Wish me luck, y’all.  I’m heading off to a meeting with a new client from a major firm.  There’s no guarantee that this will result in consulting work, but if it does, it could be a very good thing for our family — and my own sanity (I love my kids, but I also love my work — and I spent 22 years in school preparing for this, so who can blame me?).  I bailed on the interview for the project manager position last week, since I was in back labor and all, but when this opportunity came up (the day I returned home from the hospital), I couldn’t resist.  Think good thoughts for me over lunch, okay?

On another topic, yesterday Mrs. Chicken asked me if the second baby is easier at the newborn stage.  I say ABSOLUTELY.  I replied in the comments: 

Oh, yes!  The second baby is SO much easier.  At least so far!  Or maybe it’s because this little guy was full-term.  The difference between a 38+ weeker and a barely 37 weeker is HUGE.  Little Bear learned to nurse in hours; Widget took weeks to learn, and all three of us were up all day and all night until then trying to get food into him any way possible when he was this age.  I was pumping, he was screaming, we were all syringe- and finger-feeding pretty much round the clock in desparate attempts to get a couple cc’s in him at a time.  He was so little and we were all so scared for him.  Oh, and the SNS adventures!  What stress. 

I hope to never compare the two again, but these first days together have been as different as night and day.

There’s more, though.  It turns out that anybody’s second baby has a huge advantage on the nursing front, particularly if you nursed before. 

First, you know what to expect.  You’ve probably suffered through at least one difficulty with your first and learned about tons more through obsessive internet- or book-surfing during those late nights with an improperly-attached baby.  So you’re better prepared.  (And if you’re not, try these two books: The New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding, ed. Joan Y. Meek, sponsored by the AAP, and So That’s What They’re For! by Janet Tamaro.  Excellent guides, both by lactation educators, and the second is sooo reassuring.  Kind of along the Girlfriend’s Guides in terms of humor and style, but by a breastfeeding expert.  (What a world we live in where people now have to learn from books and “experts!”))

Second, your body knows what to expect.  Second-time moms’ milk comes in fast — as early as the day after childbirth — so the baby gets rewarded right away with a fast flow.  I think this made as much difference as anything.

So yeah, some things are already easier the second time around.  What’s NOT easier?  Finding 24 hours a day to spend with Widget AND 24 hours a day to spend with Little Bear.  Oh, and sleep.

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