Jailbreak

Snoozing on Mommy's shoulder, originally uploaded by loralia.

I was given orders by the hospital not to lift anything heavier than the baby. When I looked at my nurse deadpan and said, “That’s a bag of sugar.” She qualified, “Nothing more than eight pounds.” I was also told not to drive for two weeks after discharge. To me these instructions seemed just a little extreme. I’m sure they just have them in place to cover liability in even that I should over do it. However, I followed them the best I could until last night when I broke.

My nerves were a little raw when my hubby got home. I had been holding Liam all day because he decided he wanted to sleep on me and immediately became upset when laid down in his bassinet. Although I’m getting better and better at one handed operations, holding a baby severely limits my ability to do most everything. I was feeling isolated and housebound and generally a little stir-crazy. Immediately after he got home my husband announced he was going to go fly his model airplane and he disappeared into his garage workshop. After one more failed attempt to put Liam down, I walked into the garage, fussing baby and all, and announced that I was harboring fantasies of sabotaging his flying fleet.

This got his attention and he proceeded to explain to me that despite my accusation that he was off flying all the time, he hadn’t been out to the flying field since Saturday. However, I didn’t really care. Besides our trip to the hospital I had been stuck in the house for over two weeks and I had been alone with Liam all day. I needed a break. I needed to be able to use both my arms at the same time. I desperately needed to get out of the house.

Let me add here that I have been using the wonderful sling that my dear friend tapestrygirl sent to me to carry Liam around in while he’s awake, but at this point I’m just not comfortable with him lying down in it. I think I’ll have to make a point to practice this and get more use to it.

Without missing a beat, my wonderful hubby put his airplane stuff away and took over in holding Liam, while I gleefully enjoyed the use of both arms to take care of a few odds and ends in the kitchen and in creating a shopping list for my husbands planned trip to the grocery store. Liam slept on. However, fast approaching was Liam’s next mealtime and I was enjoying movement way too much. We had been planning on experimenting with how Liam took a bottle of breast milk sometime this week, and I had some ready for him in the fridge. My husband helped me rationalize out of following my discharge orders and I skipped off to the grocery store while hubby prepared himself to handle mealtime. You know you’ve been cooped up at home too long, when a trip to the grocery store feels like a fun adventure: people, sounds, lights, variety. It was also wonderful to be able to buy some of the things we had been doing without because despite his best efforts and my super organized shopping list my husband had been unable to find them.

Liam took the bottle without a problem and has had no problems at his feedings since, so we plan to make one feeding a day from a bottle to keep him adaptable and to allow me to get a break when needed.

Today Liam has been much more cooperative. He fell asleep in his stroller on our morning walk and then after lunch he settled into his bassinette for his afternoon nap without protest. I’ve already called my husband and suggested that he go flying tonight instead, reassuring him that both his airplanes and I would be fine if he did.