Evie has been home for about three weeks now. We have dealt with missed doses of medicine, her first virus, a dip in breastmilk production and her ever-changing sleep schedule (including the mistake of drinking two sodas before attempting to breastfeeding her to sleep). I have not yet settled us into a routine, although our days go roughly as follows:
9:30 am-medicine alarm #1 goes off. Sleepily pull 2 syringes and the meds from the diaper bag. Administer meds as best as I can, trying to avoid the inevitable red stain on the bed from the pheobarbital and the yellow stain from her vitamin D supplement. Fail miserably. Remove syringe, add boob and resume snuggling until she passes back out (not very long).
10:00 am-give up on getting myself back to sleep. Attempt to rouse Evie again with a boob in the face, get rebuffed. Decide to pump.
11:00 am-got distracted by netflix while pumping, accidentally pump for almost 45 minutes. Oops. Get text from Dad asking how the morning is going and saying how beautiful/crappy it is outside. Respond with a photo of snoozing Evie.
12:30 pm-medicine alarm #2 goes off. Manage to get syringe of trileptal to the back of her mouth so she has no choice but to swallow rather than spit it out all over me. Win. Nurse for a bit, then change her clothes and back to sleep for her.
1:30 pm-Sometimes around this time she finally decides to wake up, but usually I just bring her into the living room with me to try to get stuff done. Either lay her in the swing or wear her in the mei tai/ergo and vacuum or tidy up the house. If yesterday's outfit is embarrassingly old milk-scented, change into a new set of yoga pants/leggings and another shirt that your mom donated to goodwill in 1983. Wool socks if I can find any, too.
3:00 pm-Another text from Dad, reminding me its lunch time. Oops, forgot to think about eating. Snoozy Suzie has finally decided to join the conscious and is acting like I've starved her. Feed her first, then myself. As she is awake and not wanting to be left alone even for a moment, lunch is oatmeal or cheez-its and a half gallon of water. Yesterday it was granola and chocolate chips with honey, shredded coconut and ground flax seed.
4:00 pm-exercise/tummy time. Some struggling occurs as she bends her neck in an insane way to get a view of the TV where Netflix is playing a not-very-baby-friendly show. Meh, its out of her vision range right now. Then some couch snuggles and bonding over a babble conversation. Pump if the mood strikes me.
5:00 pm-Dad comes home, kisses for all, and start dinner. Contemplate leaving the house for food/supplies but ultimately decide to scrounge whatever we have here. Soup, quesodillas, white castle burgers (for Dad), maybe a salad. Quorn chicken cutlets with gruyere if we're feeling fancy. Green beans and rice on the side. Evie, of course, eats first.
6:30 pm-unite on the couch and Dad snuggles Evie while I beat level 533 in Candy Crush. Netflix runs in the background.
9:30 pm-Medicine time again! Same battle, different time of day. Console the angry with a boob and snuggles and resume the Netflix binge.
11:30 pm-Evie has decided to pass out for a bit again, you know, because she wants to be soooo asleep when it comes time to take her second dose of trileptal.
12:30 am-second dose of trileptal and then everyone in the bedroom for story time and going to sleep. I pump while Dad reads to Evie from Magritte's Imagination.
1:30 am-what's that? I'm done pumping? Suddenly Evie is starving again. Boob or bottle, boob or bottle. Trying to build the stash for backup/donation, so I offer the boob. She somehow manages to get milk out of the empty deflated sacks I once called my sexy pillows. (Okay, you got me, I never called them that).
2:00 am-did I forget that I had a coke float for dessert? Because Evie didn't forget! All that caffeine was awesome, not to mention the SUGAR! O.O Cue the loud happy sounds of a baby that doesn't believe in sleep anymore.
3:00 am-move to the guest room because someone got the hiccups and now the happy coos are frustrated shouts accompanied by intense flailing. At least lets let Dad get some sleep. Avett Brothers songs on youtube to the rescue! Rock her and sing to her and fall in love with the smiles and laughter that come out.
4:00 am-give up on life, carry her back to our bedroom even though she's wide awake. Lay her down and offer boob even though I know it is probably still tainted with caffeine. By some miracle she nurses to sleep. Spend another half hour playing Candy Crush to wind down.
4:30 am-pass out myself.
Repeat.
I was so impressed when she first came home from the hospital and could sleep through the night. It's clear now that I was in some sort of babymoon trance. She quickly transitioned out of that stroke of luck. I guess I never really did believe I'd make it to the 9:30 am local mommy meet-ups, though I'd still like to try one day. There's plenty to do at home in the meantime.
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