How Do Single Parents Do It?

Thursday was a generally miserable day. As I mentioned yesterday, Jeff wasn't feeling well last night (Wednesday). He looked awful today (no offense, honey). He tried to call in sick at work, mentioning that he thought he had food poisoning, but he got loaded up with things that had to be done. So he spent the day working on the computer and then regurgitating in the bathroom every 1/2 hour or so. Lovely.

Because we weren't sure if Jeff had food poisoning or flu, we called my mom so that she wouldn't come over. She had been planning to spend the morning with Henry, which was going to give me time to work on my lectures, pay our bills, and do some other chores around the house. So I spent the day with Henry instead. I obviously love my son, but the change in plans really stressed me out. I truly need some blocks of time to work, which haven't been forthcoming in the last several months. The hour here and there just doesn't cut it.

Henry decided to refuse his bottles for most of the day. He wasted a lot of breast milk. Looked hungry. I'd get a bottle. Tried to put the bottle in his mouth and he'd breakdown in tears. Tried several types of nipples for the bottles. Didn't make any difference. And then the cycle would repeat itself.

Henry took several mini-naps throughout the day. He kicked Bitsy; she tried to attack him, but I intervened. By early evening, he'd only eaten something like 10 ounces or so of milk. I decided to break out the bananas in the hope that the novelty would encourage his appetite. Technically, I should have waited until Sunday to give him a new food, but the kid has to eat something. He liked the bananas. He ate the whole bowl, which was a mixture of bananas (about 1/2 baby jar), rice cereal (2 tbps), and some breast milk. Jeff went early in the evening. I started a fire in the fire place and gave Henry a massage. Then, I gave Henry a bath. I believe that it is the first time that I've given him a bath by myself. Jeff and I usually tag team. It's much easier with two people. We have our roles down like clockwork. But I handled things OK this evening. Henry is squeaky clean. He had a bottle after the bath. Because he was hungry and wasted a good deal of breast milk, I ended up having to mix some Nestle Good Start formula into the bottle with the remaining breast milk. Henry didn't mind. When all was said and done, Henry eventually ate about 21 ounces of milk today. That's about 35% less than what he should be eating. Perhaps it was stomach flu going around or something. Henry did throw up more than usual today.

Hopefully, Jeff and Henry will wake up tomorrow refreshed. Here's to a better day tomorrow. Today left me feeling drained. Perhaps only getting a couple hours of sleep two nights in a row also has something to do with that. I don't know how single parents do it. With that said, I'm headed to bed.