"Angela Schepers" wrote in message
That's not conducive to having time or
mobility to do laundry, wash dishes, wash bottles, fix lunch, pump
breast milk, etc. SO, we're going to try this out. I'm about ready to
go bonkers if I don't get a little more mobility back and am getting a
little desperate so lets just pray that this works out for the both of
us.
snip

I just wanted to remind you that you do not *have* to do any of these
things now. You're still on your "babymoon" and need time to just get to
know your baby and to recover from the birth. Even if you had a smooth
labor and delivery, it is still a *massive* physical and emotional
experience and it takes some time to adjust and recover.

As I said in another post in this thread, I remember how I felt in the
early newborn days. I felt like that was how my life was going to be
from that point forward. Babies change quickly though and those days of
being totally submerged by the needs of a newborn are very, very
fleeting. I felt like I needed to be doing more and that I somehow
wasn't measuring up--i.e. "all the other mothers seem to have their acts
together and know what they're doing" (I hadn't been around many mothers
of brand new babies and was judging my feelings/experiences based on
mothers who had been mothering for some time). I felt like others mother
handled things better than I did and like I wasn't adjusting well. I had
an absurd idea that adjusting would apparently take a nanosecond and
because I didn't immediately feel composed and confident, that it meant
it would never come and that I must not be as good of a mother as the
nebulous "everyone else." I felt like something was wrong with me, like
I wasn't handling it well, because I hadn't just bounced back to
"normal." I felt like I couldn't *do* anything, but hold and nurse the
baby. It took me a while to realize that was all I really *had* to do,
once it was all boiled down. I did feel desperate to do something that
would make me feel HUMAN again--which usually meant something work
related or something around the house.

Anyway, this is really short period of your lives. When I was in it, it
felt like it would go on forever and I didn't know if I could handle it.
I also felt like maybe all of my intense and often conflicted feelings
meant that I wasn't cut out to be a mother. In retrospect, I recognize
that I was just adjusting to a hugely, huge change in our lives and no
wonder I felt a bit freaked out and insecure for a time!

I don't know if this helps you at all, or if you can identify with
anything I wrote, but I thought I'd share my experience with you anyway
:-) Also, in my experience, the sling was invaluable. There was a time
when I actually wondered how I would possibly survive without a sling (I
had a few panicked thoughts of "what if I lost it, how I would I handle
things?!"). That is how useful and helpful it was to me. Highly
recommended! Also, make sure to try the sling several times. I think
people may have a tendency to think slings are "weird" and so if they
try it and it doesn't feel comfortable and work instantly, they think,
"I KNEW this was weird" and don't give it another chance. A sling is
well worth a second chance, because they are absolutely wonderful!

--
Em
mama to L-baby, almost 8 months old (and worn in the sling at the
grocery store today!).