...is a dad.Ian has taken 3 months no pay leave to care for Vera. And he's settled into his role much, much better than me. He has a natural flair for pacifying Vera, and tons of patience. I have returned to work, after spending 5 months at home. It felt good to be back at work. A change of environment is always good.
At one point during my pregnancy, we'd ponder over who'd look after our baby after she was born. Well, I guess when you come to it, the answer unfolds itself.
Feeding Vera is the main challenge. Because she's tube fed, she doesn't get the immediate satiated feeling of feeding through mouth. So if she's hungry and starts to cry, she won't stop till she gets the "full" feeling, which only occurs towards the end of the feed. The problem is, the milk won't go down if she's crying. Hence the catch-22.
During a "crying feed", pacifying her and hold the syringe, pouring the milk, plunging, can be quite an acrobatic task, if you're alone. But Ian, being the engineer that he is, has found an ingenious way to get around this. He hangs the syringe from a clothes hanger.
We've also settled into our roles better now. It's a far cry from the initial days, when I was constantly feeling the strain being the main caregiver while Ian was at work.
Now, knowing how busy it can be at home, I try to rush home after work and help out as much as I can. And Ian, knowing how tiring it can be to go to work the next day, tries to cover at least one night feed.
It's tiring, but I'm really happy with this arrangement. I'm glad to say I'm actually starting to enjoy Vera together with Ian. There are much more happy moments now. It's also great to see that she has started to smile, and respond to us when we play with her. At least one of my wishes has been granted!
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