Caring for newborn and running day home

Hello Dayhome ladies!!
I have a question for those of you who have gone right back to work after having a baby. I'm not due until the end of January but am all of a sudden having a panic attack wondering how on earth will I manage. I'm only planning on taking 2 weeks off and hubby was going to take 1-3 months parental leave (however he's in the military so right now we don't even know if he will be here) and my MIL has agreed to stay for a month to help me out. If I have these extra hands then it should be no problem. However, what if I don't!? What if hubby is gone!? All of my parents have said that they want to stay so when baby comes I will have 5 other kids to care for (1,2,3,3 and then my own 3yob). They are all pretty good and love to play on their own.
How do you balance a newborn, breastfeeding, naps, toddler fights, etc? I know that I will have to scale back on my activities with the kids but I'm a bit nervous right now. Chances are everything will work out and things won't be as bad as I'm envisioning (today has been a bad day - particularly with my own son) but any moms out there went back so soon? How did you balance it all?
TIA

As I type this, I am breastfeeding my 8 week old. I too, re-opened 2 weeks after my C-section. Although, unlike you, I need not have any family to help out and hubby did not take time off (other then the same 2 weeks that I had)

I wont lie. I was nervous in regards to some things. Lifting the children, breast feeding, the children hurting the baby. But everything feel into place quite quickly. The kids learned that they had to wait a little longer for things that are not important (if I am feeding my monster), and not bump into his chair and playpen.

Honestly, my day is more organized then prior as I know that there everything must be planned and ready to go as I never know when I will need to whip out a boob....lol.

I am sure that you will be fine!!! :D

Oh, and yes, I am full plus my own 3 boys.....4 years old and younger!

Godsgirl, you don't need anxiety and stress in this stage of your pregnancy. I hope you fineither your husband or MIL can help out. If I can offer any advice it would be to LET THEM PLAY! Freeplay is good, it's a child's job to play. You can set up quick and easy crafts, colouring, painting and maybe let them do the messy things 1 or 2 at a time so you can monitor them better. Hopefully we will have a better winter so they can play outside. I wish you all the best.

I certainly don't know how you women do it! When I had my daughter (I didn't start my daycare until she was 8 months old) I was so sore. I was so sleep deprived and I often just sat on the couch and cried from being so overwhelmed and that is just with 1 baby (my daughter was colicky). We cannot afford to have me not work and therefore have made the choice to not have any more children (even though I am not sure if I can have any more even if I wanted to).

My hats off to all you women!!

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Originally Posted by mickyc

I certainly don't know how you women do it! When I had my daughter (I didn't start my daycare until she was 8 months old) I was so sore. I was so sleep deprived and I often just sat on the couch and cried from being so overwhelmed and that is just with 1 baby (my daughter was colicky). We cannot afford to have me not work and therefore have made the choice to not have any more children (even though I am not sure if I can have any more even if I wanted to).

My hats off to all you women!!

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That was me with my first. And eventually we also found out I had hypothyroidism too. Colick was awful!

I used to wonder why everyone else seemed to be doing so much better than me. I'm happy to say, with my second daughter, I was that mom that was doing unbelievably well. It isn't always awful. ;)

I agree mickyc !! Lol but my youngest was 5 when I started !!
I admire you ladies with young children !!! It is difficult with my dd , balancing her needs as well as the dck !!

One tip - I started when my youngest (of three) was 8 months old, and my other 2 were 3.5 and almost 5. I found quiet times to nurse my youngest, who thankfully was an easy baby, but I distinctly remember one time I made couple batches of playdough for a house full of kids (3, 4, 4, 5 and 5), set them all up at the kitchen table with the brand-new playdough, cars, rolling pins, cookie cutters, etc etc, and quietly went to the living room next door to nurse the baby. They were playing quite happily, and then I heard one of them say their playdough was getting sticky. The next thing I know, they have pulled the big bag of flour that I stupidly left on the counter down, and dumped flour ALL over themselves, their playdough, the table, and the floor. My entire kitchen was white, in about 30 seconds flat. I had to strip all of them, wash all their clothes, and it took almost an hour to get it all cleaned up they made such an incredible mess!

So moral of the story: don't use new playdough as a quiet activity to let you nurse the baby! Or at the very least HIDE the flour bag!! Oh good times....:)

So my back story is, I have 3 of my own children (8,4,9mths) and my middle was 5mths when I started the daycare, this last time a took 4 weeks off and honestly I felt ready to go back after 2 weeks and was missing my crew. I look back now and think holy crap I made it through the winter with a newborn and a full daycare. You will do it because you choose/have to, you know your daycare children and what they love to do. Just before I had my baby I did a big dollar store trip and bought new colouring books, craft supplies, I made lots of coloured rice/pasta and bought new things to put in it (mini dinosaurs/animals, gems, Pom poms) and new cups/spoons for it. We had such a cold icy winter this year and I had to do a bus run everyday so we spent time on my front yard playing with sand toys while baby slept. Invest in a sling/wrap, I wore my baby ALOT at the beginning because he loved it and it was easier, I put a playpen behind my couch so he had a quiet place or would pull it out if he was awake. He did spend a lot of time on the floor as well while we played and the children loved having access to sit with him. They all call him thier baby. On days that I had a bad night we had a movie in the morning or did lots of stories or went for a walk. You will figure out your balance and it will be wonderful! Best of luck.

LOL!! Ok, that's kinda funny! I'm sure not at the moment but looking back it was. Thank you!!

Thanks so much Ladies!! I TOTALLY appreciate your encouragement. The more that I think about it the more that I realize that it's all going to work out. There really is no other way. As women, especially day home mommies, we do what we have to do to get it done because it needs to get done. Thank you so much!!

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Originally Posted by superfun

That was me with my first. And eventually we also found out I had hypothyroidism too. Colick was awful!

I used to wonder why everyone else seemed to be doing so much better than me. I'm happy to say, with my second daughter, I was that mom that was doing unbelievably well. It isn't always awful. ;)

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Superfun-that was me as well! I went back to work after 10-11 weeks and I was a mess! So tired and crying a lot! I was also then diagnosed with hypothyroidism.

However, this time around my husband will be taking parental leave for as long as is allowable so I can get the rest I need too!

I don't know how you ladies managed being back at work after 2 weeks!