(no subject)

[rivka]

Today was the first day after the end of my maternity leave. I went in for a couple of days a few weeks ago, but this was the first day of my new working arrangement: in the office on Mondays and Tuesdays while Alex stays home with the sitter, home Wednesdays, in the office on Thursdays while Michael stays home with Alex, and home Fridays. Today was the first day of the new normal.

I was pushed directly into the deep end, at work, because one of my RAs was out sick. (She called me last night saying she'd been sick in bed all day but would definitely definitely come in the next day, and I reminded her that she'd be doing no favors to our immunocompromised subject population if she did.) So I spent the afternoon collecting the data she would have: two subjects for our adherence study and one for our coping study, and a client for the treatment study who didn't actually fit the inclusion criteria but whom, given that someone else had enrolled her, I did not want to send away without treatment. I found myself feeling simultaneously rusty (how do we explain the coping study during the consent process?) and irritated by the things that weren't being done as well as I would do them (how did this woman get enrolled in the treatment study?). I'm kind of dreading the lab meeting tomorrow morning, where we'll hash out exactly where things have gone astray and I will most likely be asked to develop a dozen new policies.

The part of returning to work that I turned out to be emotionally unprepared for is the second shift. I guess it's ingrained in me that work is followed by the after-work period of rest, recuperation, and web browsing. Now, of course, work is followed by switching to my other job of hands-on mother. Michael had to make that transition months ago, back when I was immersed in motherhood as a full-time job. Being a stay-at-home mom wasn't easier than being at work, but the rhythms are different. You can pace yourself for the longer 24-hour workday when you're home all day. Alex's morning nap, for example, was a peaceful oasis of me-time that fortified me for the demands of the afternoon. Coming home to a fussy or hungry baby after four straight hours running subjects just isn't the same thing.

Don't get me wrong; I was delighted to see her. It felt good to hold her and smell her and let her graw on my knuckle. (Could she really be teething already?) It's just another adjustment to make from my pre-Alex life to my post-Alex life.

In other news, we've rearranged our living room to be much more open. The house is only fifteen feet wide to begin with, and between the couch, the coffee table, the baby accoutrements, and the media unit, the living room had pretty much narrowed to passage width. We took out the coffee table, relocated some of the baby accoutrements, and put down a big soft rug. I love it. It feels so much more spacious.



Here's a closeup of the pattern on the new rug:

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Nice carpet! I shall have to examine it more closely on Thursday.

That second shift stuff is profound. Much to ponder there.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

You may be surprised at how little you miss the coffee table. I know they're fixtures in a lot of living rooms, but when mine broke, years ago, I got used to not having it there; the result has been less clutter ('cause I'm less inclined to dump stuff on the floor than on a coffee table) and fewer barked shins ('cause I'm a klutz that way).

I have, however, gradually replaced my seating with Mission-style futons (http://www.atbd.com/individualbeds/Futonpages/MissionOak.html) with nice, wide wooden arms so there's a place to set drinks. (-:

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I've got my big books -- Earth, and my atlas, almost-but-not-quite what people call "coffee table books," under my coffee table, and pull them out there to look at them. Our sofa arms are big and over-stuffed. Next time we live somewhere that the livingroom geography would suit it, I want narrow end tables, and I'd just flip for a library table like we had when I was a kid, a big wide long table with a bookshelf along it underneath, for along a wall somewhere.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That rug is very pretty, and the bird's eye view makes it look like a house in one of those books about how to design a small house. It also looks like a rug that would seem interesting from 3-month-old elbow distance.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

For my first week back to work, I was exhausted. I'd get home, try to make something for dinner for DH and me, feed the girl, and that was *it.* Then I'd go upstairs, give her a bath and take her to bed with me, because I couldn't even try to nurse her to sleep on the couch or she might fall off.

Unfortunately, within a week or so, she started doing the wacky baby locomotion thing of pushing with her feet so she's going head-first, and that just made everything strange. She did actually creep off our bed once before she could really crawl.

Nothing else matters but sleep.

The rug look svery familiar, though. I have one in that similar pattern with darker colors -- dark blue, rich burgundy, dark green and a couple other colors. It's in the girl's room. Look, Squeaky! Squares! FIND A GREEN SQUARE!

:^)

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I really like the living room's new look. Good thinking!

-J