The Endless Cycle,

This might be partly because we still have a tiny washing machine, but I feel like there hasn't been a lot of time over the past four weeks where our washing machine hasn't been running. When we made the choice to use reusable nappies we knew it was going to be something where we needed to run it a lot, but there are plenty of things I don't think we anticipated having to throw through the washing machine quite so often as we currently are doing, or perhaps it's more that I didn't anticipate washing some things as much as we are for the reasons that we are having to wash them so often.

Maybe it was a lack of faith in the reusable nappies that we chose, but I had expected to be washing his bed sheets more because he had peed on them, or perhaps because of a poonamia explosion, but most of the time we're washing them at the moment because my little windy boy is spitting up quite a lot, and somehow it doesn't seem to matter what we try to do to help him burp or what we do to help him fart (and sometimes he does not need help on that score!) he still spits up on himself or on his bedding, and then it suddenly all needs to be washed. Even when we are using the washable bed pads I got from one of those Chinese retailers that everyone makes noise about hating, the bed sheets still go over the top and then still need to be changed, but at least it means the mattress isn't left wet from spit up, whether it be on our bed or in the cot bed he doesn't even sleep in yet. Honestly he's only really going in there as a safe place he can lie down and we can then go away from, mainly because of things like washing our hands after dirty nappies.

Spit up has also been responsible for us having to wash pairs of jeans after only one wear, or jackets for the same reason, or having to change t-shirts multiple times a day, but we have been pretty lucky in that the reusable nappies have been pretty good so we're not constantly having to change his clothes because the contents of his nappy have escaped out of them. 

At the time that I am writing this, it's my first day at home without my partner. I'm trying to cope with everything I need to do for my little boy - nappy changes, bottles, bottles cleans, pumping etc - and everything I need to do for me - pumping, drinking enough water, eating enough to be able to keep producing breast milk, getting out of bed, getting dressed, everything self-care wise that seems to take a little bit of a backseat because the little lad comes first - plus everything we need to have done for the home and the family, like all of the washing, all of the hoovering and all of the other cleaning we need to do. I was trying to catch a nap in between bottles, changes and wash cycles, but that just didn't happen today and so now it's getting later in the evening I just want to go to sleep, but if I go to sleep too early I'm going to get woken up more times during the night for baby things, and the washing machine is still running anyway, so I would have to get up and sort that even if I went to sleep. 

I feel like the washing machine is currently my spirit animal, because it's just not stopping at the moment, and I feel like I'm not either.

Is It Just Me Or?,

Originally, I was just going to finish that sentence with 'is pumping really boring?' but then I realised that there were a few endings to that sentence as there have been to a number of others recently, with the next one that came to mind being, is there never a muslin around when you need one? or is everything fair game for cleaning up when you're pumping, because my God it seems like one day in at least every three or four, someone has moved the muslins that I keep by the bed for when I'm pumping, and I'm not mad about it, because I know it was either because of a boob leak or because our son was spitting up, or peeing, or in the bath or shower and getting cold, so we grabbed the closest muslin and then forgot to replace it for the other things it is needed for. Genuinely I just used one of the baby's bibs that's in our room for when he's being fed overnight in order to clean up whilst detaching from the pump and I'm not even sorry, because we just have to use what is to hand rather than leak breast milk over everything in sight or dribbling distance.

I should add another ending to that sentence could easily be, are pumping bras utter crap?? Maybe it's my fault for not stuffing breast pads into them, but it's hard enough attached and detaching from a pump without having another piece of material, some of which are actually a bit aggressive and scratchy, in my bra to contend with, especially because pumping bras seem to be either too tight with the pump in - especially if you're using a wearable - or too loose when not wearing or using a pump, or they ping back and flick your (already very sensitive) nipples, or they spring back and soak up any milk residue on your breasts and then they start smelling weird in the course of only a few hours and it's impossible to have them washed and dried for every time you need them without owning too many, and they're expensive as it is, so who can afford to do that? Maybe it's just me but they're starting to figuratively get on my tits as well as literally.

