A plugged duct or a sore spot on your breast may be the first sign that you are trying to do too much. You would be well-advised to heed this warning and get lots of extra rest for a few days after you’ve experienced a plugged duct.
-The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
Last week I had my tenth plugged milk duct since Luke was born. This time, however, the painful red spot didn’t subside after a day. I felt flu-like symptoms coming on. I couldn’t ignore the clear warnings my body was sending anymore. The plugged duct progressed into mastitis (a breast infection).
I am on antibiotics and the infection cleared quickly. I know, however, that it won’t stay away unless something changes. On any given day, my list of things to do looks something like this:
- Read scripture/complete Bible Study
- Make breakfast
- Clean up after breakfast
- Get Meghan dressed, teeth brushed, etc.
- Drive Meghan to preschool
- One or more cleaning tasks (depending on the day: dust, vacuum, toilets, etc)
- One or more blogging tasks (answer emails, respond to comments, take and edit pictures, write and edit posts, etc.)
- One or more household management tasks (meal planning, grocery shopping, organizational tasks, etc.)
- Laundry, laundry, and more laundry
- Pick Meghan up from preschool
- Prepare lunch
- Clean up after lunch
- Prepare snacks
- Clean up after snack preparation
- Put Luke down for naps (X 3-4)
- Feed Luke (X 6)
- Play with Meghan
- Play with Luke
- Run/exercise
- Prepare dinner
- Help Tim clean up after dinner
- Bathe Luke
- Bathe Meghan
- Put Luke to bed
- Put Meghan to bed
- Spend quality time with Tim/focus on my marriage
Doing all of these things is so much more manageable when I’m well-rested, which I’m not right now. Luke is either going through the typical 4-month sleep regression I hear other moms talk about, or he is having difficulty sleeping because of his digestion issues. (And we didn’t get much insight at his GI appointment, unfortunately) Either way, he’s up every 2-3 hours at night, which of course means I’m up every 2-3 hours at night. I’m a sleeper. I love sleep. I need sleep. So my current sleep debt is taking its toll.
I tell you all of this not to complain or as an attempt to garner your sympathy. I know I’m not the first or only mom who has a lot to do and tries to do it on little sleep. I will survive. What I have figured out, however, is that
something’s gotta give.
I wish I could be Super Mom and do it all on a few hours of broken sleep, but I can’t. So this is my lengthy way of telling you that I’m stepping back from the blog for now. I just need a little time to get my head above water.
I’m not going to completely disappear and I promise you, I will be back. For now, however, I can’t put the time into posts that I would like, and the last thing I want is to provide watered-down, not-my-best work just for the sake of posting something.
I can’t say how long this break is going to last. It may be one week or it may be three weeks. I hope not longer, but maybe longer. In the meantime, I will be seeking out guest posters (please email me if you are interested!) with quality posts so there will be some new content when I’m not creating my regular posts.
I will be doing some blog work, but it will be mostly behind the scenes. I never have time to do behind-the-blog work when I’m trying to create new recipes and write posts, so during this break from that I will get some tasks done that have been on the back burner for ages. I have a fun blog makeover already in the works, so be ready for a new look coming soon!
My biggest fear is that I will lose you, my readers, by stepping back for a time. All I can do is hope that you’ll have confidence in me and know that when I come back, I will be able to provide better recipes and better posts. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I love blogging and adore my community of readers. I’ll be back soon!
take care of yourself and your family!! we will always be here and completely understand 🙂
Thank you, Felicia!
I hope you are feeling better soon! It is very tough with the second baby, especially when you are not getting the sleep you need and trying to maintain a happy home for your family.
Enjoy the time away from your blog and focus on you and your little ones!
I for one, will be here when you return! 🙂
Thank you, Amy!
Of course we will be back! I was relieved to see that you were giving up the blog for a bit; after reading the first part of your entry I was afraid you were giving up breastfeeding (which of course, would also be totally fine and understandable as well – but you know what I mean). I am adding #2 to our family in about 6 weeks, and I am terrified because I feel like I JUST have things under control now with healthy eating/work/exercise/caring for toddler/etc.!
Good luck!
It’s definitely a big change–at least for me it was. You’ll do great, though! Just don’t try to do too much too soon. 😉 As for giving up breast feeding–no, I’m committed to that for as long as possible. The GI doctor suggested switching to specialized formula, but I’m going to try eliminating more foods from my diet instead and hope it will help Luke’s digestion. We’ll see!
We will still be here….no worries! You need to take time for your family & for yourself right now. I totally understand that “to-do” list. If I get anything “extra” done each day it is an accomplishment!! (Mine littles are 5, 3, & 1). Hang in there and take all the time you need 🙂
Thanks, Leigh Anne! I have to say, you make me feel like a big wimp! I’m not sure what I would do right now if I had a 3rd one! I guess after two you figure it out a little more?
You and your family come first, so please, feel free to take a break!!! We understand and will be here whenever you are ready to come back 🙂
Thank you, Bethany!
Take a break! As much as I love you blog, family updates and meal ideas, i can COMPLETELY relate to the fact that something’s got to give! I took a lengthy break from my own blog, came back for a few posts and then went back on hiatus. I found it was taking up my super rare and very precious kids/husband/self downtime. Whether it was spending some snuggle time with the family at the end of the day or watching 30 minutes of trashy TV, I found I needed that time to truly unwind and refocus before another day of being pulled in a thousand directions.
I’ll definitely still be here whenever you’re ready to come back!!
It’s so true–I need a few minutes to myself every day and that just hasn’t been happening. Everyone needs down time!
I think this is the best decision you could have made.
Enjoy the break and come back when you feel ready for it. I will definitely be here again!
