First Day of Daycare

Paige here. Today was Reid's first day to be alone at daycare. I had been anxiously approaching this day for the last 1 1/2 weeks. As a reminder, when Reid was last left with a caretaker (her father) lacking mammalian lactation units (boobs), she cried for 10 hours and refused to eat. This sent me into a tailspin of "what if she won't take a bottle again? how will I be able to go back to work? the sky is falling! Oh no!" My last ditch effort at having my career again was to enroll Reid in the onsite daycare at my workplace. That way if she wouldn't take a bottle, I could just walk across the green and feed her myself. This sounded like a great idea - it is multicultural, 2 kids to 1 care provider, I can visit whenever I like, they'll even use the cloth diapers and glass bottles I want! - but lately Reid has been eating every 1-2.5 hours. I still wasn't sure how I was going to get any work done if I was walking across the green every 1-2.5 hours.

Reid and I made the required 4 visits together at the childcare center. Each time we stayed 3-4 hours. We met her primary care provider, Nancy. She is very very nice as are the other teachers in the room. Reid clearly enjoyed the stimulation of other children and many new toys. But, it was hard for me to get her to take naps without using her swing. As the drop-off day approached, I worried more and more about whether she would take bottles or sleep at the center. Plus, I am not sure that anyone in our family has left a child under 1 year of age at a childcare center. I felt like a bad mother. What if she cried all day?

So, it was with great apprehension that I entered the facility this morning. Nancy was there to greet us. She scooped up Reid and played with her as I put away all of Reid's belongings. I kept thinking I might just be packing them up again that evening if this didn't pan out. Nancy kept reassuring me that I was welcome to come visit or call as much as I liked. Then I fed Reid one last time and waved good-bye. Nancy said she would call if they couldn't get Reid to take a bottle.

An hour passed, and no phone call. I started checking the phone to see if I had cell phone reception. What if the messages weren't getting to me and Reid was screaming for milk? So, I called to check on her. They had put her down for a nap. Well, that was impressive. They already had won one of the battles I feared.

Then another hour passed and no call. Again, I had been in parts of the building with bad reception, so I panicked that they just hadn't gotten through to me. I called again. Reid was just finishing one of her bottles. Again amazement on my part. She took a bottle. Wow!

Then a half hour later I got a call. . . Reid was still hungry, would it be OK for her to have a second bottle? I said yes. I had simply divided the milk into two bottles, so that should she refuse to take it for hour(s), they would have a second fresh bottle to try again.

And with that, Reid appears to be in daycare. When I went to pick her up, I heard that she had one 50 minute nap and another 1 hour 10 minute nap. Very impressive. At home, she sometimes takes one long nap, but not two. She drank about 2.5 ounces in the four hours I left her. Also very good. Nancy and the other teachers said she had a good first day. She was grumpy when she was tired or hungry, but otherwise she did well. I can't tell you how relieved I am. While I was totally distracted and didn't get much done today at work, I think Wednesday will be a different story. I think we might be on the path to a sustainable schedule for both of us. I am still sorry it didn't work out for Tyler to stay home with her this month, but I am very happy there is a solution that will allow me to go back to work. I love Reid to death, but I also love my job and workmates. That I get to have both is WONDERFUL!

Here is a picture of Reid after her half day at daycare. Not a great photo, but she was in a milk-induced trance. She is holding her newest ugly doll, a Christmas gift from our roommate Dana. Also of note, she had her 4-month pediatrician visit today. She is now 12 pounds, 13 ounces. She is in the 31st percentile for weight. She is 24 inches long and in the 50th percentile for length. All good!