As you can imagine, the time I have to cook is very limited. This is why I am so thankful for all of the food that has been sent our way.

8:30-Baby bath time. Will has cradle cap so we are supposed to bathe him daily, but hell, who has time for that? We usually get around to it every other day. Last night, we skipped the baths and went for a walk. It felt great. I think we will alternate bath and walking nights.

If you are curious about baths, here's how we do it:
-Billy fills the tub in the sink.
-I undress 1 baby at a time and bring him/her in to Billy
-Billy scrubs the baby in the tub and I rinse
-I wrap the baby in a towel and dry, diaper, and get him/her dressed while Billy preps the bath water for the next baby.
If we have help, the other person does the drying and clothes, and I help Billy with the bathing.

9-Time to feed the babies. Yes, it's been 3 hours already! Tonight, we started taking the babies upstairs to their room after this feeding. We used to wait until after the midnight feeding, but we were both just too tired at that point. As I type, Will and Marie are fast asleep in their cribs, but Abby is in our bed snuggled up with Billy. She was being a crying nightmare, and we could only soothe her by holding her. This will probably go on most of the night.

10-I brush my teeth and wash my face and pee. Notice I have not documented going to the bathroom all day. Most of the time, I don't pee from the morning until the night. This is not normal. I drink tons of water, but maybe the breastfeeding dehydrates me.

10:30-12-Load more baby bottles in the dishwasher, prep bottles for overnight, run the dishwasher, and pump again, while running back and forth to the babies' room to check on criers.

12-It all begins again!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I wish I could leave NOW! I see lots of sleep in your near future!! See you soon. You're amazing!

Jamie said...

I can't believe you're coherent enough to write complete sentences, let alone fill in detailed blog entries!! You are da bomb!! Thanks for keeping us all updated on how everyone is doing.

Contributors