Coping

I know that Daddy is exhausted. Like almost totally drained. We had the nurses to take care of Joy Joy in the hospital but now, it's just him, me and Grandma.

At first, I was pissed that Grandma asked us not to get a confinement nanny. She said she could help me with confinement but end up she:

(1) Sleeps through the night whilst Daddy and I woke up countless times to attend to Joy Joy.

(2) Doesn't bathe Joy Joy properly. Took off her clothes to wash her hair rather than keep it on, doesn't pay attention to hidden areas like her neck, armpits, in between her thighs or even clean her umbilical cord.

(3) Feels extremely flustered when Joy Joy cry her lungs out. Many times, it incapacitates her help and it's faster for me to do it myself.

(4) may not be able to cope with helping me take care of Joy Joy whilst taking care of me in confinement. We went for just one doctor's visit today and she was unwell due to the sun and exhausted. If I had not catered confinement food, I doubt we could cope.

BUT!

I thought long and hard about it this afternoon as I was Breastfeeding Joy Joy in my utterly exhausted state (about 6hours of sleep in 3 days for someone in confinement with a c section wound). I think we'll manage with strategic planning.

Since pregnancy I have been used to getting my sleep quota in interrupted packets of 1-2 hrs. Joy Joy feeds about every 3hours and it takes me about 30mins each time. So I will grab at least 1 hr is sleep every 3 hours, 1 hour to feed her, check her urine and stools, quickly clear any blocked milk ducts I may have after feeding, go to the toilet and clean up myself where necessary before climbing back to bed to rest. That means I get about 8hours of sleep in total. Even if I miss an hour out of what I planned, I still get about 6-7 hours of sleep. When I am too tried and Daddy is not resting, I can get him to bring Joy Joy to bed for me to breastfeed. By breastfeeding, we save time on the sanitizing but Daddy keeps a stock of breast pump equipment already sterilized in case I need to pump to remove blocked milk ducts I may have. The remaining 1 hour out of the 3 hours, I can take to do whatever I need to.

I want Daddy to get rest at least over this weekend. He needs to be in tip top shape next week so that I can count on him to help when needed.

My meals are taken care of by catering. Food is good, I have no complains.

Strangely, so far, I've had no need to use much water for cleaning. I clean my face with Bioderma followed by Hada Labo and eye cream, very low maintenance but effective. I clean my body with Tena wipes. Discovered it in the hospital when they cleaned me up. Damn good.

And I just learnt how to burp Joy Joy. It's an achievement to me coz it means I don't have to ask grandma or daddy to burp her in the middle if feeds. And she won't scream at the top of her lungs for milk.

I need to learn to keep Joy Joy cleaner tho. Means getting things ready at strategic places and knowing exactly what I need and where they are.