But I can definitely say is pumping really boring fits onto the end of that sentence, particularly because everything I've read about successful pumping, especially about power pumping etc, is to try and ignore the clock and ignore the amount of milk coming out, and there is only so much time you can spend massaging your own tits in the hope of helping the milk come out better or getting them to make more milk for the little human that they're trying to feed, but with a pair of bottles hanging off the front of you and a need to avoid knocking them so that they don't spill, or detach a little so they make fart noises and interrupt the suction, the options of what you can do at the same time get sort of limited. I feel like I'm spending more time on my phone than ever before, and trying to find things I can do during that which are productive, instead of descending into a number of mobile games or having another ill-fated attempt at learning a language with Duolingo. It's not that I don't think that would be productive, because it would, but I know I'm too tired to do it properly and it makes me more likely to fall asleep and then I am more likely to spill a lot of milk down myself and the bed or sofa I'm sitting on, and whilst the mess itself is frustrating, breast milk is the one milk you can cry over being spilt, because it is devastating.

I seem to get stuck in a cycle of sitting and watching the clock or thinking of all of the things I could be doing with the time instead of pumping, and I really wish I could get out of the habit, because I know that I'm doing this for the sole reason of feeding my son, and making sure he gets all of the goodness of breast milk, even when I can't quite cope with the feeling of breast feeding. I have managed to type out a few blogs on my mobile, but it's not the easiest task in the world and again, I keep falling asleep in the middle, so maybe I just need to accept it for the moment and think again of things to do when I'm getting just a little bit more sleep.

Why It's Breaks My Heart,

When my baby "gets sick" or spits up, it absolutely breaks my heart, but only some of the time... And why? Because it's not completely about him spitting up, it's about what he's spitting up.

For reasons I struggle to talk about without crying, my baby is mixed feeding, and whilst I would love to get to the stage where I can either breastfeed or pump enough for him to not need to have any formula, I also appreciate that the level of stress it was putting onto not just me, but also my partner, initially was just not worth it, so he has a couple of bottles a day of formula to make sure he's getting enough milk and also to make it so my partner can feed him without me having to be involved at all. 

When little man spits up formula, I obviously worry about why he's spitting up (did we overfeed him? did we not burp him properly? did we try too hard to burp him and we've made him spit up? you know, all that) but it's not anything like as hard as when he spits up breastmilk. With breastmilk, I obviously worry about whether something I am eating is making him feel ill, but there's also an emotional component to it where I'm not mad, but I'm frustrated and I'm upset because I know how tired and how hungry breastfeeding is making me, and I know how much effort I'm putting into pumping or trying to be awake for pumping, and it feels like some of that, or all of that, has gone to waste. It's why I don't tend to let other people feed him or burp him, because if they do it wrong and he throws up an entire feed, I'm going to get really upset, because I already feel like my body isn't making enough for him, so to lose any of it is just utterly devastating.

The first night after my son was born was pretty horrific, not because of the pain from my surgery (although that didn't help) or the emotional toll of having had to have a C section (which also didn't help) or the fact that my partner was at home and I was still stuck in the hospital with no idea when I was going to be allowed to leave (which really didn't help) but because the midwives and health care assistants that were looking after me were pretty arsey, and made me feel like I was the only new mum in the world with no idea what I was doing, and instead of feeling supported I spent the whole night feeling judged and as though I was hassling them when I was asking them a question or buzzing for them (even though they kept telling me to buzz for them if I needed anything or when I was feeding). What made it feel worse was they kept telling me that they had to observe me feeding my son, and that made it feel really invasive, even though the only way to be in a labour ward is to accept that you somewhat need to leave your dignity at the door... (Whilst we're on the subject, is it not really problematic that that seems to be the prevailing opinion, because it really feels it!)

