AKA the PrimaDonna AKA the turd AKA the most gorgeous thing ever . . .
So I have a kid. An adorable, won't-stop-fussing-during-the-day, little girl. When they told me that it was a girl, I almost had a heart attack. Well, I was heavily doped up and exhausted after being unsuccessfully in labor for almost 20 hours, so actually I think I said "OH" and then promptly fell asleep. But now, I'm about ready to have a heart attack. Me, with a girl??? What the h-- am I going to do?? Everyone thought I was having a boy. And I mean everyone, including the random girl in the Social Security line that called out to me one day just to guess that I was having a boy. Well, actually first, she said I was having a girl. Then she asked me to turn around and said, no, no, I'm definitely having a boy. And come on, random people hanging out in line accosting pregnant women are ALWAYS right, no? I guess a few people guessed I was having a girl, but for the most part, everyone seemed to think I carried like a boy. The Chinese gender predictor also expected me to have a boy. As did a number of internet tests. Which goes to show you that the internet is apparently not always right. I know, you could have blown me over with a feather!!
Anyway, I'm shocked, but utterly in love. Maybe I'm biased but I'm pretty convinced that I have the cutest girl ever. Even when she's being a total turd, like she has been this week, she's pretty darn adorable. Her eyes tear up when she's crying (and she's been doing a lot of that this week) and sometimes all I want to do is laugh cuz it's so cute.
I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration. This week, she's been super fussy. They say newborns feed anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. Which sucks cuz it means I never really sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch (cuz it takes a good hour to do a feeding a put her back down). She sleeps pretty well at night, and I've been taking advantage more and more and stretching the feedings farther out than I probably should. But during the day, she feeds for however long she decides to feed for, then fusses until the 1.5 mark comes up and then is hungry again. I can handle sleeping in short increments if I absolutely have to but no one told me that I'd be stuck with a crying kid all day who constantly pooped and peed between feedings (seriously, sometimes I went through 3-4 diaper changes in a half hr period this week). And honestly, no matter how cute she is when she cries, this part has NOT been fun. I suddenly get why new moms get so frustrated. There have been moments this week when I've wanted to cry myself, and I don't look nearly as cute doing it (actually far from it -- I'm totally gross now, I'm lucky if I can sneak in a shower every day and usually right after I come out, I usually get spit up on or something so that all my shirts now seem permanently stained with baby barf).
So anyway, all this is my roundabout way of saying that I have a new baby girl. And I'm trying to get back to blogging. But it's hard. When I do get a couple of hours during the day when the kid seems to be passed out, I want to nap myself. Or eat, or hop in the shower. I don't know that I've done any of those things this week without getting woken up. I was in the shower for 5 minutes yesterday when my brother yelled out that the DZ had taken a huge dump and was fussing (you can hear her pooping -- I'm honestly surprised I didn't hear it in the shower, she's so loud). G went back to work this week, so I'm struggling to manage on my own. My little brother is here hanging out this week, and has been helpful in some ways, but it's not the same. As evidenced by the fact that when she took a dump yesterday, he was nice enough to yell that out to me and had her waiting to be changed on the changing table but didn't actually change the diaper himself.
I don't plan on this becoming a mommy blog or anything, but I have lots of baby-related stuff to write about. Hopefully, as the weeks go by, I'll get into a groove, and get back into blogging regularly. I know you're all dying to hear about my gruesome labor details and breastfeeding issues. But for now, you'll have to bear with me a bit, and just keep checking in for new posts every so often.
Oh, I'm still debating putting up baby pictures on this blog. I'm not sure how comfortable I feel about that yet -- I don't know, I watch too many grisly crime shows and there was this one I remember where this guy got hit with pornography charges because some wacko stumbled onto his family blog or something. I know it's a long shot, especially with the small readership that I have, but I'm still debating. Of course, all of you that are on Facebook will get lots of photo updates, as I find more time to start sorting through more pictures.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
science vs. myth
Yesterday, I had another doctor's appointment, and it was oh-so-fun to go with my mom. My doctor had already told me that she doesn't feel comfortable waiting more than one week past the due date, so yesterday, we started talking about an induction date. Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't still go into labor on my own before then, but she wanted to at least set a date to induce assuming that nothing happens in the meantime. This was an expected conversation, and I had already told my mom that it was coming. And yes, there's a little bit of variation in that some docs seem to allow for a little more time (10 days to 2 weeks) and it seems to be mostly a matter of personal preference/sense of caution. My doctor says 1 week, and I'm fine with that.
