I am 1.5 weeks out from surgery and one of my biggest concerns from day one of starting this process is I don't have time to be "down and out" post-surgery. I have a 6 and 10 year old...both very active in various activities and I work full time. My husband is very supportive and helps out a lot around the house, but is gone roughly 12 hours/day during the work week so I'm primarily the one running from here to there, cooking and running the basic errands.

So my question for those of you with active, younger kids...how did you manage the first few weeks out from surgery? Did you find that having to try and keep up with the family helped you because you had to focus on other tasks or were you drained?

It wasn't that fun really. Immediately after surgery I was tired, grouchy, and just didn't want to bother with the daily chores and child rearing. As you know, it didn't matter what I wanted. Life goes on regardless of how Mom feels on a given day. You can do it. Rest all you can while the kids are at school, make them help you all they can when they are home, and let go of things like keeping a spotless house and keeping the laundry folded perfectly. They can wait. In a few weeks you will be much better and able to keep up. It will all work out. You will make it just fine.

I have a 9 year old and a husband that is sort of like a 6 year old so I hear you loud and clear. The first week was pretty rough for me. I didn't really want to do anything. By the 2nd week I was bringing my daughter to school and picking her up. I would run VERY short errands like a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up extra Powerade, etc... I will tell you that after 2 weeks of having a disaster for a house (I did a HUGE deep cleaning right before surgery) I couldn't take it anymore and hired a maid to come in and do a cleaning for me. It was the best present I could have given myself.

I would try to arrange for a friend or relative to maybe come in and help with laundry, sweeping, vacuuming, etc.. since it will be a good month before you can do any of that stuff again.

Surgery on Tuesday, home on Wednesday, doing all the mom things on Thursday. I was tired and a little nauseated, but other than that, no biggie.

I didn't vacuum or lift heavy stuff, but I could cook, drive, do basic chores, etc. I work from home so no down time needed for that either.

my biggest problem was when the girls wanted to SIT NEXT TO ME to eat when I was on liquids. I love you, GO AWAY, they learned quick. :-)

I have 7 children but at the time of surgery had a 15 yr old, 18 yr old and 21 yr old living at home. the rest, thankfully are grown.