One of the specific things that upset me was that when my son was cluster feeding, or rather trying to, and in the post surgical haze I had forgotten all about what cluster feeding was or what it looked like or anything like that, one of the midwives rather bruskly asked me if my milk had even come in whilst I was trying to breast feed, and I had no idea, because I had never done this before, and I was just trying to do what I was being told to. No one had really told me what to do if it wasn't, so I was stuck in a hospital bed feeling like the medical staff were accusing me of starving my son (she did actually say at one point he was starving, but it was in the colloquial sense as opposed to the medical sense) with no idea what I was supposed to do, so eventually I had to call my partner, because I didn't know what else I could do, and even if the suggestion was that I should get some formula to feed him, I couldn't physically leave the hospital, so I had no idea how I was supposed to do that. Ever since then, I've been really defensive about my milk supply, and I tend to get upset when we're running low on pumped milk in the fridge, and I get really anxious and upset when we use the last of it, even when I know we have formula or when I've been pumping a reasonable amount to be able to replace what we're using.

Obviously the reason I am putting myself through the stress of pumping is to be able to feed my son, so any time we're using milk to feed him it's a good thing and I'm happy I'm able to give him what he needs, but it's why any that seems wasted makes me feel prickly, whether it's what he's spit up, any where he's started a bottle and not quite finished it, so there's a tiny amount in the bottom of the bottle which can't reasonably be saved (and shouldn't be because if it's been in a bottle when he's feeding it has to be thrown out pretty quickly) or even just the drips and dregs that get wasted when I'm transferring between bottles from the pump to then be stored.

I honestly thought it was a cliche, the way people go on about breast milk, but I'm really starting to get it...

I Know I Should...,

There are so many ways to complete this sentence...

Ever since having my son, and yes, that still sounds so strange to me when I say it out loud, but also do natural that it's kind of scary, I've been having to prioritise, because it feels like days are shorter now, by virtue of having to spend many hours a day just admiring this beautiful little person I have been involved in creating, but also because the amount of energy I have to do anything is severely diminished. Partly that is parenthood, and partly it's because of recovering from surgery and lack of sleep from an extended period in the hospital. I had thought I would have been feeling better by now, but then we have had a few difficult nights where little man has been distressed and then also a few nights where the times he's been hungry have just been a little off and so it feels like we've spent more time awake than asleep, which doesn't really help the whole recovery thing.

I was partly joking about spending hours admiring his little face (but I'm sure any first time parent will admit it is only partly joking because it's hard not to feel immense love for them, fill your camera roll with hundreds of photos of them doing the most mundane things and just want to keep watching them, as though that will slow down time and they won't grow up too fast in front of your eyes. At the same time though, there are a lot of tasks that you don't need to do before there is a baby in your home that as soon as there is a baby in your home, or in your life, you have to do. It's not just the feed the baby, bath the baby, change the baby's bum and make sure the baby sleeps, but things like disinfecting the bath when you've needed to use that for cleaning up a blow out, cleaning up the changing table (including washing the covers that I don't really know when they became a thing because they make no real sense!!) from when the baby has peed mid change, or washing more pyjamas and muslins and cot sheets thank you can imagine because of the baby spitting up on them. There's bottles to wash and sterilise as well, and unless you want to shell out for a Momcozy bottle washer (which is another applicance to find room for and will set you back a couple of hundred quid - not going to lie, I would pay it, I have been considering it!!) then that's not a two step process, it's a two process job...

Most of the time that sentence is, I should be doing something but I'm far too tired, so you would assume I'm napping or something, but no, I'm wallowing in mum guilt for all the things I haven't been able to get done, or I'm starting jobs and half finishing them, or wanting to scream into the void because I don't know where to start.

It's one of the reasons I've been glad when my mum comes over because she follows the golden rule for visiting someone with a baby: either bring food or do a job for them. Sometimes she does both, and it makes me want to cry happy tears.

Now all of my pre-written blog posts have been posted, I might not be keeping to this schedule of three posts a week, going up consistently on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at midday (UK time) because I have no idea when I'll have time to write and of all the things I need to prioritise, it's not the top of the list, and I'm not getting very far down that list very often at the moment, but I'm still endeavouring to try. 

