Back At Work

This Monday marked the end of my "maternity leave." Being a student, I don't technically have maternity leave but I had built time off into my schedule that allowed for 5 and 1/2 weeks off after my due date.  It was a great several weeks and it was incredibly hard to get excited about going back to work. 

Now that I am officially Doctor Mom, Peder is officially a stay at home dad!  My first day back, Grumpa and Grandee were still in town so Peder wasn't home alone with Elias.  Grumpa and Grandee flew home on Tuesday morning and we were, after almost 6 weeks, alone as our family of three.  The adjustment has actually not been too shocking. Of course during the day I'm checking in an obsessive amount and Peder is sending my adorable pictures of Elias.

Snoozing in the morning with Daddy in his "Kung Fu" pose.

I am currently rotating in dermatology.  I chose my post-partum electives to be "easy" ones.  Dermatology is short clinic days, I go in at 8am and am home around 4pm, and there is no call or weekends.  The most challenging part of being back to work is making enough food for Elias.  We are hoping to exclusively breastfeed until Elias is 1 year old.  This means that I have to pump A LOT.  Depending on when Elias wakes up at night to eat, I either nurse and pump in the morning before work or just pump and put a bottle in the fridge.  I am then pumping every 3 hours while at clinic.  Luckily, this clinic has be very accommodating. I have my own office (with a lovely view of Denali on a clear day) and all of my attendings are understanding and encouraging.  I can only hope that my next clerkships are as accommodating to my pumping needs.  

Pumping is challenging.  Elias is consuming about 10-12oz while I'm at work and I'm pumping about 3oz at each pump break while at work.  With the added morning and evening pumpings, I am able to just keep up. We had to dip into our freezer stock early in the week but on Friday were about to replace about 5oz which made me feel much better.

A bottle of liquid love!

To celebrate a successful first week at work, we went downtown to the Fur Rendezvous festival.  Fur Rondy is Anchorage's winter festival that includes dogsled races, a Running of the Reindeer, outhouse races, and snowshoe softball.  We went downtown to watch the start of the dogsled races.  It was nice to get out of the house and participate in a fun community event!

Elias really enjoyed his first dogsled races!

Getting the dog teams ready

And they're off!