The Kindness of Strangers

In case you are curious, Ingrid went back to work yesterday and Clyde and I survived our first day alone, and then some! It went kind of like this.

The night before (Sun) was a hard sleeping night; she woke up a ton to feed and cry, and not feed very efficiently. So Mon am was a tiring one. Ingrid left successfully for work. We had a pediatric appt at 10:30. It was a pretty (well, pretty hot) day and I wanted to walk to the doctor's office, about a half hour brisk walk.

I practiced opening and closing the stroller; not an intuitive thing, surprisingly. I put the stroller downstairs in front of the house. I locked up and brought Clyde downstairs in my arms and locked the door behind me, with the diaper bag on one shoulder. I realized she was sitting straight up, and I didn't know how to adjust the angle on the seat to have her lying down part way (she's too little to sit up totally straight for that long), nor did I know how to fasten her into the harness.

It was hot outside. I was sweating. My milk was coming down, and I had circles developing on the front of my shirt where my nipples are. I didn't want to cry, because that didn't seem particularly helpful.

At just about the breaking point, this middle-aged Caribbean woman walked by, and noticed me struggling. She said, "Do you need help, sweetie? I do this for a living." She was a professional nanny, and she helped me lower the seat. It was a huge relief. Ah, the kindness of strangers.

The doctor's appt was great. Clyde has gained 2 lbs (!! FATTY!) since her birth, and gained an inch and a half in length. She is doing great with the breastfeeding and the doc says I can start pumping some milk if I want to have alternatives to always having her tethered to me, or to have Ing feed her a bottle.

We walked back home, had some lunch, then walked the other direction for half an hour and visited my friend Alex, who has a 3-month-old. Clyde had a crying jag at Alex's apt, and another on the way home, and then another before Ing got home. She wouldn't nap when I wanted to, so we didn't have our nap together.

BUT, she did feed well last night, so she only woke up about every three hours last night, and had good feeds when she did wake up, so we are pretty rested today.

And now it starts all over again! Going to the post office to mail the birth announcements and then lunch with some friends. Hopefully neither Clyde nor Liz will melt down today....

This morning, I went to the gym and walked briskly for a mile on the treadmill. Feeling better every day.