My Working Mother Woes

So I go back to work tomorrow. I've been dreading it, but it came, none the less. I had been fearing the emotional difficulties that would come with going back to work. Up to this point, I've only been away from Taelyn for one to one and a half hours at a time. I don't know how I'm going to get through the 8.5!

On top of the emotional time factor, she won't be in day-care at the county building as I had planned. I went in in December to put my name on a list. Apparently that was not soon enough. Live and learn. I called two weeks after she was born and they said they were glad to know I was still interested, call back in a week or two. I called back two weeks later, and got the same response. After repeating this one more time, I was super frustrated. I called back the following week and asked more questions. They had one opening for July, and it was filled. I did find out that they take 8 infants at a time. At the age of 1, the infants are moved up to the toddler class. Right now, they are waiting for the kindergarten age kids to start school. At that point, everyone will be bumped up a class and the older infants will be able to move up, leaving openings in the infant room. When I called back to let them know I wanted them to keep me on the waiting list, they let me know that the parents of the July baby were not sure if they wanted the opening. That was one bright weekend of hope. When I called back on Tuesday, as I had been asked to do, they let me know that the opening was taken after all. All my hope was dashed! OK, so it wasn't that awful. For July, I'm only working two days a week. I found a lady in our ward who will watch her for the 10 days I will be working in July. I'm hoping that by that time, there is an opening at the county building. If not, we may have to get creative!

So, on top of the emotional difficulties caused by being away from Taelyn and the day-care hold up...we had an eating dilemma. First, I didn't start pumping until yesterday (that is a long story in and of itself-and I'll spare you the details). So I've been trying like mad to get enough for tomorrow. Almost there. Second, I forgot about the joys of trying to bottle feed. We had given her formula in a bottle on several occasions. She took it fine. Well, last night she won't have anything to do with formula. She pulled faces, and spit every drop of it back out. Jon decided to be sneaky and feed it to her in the syringe that we give her Gripe Water in. She loves her Gripe Water and it sure does help settle her tummy. She grinned when Jon put the end of the syringe in her mouth. Imagine her face when she was expecting one of her favorite things, and was given her least favorite. She was not happy with either of us. Despite the desperation we were feeling, it made us both laugh so hard it brought tears to our eyes. We then tried to feed her breast milk. Still nothing. She pulled faces when ever the nipple touched her tongue. She wouldn't even close her mouth around it. Today I went to The Lactation Station for help. The lady recommended a $14 bottle. I asked if they had any nipples shaped like her Nuk. In a manor I found to be quite snooty, she said "We don't carry that kind of nipple." I was willing to try anything, so I bought the $14 bottle and a new pacifier shaped like the bottle nipple. After 1/2 hour of wailing (her, not me) and more tears than my heart can handle (again, her-not me...well, mostly), I gave up. I could get her to take the new pacifier, but she still wanted nothing to do with a bottle. My mom suggested I get a Nuk nipple. Jon stopped by the grocery store on the way home. $4 later, we had success! She still doesn't care for bottle feeding, but she has taken 2 bottles now, and I am confident she isn't going to starve to death tomorrow. Nuk, I love you!