What I've been up to...

I haven't experienced what it is like to bring home a newborn just days after the baby is born.  But being the mom to a baby in the NICU is not an easy thing and takes alot of will power to keep going on.  Not to say I am any busier than any other new mom and I am sure life will not slow down once Willa does come home.  My daily schedule when I work in the mornings and go see Willa in the afternoon looks something like this -

6:00-6:30 am - wake up to pump, wash up, and put away parts
6:30-8:00 am - get ready and get some work done
8:00-8:30 am - call to check up on Willa
9:00-9:30 am - pump again
9:30-noon - get some work done
noon - 1:00 pm - pump and eat lunch
1:30 pm - leave for Wichita
2:45 pm - change Willa's diaper and take her temperature
3:00-3:30 pm - pump again
3:30-5:45 pm - hold Willa
5:45 pm - change Willa's diaper and take her temperature
6:00-6:30 pm - pump again
7:00 pm - say my goodbye and head home swinging through Wendy's across the street from the hospital (not going to eat at Wendy's for a very long time after we are home although Frosty's are my new favorite.  Yum!)
8:15 pm - get home and try to get one thing done for the night
9:00 pm - pump again
11:00 pm - pump one more time before bed
3:00 am - wake up to pump
and the cycle starts over...

I joked around with the NICU nurses the other day.  I'm going to be sad when I have to give back the pump the hopsital loaned to me.  I think we have bonded.  Breastfeeding is supposed to help bond you with your baby.  Instead I have bonded with a machine.  There is something wrong with that :P And with all that pumping I have a pretty good stash.  I counted up I have about 450 two ounce bottles in my freezer.  That is around 900 ounces.  Some or maybe even most of it won't get used, but dang it I have something to show for all the pumping I've been doing.

And with that, I'm off to pump again!