Going back to work after baby...

Well, I just wanted to prove to everyone that Ben and I survived our first week back to the real world. I went back to work and Ben to daycare. I've been dreading this since the moment I found out I was pregnant. I think I did better than I thought I would! Brian may agree or disagree. But, we survived. I felt good on Monday morning at work. I think the key was that Brian took Ben to daycare. I left for work and my last image of him was happy in Daddy's arms. When I got to work I ate some oatmeal without holding a baby which was new. Oatmeal really tastes good! One thing I should not have done was call the daycare at lunch. I was going about my day, things were busy so it was going nice and fast, and then I called the daycare and my day was halted! They were painfully honest and told me that "Ben was having a hard time settling in." They could not get him to sleep and he was a bit grumpy. That made Monday afternoon the longest 4 hours of my life! Why call? There's nothing I could do! He wasn't in any danger, just not happy. So, I was miserable. I ran out of work as soon as I could and got my baby. He looked whipped! I got him home, fed him, and he passed out for the rest of the night. Tuesday morning was miserable for me. I left for work and the morning went soooo slow. Again, I debated calling at lunch. Why? Nothing I can do! But, I did anyway. Luckily, Ben was having a much better day. They sounded relieved! I was relieved! He was napping, looking around and eating well. Tuesday and Wednesday then went well for him and we were on our weekend! Together again!

One thing they were very impressed with was how well he takes a bottle (considering he's nursed). Well...look at him! It doesn't matter the administration, this boy will eat it! Ben is, in fact, bigger than the 6month olds in his room. He is longer and heavier (his weight is still proportional to his length)! I think we have to remind the workers there at times that he is only 3 months old. When I asked if they were swaddling him (to help him sleep), they were surprised that he "still liked that." So I said, "Well yes, he's only 12 weeks old." The trick is going to be finding a blanket big enough to swaddle him soon! We do still call him Gingantour. The sleeper in the video is a 6-9month sleeper. It's crazy!

One good thing about daycare is that he has slept through the night all week! There is so much for him to look at and stimulate him there, he's exhausted. I have gotten more sleep going back to work than I have gotten in the past 3 months! I feel great sleep wise! I missed him so much, though. Like I said, he was passing out pretty easy at night, and was out by 7pm so we really didn't get any awake time together this week. By Wednesday, I was watching old blog videos just to see him awake and smiling to get my fix!

So, we made. Some advice I have learned just from one week back would be:
1. Have Dad drop off baby. I know it sounds selfish, but he hasn't spent 24hours a day, 7 days a week with the baby for months. It's nice to leave for your first day at work with baby at home, happy, and you can picture him there all day. It won't be easy for Dad, either, so talk!

2. You can call the daycare whenever you want, but don't expect it to help you feel better!

3. Communicate with the daycare workers. Even though they gave us a packet of papers to fill out to help them get to know Gigantour, not all of them read it. You need to tell them the tricks that help your kid. And they should want to hear them and not act like they know best or already have their tricks because they do this for a living. Our place has been very receptive and seems to want to communicate with us to help them take care of him.

I hope to learn more and more as time goes on. And Gigantour is settling in and they are getting to know him. I hope it will get easier.