Milk

So two of my friends, who do not know each other, both wrote blogs today about breastfeeding. Was there something in the news I missed yesterday? One, I feel, is a realistic account of what it is like to breastfeed, which I appreciate because I feel like people don't really talk about it. They just talk about how great it is for the baby. The other one is a shout out to support breastfeeding and how our culture doesn't really support it. Now, I don't want to into too much detail about breastfeeding, mostly because people like my dad read this and it makes me feel a little awkward. However, I feel like I need to respond.

I intend to breastfeed. I know full well that some women have problems and I think that if it is not possible to breastfeed, there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving your baby formula (I don't think anyone's blog was saying there was). But I do feel (and I think this comes from my husband being a pediatrician and seeing this first-hand) that some people make mothers feel bad when they are not able to breastfeed and when it doesn't come easily. It makes them feel like a failure and there are a lot of things to feel like a failure about already with a new baby. Women also don't have the support they used to have when having a baby. I mean, there is a whole generation who were bottle fed because people were saying it was better than breastfeeding. Some of our moms don't know how to breastfeed and it seems like something that should just come naturally. But it doesn't always. That's all I'm saying. I'm all for the better conditions for mothers to make it happen and for people to not be so weird about public feeding. However, there is a perfectly nutitional alternative if it is causing too much stress in an already stressful time.

Waddle, waddle

We are T minus 30 days! The amount of peeing that needs to be done at this point is absolutely ridiculous. Seriously, I got up 4 times last night to go to the bathroom. That is a record and not one that I care to break. It was suggested that I might want to cut down on my fluids in the evening. I’ll do my best.

Elijah is about 5 ½ pounds and about 19 inches long. At the end of this week he will be considered full term. But we hope that he waits until his due date when his Dad will have vacation. He moved down a little bit this past week leading to the peeing issues and the lovely waddling stride that Mama has been doing. It kind of freaked me out at first but I have been reassured that dropping or “lightening” can happen up to 4 weeks before birth, especially for a first pregnancy.

This week we will be going to birthing and breastfeeding classes. At the end of that, we should be all ready for little boy to arrive, right? Oh yeah, we still have to set up the crib and get the car seat installed and find a daycare and… We got time though.

Picture

So, here's the only one with me in it (I guess I was the one taking photos). That was at just about 32 weeks.

And I was reminded that I hadn't announced Baby B's name, although alluded to it in the last post. His name is Elijah Carter.

6 weeks and counting down

We got moved into our new place last weekend. We are now working on getting everything unpacked and the boxes are madness. Now that we are in our new place we can try to set up baby B's room/the office. It's a lot harder than I thought to make an office slash nursery. Maybe that's because our desk weighs 5 tons. Hmm...maybe we should have thought of that before the movers carried it up 3 flights of stairs because that thing is not moving now. If anyone wants to contribute to the nursery, a link to Elijah's baby registry is on the right.

Little boy is nearly 5 pounds now (the heft of a cantelop-yuck) and about 17 inches long. He's not doing much length-growing right now because he's running out of room, but he is concentrating on putting on weight for the next 6 weeks. We went to the doctor's office last week and he is moving along on schedule and his head is down (so hopefully it stays there). Mama has been a little uncomfortable lately with some back pain. But I went in last week for a prenatal massage, which was awesome. I wish I could afford to do them every week, but I'm going to try to get in a couple more times before he comes.

I have pictures from a baby shower with some friends, but have not yet found the cord that connects the digital camera to the computer so I can download the pictures. They will be coming when that box is unpacked. You will be amazed by my gigantic-ness. But be forewarned, if I hear one more person say they don't think I'll make it another 6 weeks, I might punch them in the face. Don't be that guy. I can make a punch through the computer, don't think I won't!