Making Life Harder,

It's late on in the day on Christmas Eve eve when I'm writing this, and I want to moan about Amazon and shops in general. Before you jump to conclusions and judge me (if you're sat there saying you won't and you don't, please, let's just be honest, we all do it), no, I did not leave all of my shopping until the last minute and then get mad that a present I desperately needed either wasn't in stock or wouldn't arrive in time.

A few days ago I had a baby, and for reasons I won't be getting into during this post, I had to have a C section. C sections seem to be one of these common Schrödinger situations, where they exist as two things which are diametrically opposed at the same time, because a C section somehow simultaneously a major abdominal operation and also the lazy way of giving birth. Equally, it's also "only" childbirth, so get over it. 

I'm not going to get into the detail of what a C section is because there has been enough of it thanks to the publication of the maternity statistics in December, but what I will say is that it was my first operation, my last choice and something that I'm not sure I would willingly repeat, even if that means that myself and my partner have a long and serious discussion about what that means for our future family planning as a result. 

One of the biggest reasons for the above is the recovery. When I was first wheeled out of the operating theatre, I was in a love bubble with my partner and my son, but I was still quite out of it. As I was going through the motions of all of the things I needed to do to be released from the hospital, I realised how much I had been affected by this thing that had happened, and how long some of the impacts would be. Some of it was as simple as having to take a laxative to cope with the pain medication and not make myself feel even worse than I already did with pressure and pain building up in my abdomen, and other things are more difficult and potentially more long lasting. There was already damage to my ab muscles because of the pregnancy, but the C section meant cutting into that area and directly separating those muscles, and holding them apart whilst the rest of the actions were taken. 

One of the difficulties that I am currently left with, one of the things I don't know when I will recover from, is how I sit up in bed, get up from a seat and anything else which involved my core strength and honestly, it's the getting up from the bed part that has been the most difficult. Whilst I'm not having to go to the bathroom as often as I did when I was still pregnant, I still need to go a couple of times a night, as well as get up and look after my son, and I can't do that without waking my partner because I can't go from being lay down to being sat up or stood up without assistance more often than I can. I don't know how I manage to do it some of the time in all honesty. I struggle with it because of pain, but also because there are times when I try and push myself and I just know I'm going to make myself feel worse later, and I don't want this recovery process to go on any longer than it already has to. 

Before going into the hospital, before I knew that I was going to be having a C section, I had seen a video online where someone used either a towel or a blanket tucked under the mattress or into the bed frame to slightly hoist themselves up using a different muscle group, and thankfully I remembered it, but what I have found since using it is that the fabric isn't amazingly secure, I don't have anything quite long enough and it's just not working out as well as I hoped, so I looked at getting an actual adaptive device like this and realised that Amazon stock them, but it wouldn't arrive before Christmas and I'm really hoping that by the time it did arrive... in another 4 days!... I won't need it as much, if at all, so I don't want to spend the money on it to not need it. I know some people would suggest returning it at that stage but I've always found Amazon returns to be clunky and cumbersome. 

I was sat here thinking, I get that this isn't how Amazon run their business model, but it winds me up that something which is an acute need like this isn't somehow able to be dispatched quickly, arriving same day if it's ordered before 5pm or whatever, because the only reason you are ordering something like this is because something bad happened and you need it, or something happened to your previous one and you need to replace it. My abs were damaged due to a medical condition (pregnancy and birth) and I need the help to be able to get out of bed, and I would think that it would be reasonable that anyone would want that help as quickly as humanly possible. 

I've been sat here trying to sort out something so that I don't have to spend the next few days struggling, making things worse and making myself feel terrible (because the hormones make me feel awful about feeling broken, they make me feel like a terrible partner and mother, and they make me feel like all of this is my fault...) when I could just have the product and be able to get up to go to the bathroom or stand up to get to my child when he needs me. Thankfully, I think I have found somewhere that does stock them, that will be open tomorrow and that my partner can reasonably get to without being stuck in hideous amounts of traffic on one of the worst shopping days of the year. But why is it so damned difficult? It seems like any form of aids are deprioritised, when really it's the sort of thing that should be a priority, because it makes people more able and more independent and stops whatever it is that is getting in the way of their lives from being a full on obstruction. If I use this thing, I'm still going to be in pain, but at least I'm not stuck in my bed and in pain. At least I'm not having to wake my partner every time I need to pee or stretch or do literally anything that involves either rolling over in bed or getting out of the bed. 

