Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
At 5 am when my broken waters indicated her sister would be born that day, my nearly 10 year old daughter said, “Oh, no. She’ll be a Wednesday child!” I am calling that a homeschooling success! I am also hoping our newest daughter is not full of woe. A brief look on the web indicates she just might be incredibly empathetic rather than naughty! That fits given her two parents. My husband and I are both feelers on the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment.
My other two children were born on a Tuesday…..are they full of grace? 🙂
I spend a fair amount of time bonding with a group of women in an online group. I have met many of them in person as well, but our first contact was online. I also met my husband online…eharmony for the win! We’ve been married nearly 14 years.
I share my tips and tricks in this online group, but I’d also like to share them here where I can have them recorded just for me (and where google can find them for everyone else!).
My husband was my rock during the first days home.
A list for other husbands, mothers, sisters, or other caregivers of moms who are nearly post-partum
Fill and re-fill water bottles
Thaw and put meals in oven (Be sure to make food that can be cooked from frozen for those first couple of weeks)
Heat breakfast burritos (I will come back with how I made 60 of them in one afternoon)
Get snacks
Keep track of medicine and when it’s acceptable to take another dose
Burp baby
Change diapers
Snuggle baby
Offer moral support for nursing woes
Be patient
Do the laundry each day
Load and unload the dishwasher (even if it’s not full! Run anyway!)
Drive mom and baby to appointments
Don’t judge the rambling that comes from a woman who is losing all her pregnancy hormones
Do not talk about being done with babies no matter how hard labor and delivery were
Take pictures of baby and anytime mom is decently covered, take pictures of her with baby
Label and freeze breast milk
Go grocery shopping
Cook if you can
Keep peri bottle full of warm water
Tell her how beautiful she is (and remember that it takes time for her body to return to its pre-pregnancy shape)
Nap when you can so you can help at night (nursing and diaper changes often take at least an hour in the beginning)
Learn to swaddle baby
Wash pump parts so they are ready for next session
Read KellyMom.com for breastfeeding hints
Place the sign on the door that requests no knocking or door bell ringing whenever mom and baby are resting
Keep necessary people informed via text so mom doesn’t have to unless she *wants* to
Spend as little time doing things for yourself as possible-this season of desperate need is short!
