First Solo Outing

So one of the things I want to make sure to do as a stay-at-home mom is not actually stay at home all the time. So I found a couple of local moms' groups, including one that seems very active. There were a couple of events last week that I thought about going to but one coincided with Luke's doctor's appointment and I chickened out on going to the other. Part of the reason for that is because I had yet to take Luke out on my own. Each time I've gone out with him, J has been with me. So I've been a little nervous about that.

I knew that if I just did it once, then I would have confidence to do it a second time and a third time and so on, so this morning there was a breastfeeding support group that I decided to go to. For this moms' group, there is a group on meetup.com and so you RSVP if you are going to attend an event. I RSVPed last night, knowing that if I committed to going on the website, then I'd be much more likely to go and not chicken out this morning. And indeed that was the case.

So I got Luke all ready to go and put him in his car seat. I wasn't sure about getting that right because J has been doing that each time we go out. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and I got him seated pretty quickly. I think it helps that he has grown a bit and actually fits better in the seat. I gathered up all our stuff and headed out to the car. The meeting was about a 10-minute drive away. It was a bit nerve-wracking to not have anyone in the backseat with Luke in case he got cranky or needed something. On the drive to the meeting, he was actually asleep and it was hard to not be able to check to make sure he was okay and still breathing okay. But we got there and Luke was just fine (still asleep).

I saw another woman across the parking lot wheeling a stroller so I decided to go ahead and pull out the stroller instead of trying to carry the car seat (the meeting was on the third floor of the building) especially since I'm still not supposed to carry anything heavy. I got into the building and found the room without any trouble. Inside was the lactation consultant and one other mom with an 8-week-old daughter. I got Luke out of his car seat and settled into a chair in the circle. Several other moms walked in with babies ranging from 6 weeks to 3 months and one mom with a one-year-old. The last mom to arrive had a little girl who is exactly a week younger than Luke (I also thought she looked a little familiar and at the end of the meeting, she approached me and told me that she was in my Latin class a few years back).

We talked about various questions that we had. One person asked about introducing a bottle as she's going back to work in 4 weeks but the baby currently will not take a bottle. There was some good advice in case J has problems giving Luke a bottle when I go to something like a knitting class. We talked about other topics such as thrush, and I asked about nursing in public and got some good advice. It was nice to talk with other moms and hear their experiences. This breastfeeding group meets weekly so I'll probably go back.

On the drive home, Luke was still a little hungry (although I had fed him during the meeting), so he was crying all the way home. I think I actually preferred that to his ultra quiet state because I knew why he was crying (hunger) and that meant he was technically doing just fine.

I felt pretty confidant getting Luke in and out of the car seat, carrying the seat to the car and putting it in the base, getting the stroller out and putting the car seat into it (we have a travel system), and feeding Luke and changing his diaper in public (although it was a very supportive group, obviously, it was still the first time I've done that in front of other people). So I think that I can definitely go to other meetings with this moms' group and I also feel like I can tackle going to the park or mall or somewhere else with just the two of us. It feels good to be able to get out of the house and not feel like I have to stay home.