It is fascinating to realize that I could have been pregnant for 38 weeks and not grasp the fact that I would be ending up with a newborn baby. I thought to myself "baby," not realizing that truly new babies never leave the house and that I had never actually met one.
So here's the dish on newborns, they have exactly six tricks: sleeping (which they don't do nearly enough of), eating (which they do ALL the time, even when they are sleeping), squalling, flailing their arms about (which complicates sleeping and eating and frequently results in squalling), creating dirty diapers (also non-stop), and occasionally cooing and looking around in a way that makes you think they might turn into a human being at some point. And the crazy thing about being a new mom is that all of this is enchanting and endlessly fascinating.
Actual quote from Ragnar to baby: "Oh, do you have a pooey diaper? Pooey ooey diaper."
Embarrassing but true.
The grandparents were in town last week which meant I got to do things like take naps, and showers....I think I even brushed my teeth at some point. Mostly their visit consisted of me nursing the baby and them being grandparents, by which I mean that they were endlessly fascinated by all six of baby's newborn skills.
At some point though we got to talking about all the different baby organizations, and how people can get so obsessed about certain aspects of babies and parenting. Like N.I.N.O. who think babies should get nine months of being carried on the outside in addition to the nine months on the inside...I agree coincidentally. And La Leche League, the breastfeeding enforcers, who I also agree with, but people get sort of weird about breastfeeding and breastmilk, and it all gets to be a bit much.
Example: Storknet has a recipe for breastmilk cottage cheese. First ingredient? 16 cups of breastmilk. Yeah. Okay. Because I've got an extra 16 cups of breastmilk that needs to be turned into cheese. Uh-huh.
Or even creepier: Mother's milk ice cream. Check out that logo, perky pink nipples and everything. I can't tell for sure but it seems to be someone's school project, but the idea of a commercially available ice cream made from human milk brings up some questions...like who exactly are they milking?
Ragnar....it's all I do, so it's what I'm thinkin' about.
2 comments:
Just giving you a big, fat, cyber thumbs-up to whipping out the boob for your baby!!
I found a web site a few years back that listed all of the "off label" uses for breastmilk. It was quite ... EXTENSIVE! LOL
16 cups of breastmilk? good god. I don't think I made 16 teaspoons. My little guy was so early that the whole breast-feeding thing never worked out for either one of us... which was sort of sad. I tried though.
My son NEVER slept. He finally started sleeping through the whole night at 4 YEARS old.
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