Yeah, it's idealistic and it's naive and all those sorts of things, but wouldn't it be nice if things which helped people be more able and independent were actually available when you bloody need them! and not just when they can turn up. 

To Leave "Well Enough" Alone,

I'm so on the fence about this right now that the best I can do is write it out and then see how I feel after it. 

Recently, in order to have my son, I had a C section. The actual procedure went relatively smoothly, but everything around it emotionally has been a total rollercoaster, not least because it happened almost immediately after the announcements of the NHS birthing statistics and the noise around the fact that the number of cesarian births in the UK now outnumbers spontaneous (unassisted) vaginal births. I call it noise because that is how it feels to me. A lot of the voices involved seem to be whipping up a frenzy which is so unnecessary and it seems that there are those endeavouring to cause more tension and division rather than address tensions which already exist, and accept that how a person gives birth shouldn't matter to anyone other than that person, their partner and their close family, unless we're talking about medical coercion in maternity care, where the vulnerability of the patient is exploited in order to make life easier for staff involved. 

I've been speaking to my midwives and my partner, my family and a few of my mum friends about the experience of it all and how I've felt about it, and had I already moved to the hospital closest to me I would have an appointment in a specialty clinic where one of the midwives goes through your medical notes with you, discusses the things that happened and helps you to understand what was done and why. As things stand, I don't think the hospital I gave birth at does these type of appointments, or if they do, I've never been told about them.

Whilst my partner and I have discussed that things could have been a significant amount worse for me, for us, for our son, I still struggle to accept what happened and there is a lot where I feel like it was my own fault, for going forward with the induction initially, and then for agreeing to something I knew I absolutely didn't want, but at the time I had to make the decision I was stuck between two really crap options, and even before I decided to go through with the induction I was stuck between a couple of crap options, because I was in a lot of pain and struggling to walk, struggling with sickness and struggling with all of the emotions that came with all of that.

I have been trying to give myself the time to write my way through what happened, partly to process it, partly because there are some parts that I want to remember, like the first time I got to hold my son, but there are a few that I don't really want to remember, and those are the bits that are stuck in my head. Things like the details that the surgeon was discussing with his junior feel like they are imprinted into my memory, and those are not the memories I want from when I was watching my partner holding our boy and going through all of the emotions you go through when you become a new dad. I have struggled a lot to find the time to go through all of this, and also to prioritise it because when I have time I just want to spend it sleeping, because I'm still recovering from the C section and also trying to get through the newborn era and take as much of it in as I can, because I know he won't be this small forever and even if we were to do something crazy like have another one, it's not the same, because at whatever point we have another (if we do, or if we can) they'll have a sibling, and our eldest will still be doing things and hitting milestones and needing attention, so it'll never be just me and a baby this small again. (Obviously I mean my partner, our baby and me!) 

So the question I have been considering is whether it's worth me keep trying to go over everything, especially as the further I get from the date that it happened, the hazier it all gets, is it worth trying to go over it all or am I better leaving it alone and accepting the fact that there will always be some difficult moments in the memories of the day my son came into the world, but that probably would have happened even if he had arrived according to the plan that I had been so attached to. I would hope that I can find a way to talk to him about it that our son knows that it's not anything to do with him, but obviously he needs to be a lot older for that, and I would have to find the age appropriate way to discuss it with him, but I'm not sure how I do that without some guidance or some help, and I think that has to mean going over it with a professional when I can. The other important thing is if, and it's a big if these days, we decide to have another child. Prior to having our son we had definitely intended to have at least two, and one of the things I said, though it might have been just from sheer terror, or sadness, or disappointment in the 'experience', was that I didn't think I could do this again. I know it's a bit of a cliche that women say they don't want another child after they've just had one and it's only as they get a bit of distance from it and as their hormones tell them that they want another, they forget how bad it really was.

