Each day I've been away on maternity leave... no, say, each week, since things seem to change from week to week, but less from day to day... I face new dilemmas that I try to sort out in my mind. My newest one regards breastfeeding. Since I am returning to work next week, and I've been breastfeeding (with 2 supplemental pumpings a day to stock up), I'll be pumping the feedings that I don't give Baby directly while I'm at work. And even if my supply starts to diminish, as I expect that it will when I return to work since I'm not around her the whole day, the amount that I pump will still be OK for Nanny to give to Baby, since I can supplement what ever I pump (in theory, 4 pumpings total per day, while Nanny feeds only 2 to Baby, and I give the other 2 feedings to her) with the frozen milk I have stocked up for the next approximately 2 months or so - maybe just enough until she starts eating solid foods. Now my worry is this: if I pump during the day, and my supply diminishes for those feedings when Baby isn't attached directly to me (I've noticed, for example, in today's pumpings away from Baby that the quantity I make is already less than what I think she consumes per feeding), what happens during the holidays and weekends when I do feed her directly? Will she end up with less milk per feeding? Or should I just move directly to bottle-feeding her only and no longer taking her on my breast?
Ahh... dilemmas indeed. But at least for the time being, Nanny seems to be working out. Both Baby and our friends' Boybaby seem to take a strong liking to her, and Baby returned today as if from a full day at school, babbling away, letting us know all that she learned. It's really heart-warming, and reassuring, to see that she's growing more than she did when she was with only me. I'm sure part of it is the fact that Nanny is taking good care of her; and part of it is no doubt the fact that she's socializing with another baby. Maybe they'll help each other out!
This week's kitchen features - not that much so far, since it's only been 2 days this week, and we have the 4th coming up on us - we went to Father-in-Law's house for dinner on Sunday, and returned with a couple of left-over steaks, roasted potatoes, and left-over green salad. So yesterday, I used the left-over steaks, reheated it with some Spanish rice/quinoa/barley that I made from Thursday of last week, and wrapped it up in a tortilla with some of the greens. A relatively healthy dinner, alongside some baked potatoes, and very quick. This evening, we had a late dinner with some of our good friends, and Baby just went to bed (after napping in the restaurant) at 11:30 - late night for her indeed.
Since I'm starting work next week, I think this weekend will be a cooking-intensive experience. I will put to work my skills in pre-seasoning portioned proteins as well as pre-serving prep, of cutting up vegetables into various shapes and sizes for different dishes. I may also get some breakfasts ready, so that I don't have to worry about grabbing something to eat on my way out the door. We'll see how next week goes, as I am sure it will be quite disastrous - if all else fails, hell, there's always take-out.
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