Being Momma G: Day 9

Very unsettled Sean = sleepless night for Mummy. As Daddy had already done 2 night shifts, it was only fair that I took on the overnight feeding. Plus Jonathan was so tired, he was more zombie than human.

After a great feed at 9.30pm last night, Sean woke at 1am screaming for a feed. We fed him the amount he should be receiving, and hoped he'd go back to sleep, but he had other ideas. Such a little wriggle puss. By 2.15am, it was clear Sean was still hungry, so we fed him another bottle, which basically meant that he had 2 meals in the space of just over an hour. That's 2 hours of hard work down the hatch.

Jonathan was still slightly awake at 2.15am, so he fed Sean and changed his nappy while I sat down for yet another pump. After Sean finally settled down, I sent Jonathan off to bed - he could barely keep his eyes opened, yet he wanted to stay up with me to keep me company. Bless my darling man. After an hour, I could manage 2/3 of the usual quota. I was just too tired and too stressed to do much more, plus I was falling asleep on the couch, so I gave up and went to bed.

Sean woke again at 5.30am. This time, Jonathan didn't even stir. It took me a few seconds to register that there was a baby in the room, but then I got up and got Sean's bottle ready. Thankfully, he was satisfied after the feed and went straight back to sleep.

I have no idea what time Jonathan woke up this morning, but he was gone when I stirred at around 8am - he'd left to go and collect Mina for her weekly visit. Sean was still fast asleep, so I rolled over and got some more shut eye. I have no idea what time Jonathan and Mina came home either - they crept in quietly so as to not wake either me or Sean, and finally, just before 9.30am, Sean and I emerged from the bedroom for his breakfast.

After a fairly good stretch of sleep (about 3 hours worth), I was able to express a record amount of milk. This made me feel a bit better about being chained to the Swing.

Mina had been looking forward to seeing Sean all week, but at nearly 6, she is learning (just like me) that newborn babies are really very boring little things that sleep, eat, poop, cry and sleep all day long. Mina had hoped that now we were home, she would be able to play with Sean a lot more than when he was only 2 days old when she last saw him. Mina's disappointment at being able to cuddle Sean for about 15 minutes in total was palpable, but we have assured her that as Sean gets bigger, he will be much more fun.

Around lunch time, I sent Jonathan out with a big shopping list, and asked him to have lunch with Mina at the shopping centre while they were out. This gave me a couple of hours to finish yet another milking, get some dishes done, put the laundry on the drying rack, heat up some lunch for myself, and prepare for the next Swing session.

Jonathan and Mina were quite quick with their chores and returned sooner than I expected. Poor Mina - she had hoped Sean would be awake and ready for play time when she returned, but Sean was fast asleep. As there really wasn't a lot to do at home and we needed to keep the house on the quiet side to ensure Sean slept, Mina was becoming very bored and a little frustrated that babies are not as much fun as she had envisioned.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sean woke for his afternoon feed. Mina helped with the feeding and took great delight in seeing Sean gulp down the milk from his bottle. There was even enough time for a few cuddles before Jonathan drove Mina home. Here's hoping she will have a better understanding of how newborn babies work by next week and is prepared to be stuck in the house with not a lot to do.

Leftovers were on the menu for dinner. Not that it mattered much to me - I was too tired to want anything fancy, but knew I had to eat for the sake of putting food into my stomach and keeping my energy levels up. We were both dead on our feet and thought it would be best to head to bed after the 9.30pm feed and express, which we've just finished. So, good night, and here's hoping Sean will be a bit more settled tonight.