I guess the important thing to remember though, or one of the very many important things involved in all of this, is that whilst I'm calling myself "well enough" I'm not. I'm still hormonal which is normal, but then I have random crying episodes that are more to do with the details of what happened and whilst they are affected by hormones, they are still a problem in and of themselves and not addressing them means they can affect me, my partner, our relationship, our child and our family in general, so even if it's uncomfortable or inconvenient, even if trying to find the time is difficult and it doesn't happen overly soon, I think it's important that I actually spend the time to get myself right with what happened, how it happened and if there's anything I need to do to address any of it, because if I don't do it now, or when I can, that doesn't mean that it's going to be going away. 

Dear IKEA, Please Stop,

 In the interest of not having a super long title, I shortened this to the above, but the full sentence is, Dear IKEA, Please stop making new plant based foods. 

As someone who is vegetarian and regularly gets excited about new veggie food, it probably seems like a bit of a weird and ridiculous thing to say, and I can honestly understand and appreciate that perspective, but hear me out...

I've said it before and I will say it again, I am sick of trying new vegetarian food, it being really good and then it disappears off of the face of the earth never to be see again either because it's not financially viable to make or because it didn't get the anticipated reception, which let's face it, also comes down to the question of money.

Last year, (or it might have been the year before at this point... timelines aren't a strength of mine unless I can connect things to events I do know the date for) IKEA created a plant goujon that was actually brilliant. It was actually delicious enough that my meat eating partner chose it a few times when there were plenty of other options on the menu, and I see that as a mark of success, but then with no word of warning, they were pulled out of stores and gone without a trace, and I was gutted.

Definitely last year, IKEA then created a rice bowl which is slightly curried in nature, doesn't have a sauce and is essentially just rice, vegetables and spices, so it suits both my and my partner's weird food things down to the ground which was exciting because most things don't actually suit the both of us. We've also seen the new plant nuggets coming into a couple of the stores, which seems exciting, right? Nah, it's not, because even though both those and the rice bowl are still on the advertising boards of the restaurant at our local IKEA - which isn't overly local, but it's the best we have since IKEA canned the idea of the Preston store - we were informed that the menu has been dramatically reduced and that the reasoning behind this was something to do with seeing if the speed of service could be increased by having fewer dish options available. In other news, we're testing if water is wet...

My partner and I are quite the fans of going to IKEA for food, partly because there is always something we need in IKEA, even if it is just a shipping order of candles, but also because the food that they make is good quality, has plenty of veggies in and it's affordable. More than anything else though, the reason we go is for the choice. The amount of choice which suits both of us is incredible and the idea of slimming down the offering really makes me sad because the things which go are the far more interesting meals and what you're left with is things like fish and chips, the Swedish meat and plant balls (granted, it's not IKEA without those) and pasta and tomato sauce, all of which don't amount to a great amount of options and there's nothing really exciting about any of it. I know they're not trying to cook gourmet or win a Michelin star, but it just seems a shame when they have created a menu that is so good! 

Finding that out really put a damper on today's visit, because we had planned to go to IKEA for food after a busy day, because I know what I like from there and I then know I don't have to go home and cook something else. Whilst we were able to get something to eat, what I had was a far cry from what I was wanting, and meant I had to cook something else when I got in because I was already feeling hungry again. Granted, we were still able to use the bottle warming facilities for sorting out our son, the changing facilities... again, for sorting out our son..., and also the breastfeeding/ nursing area for me to be able to pump, the constant changes of the menu which are, in my opinion, for the worse are really starting the impact whether I even want to go or not, and given that IKEA is a long trek for us now that we've moved, it's becoming a real disappointment, and I really wish that IKEA would stop introducing new and great foods (particularly anything plant based, since that's all I eat) only to discontinue them a short time later, because I don't like change very much and I get quite attached to foods that I like, and it's just making me sad now...