Thank you, Michaela!
Aw, I completely understand! Give yourself as much of a break as you need – I’m sure we’ll all be here when you get a little more time to blog. I’ll be thinking of you! I hope you’re feeling better and can get some more rest!
Thanks, Heidi! I hope you are doing well in your last days of pregnancy!
I whole-heartedly support you in this decision. I get it. I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately too and I’ve been getting full-nights’ sleep! (Most of the time anyway.) I hope you are able to get the rest you need and when you are ready to return, we will still be here. Take care!
Thank you, Candy!
Caring for yourself and your family is what’s most important. I’d love to help out with a guest post, shoot me an email of what yoi’re looking for. Hope you can get more (well deserved) rest mama.
Thanks, Heather, I will email you soon!
We will still be here, Maryea. I think you are doing the right thing by focusing on yourself and your family right now. I think we can all say we’ve been there and know what it feels like when life gets overwhelming. Your health absolutely has to come first! I hope you start to regain some strength and that little man starts sleeping better for you soon. Take care!
Thank you, Lisa!
I’ll still be here when you get back and will miss your posts in the meantime. I know you didn’t ask for advice, but as a mom, much in the same shoes as you with the overwhelming amount of responsibilities, I could possibly make a few suggestions. You can ignore if you aren’t interested. 🙂
You might see if your husband can help with bath and bedtime for Meghan. You might also just put the leftovers away and let him clean the kitchen while you get Luke bathed and in bed. As soon as my baby could sit, I started bathing the kids together which is nice. I also only bath every other day unless they are particularly dirty. These are a few things we have started doing and it has helped tremedously. Once I get the baby to bed, I still have to clean my pump parts and make bottles for daycare which I can do while hubs gets our daugther to bed.
You might also look to see where you can create shortcuts for yourself in the kitchen. Like in your menu planning, double a recipe so you can freeze some for a night off later, or eat it as leftovers one night or lunch the next day to afford you a little less time in the kitchen while still getting healthy meals. Or for breakfast or snack, make something like muffins or something similiar that you can grab and go for a few days and not have to prepare and clean up so much. You may already be doing these things but I just wanted to offer you some encouragement as a working mom of two. My 9 month old still wakes at night ever 2-3 hours as well so I feel your exhaustion. I try hard to feed my family well balanced meals, but I have gotten to where I use frozen veggies often and take every shortcut I can just to get a healthy dinner on the table by a reasonable hour.
Hang in there! Fortunately it is just a stage of infancy, and it will get easier. Try to remember to enjoy it, even though some parts of it are super hard on us! Hope you are feelng better soon!
Thank you for taking the time to try to help me! I really appreciate it. I should have been a little more clear in my list–Tim does help with bath and bedtime. We do them together. He does the bath part, I do the lotion and jammies, etc. Then we take turns with reading Meghan stories and the actual putting her to bed part. And he does most of the kitchen cleaning, I just take care of the leftovers like you mentioned.
As for the shortcuts in the kitchen, this is definitely something I need to work on! I know I can streamline things more and need to get some better systems in place. Thanks for the encouragement! It sounds like you are doing a ton and working, too. I hope your little one starts sleeping better for you. I think everything seems more difficult when I’m sleep deprived!
We will still read! Blogging is definitely the thing you can drop temporarily- get your health in order and do what you need to do- I’ll check back periodically. You can only do so much, I’m sure everyone understands that.
Thanks so much, Amy!
Love on your family, feed that baby, take care of yourself. We’ll be here! 🙂 2 is 65 million times harder than 1… and I love that your priority also includes spending time in the Scripture. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Cary! Starting my day in the Word makes everything seem so much more manageable. Days when I don’t I just feel off.
Hey Maryea:
Just a thought, do you have a certified lactation consultant that you can talk to? I wonder if they would have some perspective/suggestions for what to do with your little one. Sometimes they have something up their sleeve that a GI dr might not think about (especially with little ones that are for now exclusively breastfed).
You know I have been thinking about talking to a LC for a while now, but just haven’t done it. I think it’s time I find one. Thanks for the nudge.
Your health and family is way more important than blogging, so don’t worry about losing readers, we know you’ll be back. 🙂 I hope you feel better soon and that Luke starts sleeping for longer periods of time.
Thank you, Kelli!
I hope you are feeling okay, I know that mastitis can be serious stuff- it put my sister in the hospital! ….Take care of you and your family and know that we will all be here with love when you have time to breathe again!…. I hope Luke can get those tummy issues worked out as he gets a little older. It’s on my prayer list.
Love, prayers, and smiles to you and your family.
I’m lucky that I caught the mastitis early. If I would have waited until Monday (I went to the doctor on Saturday) it could have been bad. Thanks for your kind words and prayers!
Maryea, that sucks about the mastitis! Glad you’re on the mend!
I can’t wait for what you have up your sleeve. You will get it together, and before you know it, things will be so much more do-able…Promise!!
Either that, or you’ll get used to the occasional laundry pile up and sticky counter…or maybe that’s just me!
Love you!
Yep…getting used to them already! 😉
I think you’re doing the right thing by taking a break Maryea. I’ll definitely be here waiting when you decide to come back! 🙂
I hope you can get more rest and just feel more relaxed overall!
Thank you, Lisa! 🙂
Take all the time you need and no way will you lose your readers! Your blog is such a wonderful, inspirational and honest source of being a loving and healthy mom. I still have tons of your prior recipes left to cook so your break will give me some time to catch up. 🙂
Thank you so much, Ann-Louise. 🙂
I’ll be here! Get some rest. It’s natural to step back from things like blogging when you’re overwhelmed with other life stuff.
Thank you, Lee!