Post Post-Partum

I don't know if there's an official cutoff, but I don't think I can consider myself postpartum anymore:  as of Monday, I am officially back at work (though I don't know entirely what that means), I am wearing non-maternity clothes, and I got my period.

I have to say, that last one pisses me off.  It was bad enough to get my period at 8 weeks postpartum with LG while nursing exclusively.  But to get it now, after needing to use DE to conceive?  What a slap in the face.  Sure, you can't have a baby but you can still bleed reliably every month and ovulate eggs that will never have a chance of becoming an embryo.  Feels really weird, too, not to call up Dr. G's office and say it's cd 1, I need to come in for monitoring tomorrow.  I think maybe anyone who uses DE, especially those of us of the unpartnered sort, should go into instant menopause.

*

On the mother's helper front:  my 3-day-a-week favorite happily agreed, though won't start until after spring break.  (Which is actually a week that LG is mostly off, so I'm not sure how I'll work that.)  The 2-day-a-week-back-up wants me to pay her more because apparently she's interviewed for another position.  I just reiterated what I said at the interview--basically I'm willing to pay more when I actually leave the house--but there's no way I'd pay her more than I'm paying the one I actually like.  So I might be short on childcare, or I might start re-interviewing.  Have to see what she decides.

*

This was my first week back, but it wasn't really, as LG was off from school Monday through Wednesday (president's day plus a nasty ear/sinus infection).  Yesterday I went into the office to sign some things and pick up my mail and locate my teaching evaluations.  Monday I need to go in for a reading.  Other than that, it's been a ton of email trying to sort various things out.

*

I need to teach Tiny Boy to sleep unswaddled and in the crib.  I'm still happy to co-sleep at night, but clearly what I'm doing won't be workable during the day with a babysitter.  The major problems are (1) he generally falls asleep nursing, and it's hard to get him to stay asleep when he comes off the breast and (2) he startles himself, which is why I've been swaddling him, but he hates it and prefers sleeping with his arms over his head.  I've tried half-swaddling him while he's awake and then zipping him up (still using the swaddle pod most of the time), and I've also tried unswaddling him once he falls aslelep, but neither works reliably well.  I didn't have this particular problem with LG.

*

The upshot of all this is that I'm tired, though ironically (?) not nearly as tired as I was pre-conception when Dr. G reluctantly put me on ambien.  And now, if I can get up without waking the boy, I could really use a shower...