Double Whammy

Okay, taking care of a newborn is hard work. But taking care of a newborn when you're sick just plain SUCKS.

Last night we finally called my OB (at around 8 p.m.), since I'd been having chills, body aches, headaches, sweats, and fever (101+) every day starting mid- to late afternoon -- it really felt like I had the flu. Over the phone, my doc speculated that I'd developed an infection secondary to mastitis and called in a prescription for Cipro. It was either that or admit me to the ER and put me on a Cipro drip. Let me tell you, that was about the last place I wanted to be. They couldn't admit me to the maternity ward because I was sick. So it was nice that he was willing to call in the prescription.

I honestly don't know what I would do without MDad right now. He's been force-feeding me Advil for the fever, taking my temperature regularly, giving me cold compresses (brings back memories of the delivery room!), and making sure I take my Cipro on schedule. I love that he worries about me (a little too much, if you ask me). Today Andrew went about 12 hours without pooping, and MDad was worried about that, too. I can tell that I'm going to be the more laissez-faire parent (not that that's necessarily a good thing)!

We're really trying to get Andrew to move towards a more adult-centric sleep schedule, i.e. not being awake from midnight to 6 a.m. It's hard though -- have you ever tried to rouse a sleeping baby? God, I wish I could sleep that soundly. At noon.

I'm hemming and hawing about when to start pumping -- MurkyGrammy works in a hospital and bought us the Medela Pump in Style Advanced at a big discount. It sure would be great to let Daddy take over a feeding or two in the night, but of course all the breastfeeding lore cautions that "Your baby will immediately give up the breast in favor of the bottle if you start bottle-feeding too soon!!!!" Sigh.

We never got around to giving Andrew a bath last night, but tonight we will. It's really calmed him down the couple of times we've done it. Daddy is napping right now, and I'm thinking of cooking something special (but simple) for supper. I was very excited to get to the grocery store this afternoon, even though it took forever to shop since everyone and his brother was preparing for the next Nor'Easter. I made a point to explain to the couple of people I befriended in the deli line that no, in fact, I was not stocking up because of the storm, but rather because I'd had a baby a couple of weeks ago and the house was out of food. Let them think I'm a "trooper," braving the crusty cold parking lot and crowds in the supermarket only days after giving birth, rather than some wimpy "flatlander" who stocks up on 24-packs of paper towels when there's only a couple of inches of snow forecast!