Anyway, so we start talking and my mom immediately chimes in. Well, actually, she had already chimed in the moment she met my doc by saying that she hoped that my doc had good news for us and could tell us when to expect the baby to pop out. Um, ok, it doesn't really work like that. And there were a few other random questions after that too, that were already starting to rub me the wrong way because I had plenty of questions on my own, and I hate being railroaded in my own doctor's appointment. Plus, I'm not a kid, I like to ask my own questions thank you much. AND, it's not like she's been to any of my appointments before, so she just kept asking repetitive stuff that I already knew.
So then, we started talking induction. And our conversation went something like this.
ME: I'm a bit worried because I've heard that inducing is associated with greater risk of c-sections.
MY MOM: I don't understand why you can't wait longer. Can't you wait 10 days to 2 weeks. Why do we have to schedule this now? (Hopefully, you caught the bit earlier about how this whole conversation was expected and I had already explained to my mom the reasons the doc gave me for not wanting to go past one week. But to my mom, apparently, my doctor is like a salesman. It's all about getting the best deal possible).
ME: The other thing about inductions that worries me is that I've heard contractions with pitocin are much stronger and more painful. I don't deal with pain well.
MY MOM: So if we're going to induce, I'd like to do it on the 20th because that's supposed to be an auspicious day to have the baby.
And that's when I lost it -- seriously, she started contemplating the best possible dates for induction based on the Indian calendar. I was - and still am - pissed. This is something that has always annoyed the hell out of me. In my family, everything's always about what the right time to do something is (right day, right hour, right month). I mean, I should be tolerant and all that, but I can't help it. I find it to be the most ridiculous thing ever.
And pretty much that's how the rest of the appointment went. Me asking what I felt to be serious medical questions with my mom trying to hijack the conversation with Indian superstition. And what made it worse is that my mom doesn't really know the Indian calendar that well (with respect to what's the best day and all that). So she was just hypothesizing, probably in the hopes of asking my dad or some one else later on. "What about this day, would you be able to induce that day?" etc. etc. My doctor, I have to say, was much more patient than I was.
On the way home, my mom asked again why she couldn't predict when my labor would be. After all, she's a doctor. She had my ultrasounds. Why couldn't see with more precision when I'd deliver? It's ridiculous. And on and on. Apparently, my doctor now needs to have super powers.
Anyway, so we start talking and my mom immediately chimes in. Well, actually, she had already chimed in the moment she met my doc by saying that she hoped that my doc had good news for us and could tell us when to expect the baby to pop out. Um, ok, it doesn't really work like that. And there were a few other random questions after that too, that were already starting to rub me the wrong way because I had plenty of questions on my own, and I hate being railroaded in my own doctor's appointment. Plus, I'm not a kid, I like to ask my own questions thank you much. AND, it's not like she's been to any of my appointments before, so she just kept asking repetitive stuff that I already knew.
So then, we started talking induction. And our conversation went something like this.
ME: I'm a bit worried because I've heard that inducing is associated with greater risk of c-sections.
MY MOM: I don't understand why you can't wait longer. Can't you wait 10 days to 2 weeks. Why do we have to schedule this now? (Hopefully, you caught the bit earlier about how this whole conversation was expected and I had already explained to my mom the reasons the doc gave me for not wanting to go past one week. But to my mom, apparently, my doctor is like a salesman. It's all about getting the best deal possible).
ME: The other thing about inductions that worries me is that I've heard contractions with pitocin are much stronger and more painful. I don't deal with pain well.
