People talk all the time about how things change after children. Mostly they talk about a change in sleep pattern, change in priorities, change in body. I'm guilty, I've done it.
But what we often forget is the one thing that really, truly suffers after childbirth, especially in these cold, winter months: our hands.
I feel as though my hands are rapidly aging. They don't feel as soft or look as smooth. Instead, they are dry, cracking and have these lovely little red patches in the really dry areas. Of course, this happens when you end up washing your hands what seems like 50,000 times a day. Plus, Autumn has taken a liking to my gloves and she'll take them and wear them on her hands, leaving mine vulnerable to winter weather, even though she has her own mittens in her pockets.
When Autumn was quite small, it was worse. I'd wash my hands after every diaper. They'd be washed before nursing, while I prepared dinner and after I used the restroom myself. Then if I had to wash her bottles or my breastpump supplies after pumping three times each workday.
So you'll have to forgive me if my hands are more scaly than an iguana's backside.
I've tried to fix this by buying some wonderful "spa" lotion at Bath and Body Works. The lotions are great -- one with shea butter and one with paraffin. But the problem is shortly after I lather up, I find myself needing to wash my hands again, and I have to start over again.