Mamas w/ 1 mo. old babies

MrsGreen620 · April 2012

I've been preparing for a summer school student teaching experience that is required to finish my masters degree, and NOW my advisor decides to worry about my wellbeing of only being ~1 mo. post partum. If you had a vaginal birth and baby is ~1 month old, how are you doing? My placement is 4 days per week, 8am-12pm, for 5 weeks, and we've already arranged for DH to be on paternity leave and to bring baby to me for feeding.

adamstodrake · April 2012

DD isn't a month yet, but thinking back to DS leads me to believe you should be fine. Yes, you will be tired, and physically you may want to take it easy, but I think you can do it. Your DH bringing baby up will be helpful, my SIL did that for me during a long term sub job and it was great. Plus, it being 4 hours a day is pretty minimal. I think you will do great! On the off chance you end up with csection, have you spoken with your advisor regarding possible modifications?

kkfeb04 · April 2012

I'm 5 weeks pp for a c/s and I feel great. I was driving 8 days pp (because DS needed picked up), I've been taking care of both of them since that time DH works 12 hour days with an hour commute on way five days a week. I've picked up my 27 lb two year old at the same time as picking up DD in her carseat. We've gone out and about. We go for one mile walks with a stop at the playground for DS and we do this almost daily weather permitting.

JFH2010 · April 2012

I felt fine physically, but I was so sleep deprived that working would have been rough. Are you planning to EBF? If so, and if your baby is a frequent eater overnight, then it's just a question of how well you handle lack of sleep. I handle it very poorly.

roxane · April 2012

Teaching half days, you'll be fine. It won't be easy, but it is doable.

DevonPow · April 2012

I am physically fine - back at the gym, doing all my usual things around the house/doing errands, etc. I am tired, obviously! My main issue is the DS2 seems to constantly be going through growth spurts/cluster feeding, so he is on my boob consantly. It is crazy, and I hope he slows down soon, because it is really hard to get things done while BFing literally every hour.

Topi-Jan · April 2012

Physically you should be okay in terms of the actual time on campus. PP have already mentioned the things that might make it tough: amount of sleep you get the night before and feedings (but if DH is bringing baby you should be fine on that front).

The only other things that pop up in my head are: what happens if you have a C-section (I know the recovery varies) and the time/energy to lesson plan and grade, if that is part of your student teaching assignment. It's just something you need to plan into your day while you are at home.

Last thing (as a teacher for 13 years and a mom who who's kids are practically 3U3 ... so we have a fun, chaotic household): if you are a FTM and a first-time teacher there will be a learning curve for you both at work and at home, and that can take a toll sometimes. It's hard enough doing just one of those things at a time so give yourself the occasional mental health break. :-)

Remember that things don't need to be perfect on either front, expect some chaos on both fronts on occasion (usually simultaneously) , and know that everything will eventually fall into place since it's only a temporary situation.

Sorry for what turned out to be such a long response!! GL!

MrsGreen620 · April 2012

Thanks everyone

I've been a sped teacher for 3 years now, I just have to have some classroom experience with students who have more significant disabilities for my masters degree. I'm pretty confident that it will be fine, I just catch a lot of flack for going back so soon after baby. Thanks for ask of your stories/input!

llizzyb · April 2012

I had a c/s, and I could do that this week. Would I be exhausted? Yes. Would I be emotional at the end of the day? Yes. Would I miss my baby like crazy? Yes.

But physically, I would be fine. Just tired, and a little sore from being active.