Doing Laundry (Mom Edition)

The mom learning curve is crazy steep. My husband is at the gym and we are taking our first weekend trip with our baby boy. Naturally, laundry needs to get done. So my hubby very kindly suggested I start the load right before he heads back so we can hang it on the drying racks together when he gets back. Sounds easy right? Especially when doting hubby leaves the laundry detergent set out so just need to dump it in, turn the knob and close the lid. Wellllll, whaddyaknow baby boy woke up and is hungry. We are trying to increase milk supply so gotta get him to eat on mommy. Hubby is on his way so I attempt what seems to be a minute feat and something that should take less than 30 seconds… right? Wrong.

Baby is eating off of the left side of mom so I change from cradle hold with left arm to cross body cradle with right arm. Gotta manage to support his neck with my right carpal tunnel wrist trying to keep him stable, latched, and semi asleep and head over to the laundry machine. Thank goodness hubby set this all up, but our laundry soap containers are all at the foot of the front of our washer making the distance to reach everything a TADDDD too far. Shoot, I gotta turn the knob before I pour the soap so I can rinse out the detergent cup while water is actively running. Due to the detergents at my feet elongating my space between my body and the knob, plus the precious cargo I need to keep stabilized, my body mechanics don’t allow me to easily get this done. I manage to turn the knob by leaning my right elbow on the corner of the machine to ensure full protection of the baby and get the water running. YES!! I push my body carefully off the machine and start pouring the detergent in with my non dominant left hand. Okay, some leftover soap in the cup, that’s why we turned on the water first! Let’s rinse it, and yup of course. Detergent cup falls straight to the bottom of the machine. How do we approach the situation? Ditch the sleeping baby, put him down for a second and get this done quick and deal with putting him back to sleep OR push through and contort body to keep him safe, latched, asleep and out of waterway? Let’s go with number two like a dumbass HAHAHA! Okay, same approach, lean onto the right arm and catapult body halfway into the bottom of the machine  without smashing baby, grab cup and call it a day. With a shaky right arm, I lean in on the front right corner of the machine, keep the grip of the right hand on the back of his neck loose enough to keep him comfortable and tight enough to keep the same positioning and latch, T shirt fully covering his face and nipple just stretching to the epitome of a cheese pull due to a great latch and the full extension of my left arm into the machine. But we pull back after SUCCESS! And we close the lid to the wash. Phew! Finito! Baby is still asleep and laundry is in progress. Talk about an absolute FEAT.

Motherhood really do be making every little thing extra hard.  But man oh man, would I never change it for the world.

PS sitting here finishing up this story and my son just full on ripped a loud fart that lasted for what felt like 10 seconds, yet fast asleep. I’m sorry, make that 2 farts. Happy Momming!