All Good Things...

...must come to an end eventually.

This week I bid farewell to maternity leave. Luckily we have a mandatory 2 day "Epic" computer training, and my old ACLS renewal hours counted for this week, so I logged in my 24 hours without even stepping foot on the unit. Celia did very well without me--"perfect angel" is what John called her--so the daycare debut should go splendid next week. I hate calling it daycare because this facility is right next to the hospital and is more like a pre-school. I kind of want to call it "baby school." Missy will be her caretaker, along with an assistant and a "floating" assistant between the 2 baby rooms, so the ratio seems to be almost 1:2-3 most times. Can't beat it, and they provide diapers and baby food when the time comes. I feel blessed about our situation, as I have no choice but to work for now, but only part-time!

My friend Shannon said part-time is the best of both worlds. She is right. It felt so good to use my skills again, and hang out with adults!! The time apart was refreshing to both of us...I am not as overwhelmed with "housewife-ness" (this is a challenge for me), and she is finally moving out of her separation anxiety phase. I cherish the other 5 full days a week I have with her so much more now. I also don't work enough anymore for it to be too overwhelming.

So far the prep is going well:
1. Move C to the nursery so I can get ready in the morning without waking her. Check. (Slept even longer, woo woo!)
2. Change feeding pattern to both sides at once/4 oz every 3 hours. Make sure she eats well from a bottle. Check.
3. Get in the groove of pumping and figure out which supplies are needed for a full day out. Check. Ordered custom parts for comfort, have the storage and cleaning aspects down. All in all I can get set-up, pumping, and clean-up done in 10ish min which is important for being in the ICU! A co-worker lends his adjacent office to us pumping ladies. (Thankful for understanding co-workers!)
4. Buy more bottles, nipples, and cool pack to carry them in. Check. Thank you amazon.com for your amazing deals.
5. Get over this horrible cold. In progress...saw the NP yesterday and got some ABX for a sinus infection. Already feeling better today. Got some pro-biotics for C as some will pass through the breast milk. That helped her tummy a lot last time.
6. Make C's baby classroom poster. Supplies bought--Ongoing weekend family project. I am going to love when she is in school and I get to help her create things!
7. Paperwork for care providers...next on the list. I have to fill out all her likes/dislikes/habits/ etc. This will be important, so I am thinking it will be my big task tomorrow.
8. Learn how to handle mommy separation anxiety while taking care of extremely ill ICU patients and their frantic sometimes neurotic families...How can anyone prepare for this?! I will do my best.

T-5 days...