There's only one of me!

[Stacymom]

So today was my first day home all alone with no help with both my little girls since we got home from the hospital. Everything went really well (I even got to take a nap when they were both sleeping!) until dinnertime. I gave DD#1 a bowl of noodles for dinner and proceeded to eat my own while holding dd#2. She completely filled her diaper- up the back and everything, so I went in the other room to change her. DD #1 likes to have her bowl/plate removed from her highchair tray immediately after she is finished, but I was trying to change and console my newborn, and clean the baby poop off of everything. I heard a crash coming form the kitchen. She threw the bowl off her highchair in frustration and it shattered everywhere. SO I left her in the highchair, dd #2 is in the crib, happy for now, and I swept up the broken pieces of bowl. I get dd #1 in the bathtub, and spend the next few minutestrying to bathe one girl and comfort the other one- the crib wasn't where she wanted to be, and we had already tried the sling... I manged to get Abby out of the tub and dressed, and Ashlynn was calm once again, and I went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. I sighed a breath of relief one minute too soon. DD #1 followed me into the kitchen and started screaminig as soon as I sat down. She had stepped on a leftover piece of glass, and her heel was bleeding everywhere. It was a pretty good cut, but I looked at it and didn't think that it needed stitches, so we tried to clean it up, leaving blood all over the kitchen in the process. I got a bandaid on it and we went into the other room to try ot console the newborn who was pretty upset at this point, when I realized that she had bled through the band aid and had gotten blood all over carpet. I took her into the bathroom and wrapped the poor foot up with gauze and tape, and then all she wanted to do was rock int he rocking chair. (who can blame her?) Ashlynn was doing okay sucking on the pacifier, so we went out to rock. Just as Abb was almost asleep, Ashlynn started screaming. I thought i owuld give Abby a minute more to fall asleep, but Ashlynn quickly became hysterical. I tried to put my toddler down and she collapsed because she wouldn't put any weight on her foot, and ran to rescue the newborn. My dh came home to find all three of us in the rocking chair, with the kitchen looking like a crime scene. All he could say was "What happened?"

I guess they're just breaking me in, right? I mean, tomorrow can't possibly be the circus that today was right? (How in the world does anyone really do this with two kids anyway?) Anybody else feel like they're completely outnumbered sometimes?

[SaraC]

First let me just give you a . I know exactly what you are going through. My first few days with my girls were fairly hectic. I felt pulled in every direction and was at my wits end by the time DH would get home. Second, it will get better. You will learn to "juggle" both girls giving them both attention and love when they need it. There will be some days where everything will happen at once and you will feel like a new mom all over again but those days will eventually dwindle. Just hang in there and you will find your groove.


Also when your new baby smiles at her sister for the first time your heart will melt . It is things like that which make my day go a little bit better. Also be prepared to tearfully recount the whole incident to DH the minute he comes home.

[feebeeglee]

Dang. Hard day! It gets better. When DD#1 was 15mos and DD#2 was newborn, we had many many days like that. Most of them did not involve severe flesh wounds however, so I think you can rely on less of those to come

It is very hard to tend to the needs of 2 babies at once. Someone here recently said that moms of closely spaced sibs should check out parenting multiples advice. As a mama to 3 kids under 3, that sounds like a good idea I wish I'd thought of!

The first little-sib to big-sib smile is great. It almost makes up for all the big-sib to little-sib shrieks and big-sib to mama shrieks : no, really, it gets better!

Hang in there mama! Keep sleeping!

[lexbeach]

After a day of helping me take care of my boys, my dad said he didn't know how I did it. He said that he always thought that a baby really needed 2 parents, and thus two babies would need 4 parents! So, when we go it alone, it's like we've got 1/4 of the parent to baby ratio that we should have.

There are definitely tough days. I don't think there will ever stop being tough days, although you will become more adept at meeting both of your daughters' needs at once.

One thing I have figured out is that there's really no reason to try to do things like bathe my babies when I'm home alone. They get their baths in the morning before Dp leaves for work, or in the evening after she's gotten home. Of course, there are exceptions (i.e. situations like the poop explosion you described), but in general I wait for Dp to do things which require giving all of my attention to one baby for an extended period of time.

Hang in there, Mama! I doubt you'll ever stop wishing that you had four hands, but you WILL get really good at using the two that you do have!

Lex