MY MOM: So if we're going to induce, I'd like to do it on the 20th because that's supposed to be an auspicious day to have the baby.
And that's when I lost it -- seriously, she started contemplating the best possible dates for induction based on the Indian calendar. I was - and still am - pissed. This is something that has always annoyed the hell out of me. In my family, everything's always about what the right time to do something is (right day, right hour, right month). I mean, I should be tolerant and all that, but I can't help it. I find it to be the most ridiculous thing ever.
And pretty much that's how the rest of the appointment went. Me asking what I felt to be serious medical questions with my mom trying to hijack the conversation with Indian superstition. And what made it worse is that my mom doesn't really know the Indian calendar that well (with respect to what's the best day and all that). So she was just hypothesizing, probably in the hopes of asking my dad or some one else later on. "What about this day, would you be able to induce that day?" etc. etc. My doctor, I have to say, was much more patient than I was.
On the way home, my mom asked again why she couldn't predict when my labor would be. After all, she's a doctor. She had my ultrasounds. Why couldn't see with more precision when I'd deliver? It's ridiculous. And on and on. Apparently, my doctor now needs to have super powers.
Poll
So I'm now officially in overtime. My due date was yesterday and the little sucker has decided to stay in a bit longer. I know, I know, everyone's thinking that the whole being late thing must run in the family. :) But if that's the case, I'm kind of wishing the kid had inherited my impatience rather than the lateness gene.
Anyway, with nothing better to do, I was thinking of getting a little poll going. Any guesses on what the kid will be and when it'll turn up? Was thinking I could have us all guess on when the baby will be born (what date, what time), gender, weight, and length. Winner will get something eventually . . . though I think I still haven't delivered on that $5 Starbucks gift card to Lisa way back when for the last poll I did - sorry!
I'm going to do it too, so will start us off in the comments section. And I'll tell you now what I already know. My due date was yesterday, and my doctor wants to induce on the 19th if I haven't already had it by then. So in terms of the date, you only have a short window to really play with. Everything else is up for grabs.
Here are a few recent pics of me too for those of you that want to see how I'm carrying or something like that to better guess the gender.
And stay tuned, I actually have another post coming today also, just because I really do have nothing else going on.
Anyway, with nothing better to do, I was thinking of getting a little poll going. Any guesses on what the kid will be and when it'll turn up? Was thinking I could have us all guess on when the baby will be born (what date, what time), gender, weight, and length. Winner will get something eventually . . . though I think I still haven't delivered on that $5 Starbucks gift card to Lisa way back when for the last poll I did - sorry!
I'm going to do it too, so will start us off in the comments section. And I'll tell you now what I already know. My due date was yesterday, and my doctor wants to induce on the 19th if I haven't already had it by then. So in terms of the date, you only have a short window to really play with. Everything else is up for grabs.
Here are a few recent pics of me too for those of you that want to see how I'm carrying or something like that to better guess the gender.
And stay tuned, I actually have another post coming today also, just because I really do have nothing else going on.
Monday, July 12, 2010
the last week
So as of last Tues, I've been at home on maternity leave. Last week, the whole idea of maternity leave seemed great. I couldn't find enough hours in a day to do everything I needed to do. A spa day (with massage, facial, pedicure, and haircut) on Wed, a bunch of errands on Thurs, a string of coffee and lunch dates on Fri . . . I was bummed on the days that I couldn't squeeze a nap in or watch all the tv I wanted to. It was a tough life, and I felt like I could just do it forever.
Everything changed though on Sat after my mom came. I mean, it's been nice having her here (AWESOME home cooked meals, need I say more?), but she had been in the car maybe 20 minutes before she started nagging. And it hasn't stopped. It's usually mixed in with normal conversations, so it's not like we've spent the whole visits arguing. Far from it. But my mom has this knack for never letting things go. And just when you start to feel like things are all right and we're getting along, she'll manage to throw that nit picky thing in. It's pitch perfect timing, I almost wonder if she practices in her spare time.
So far, she's found plenty to nag about. She can't believe we let all 3 dogs in the house. Isn't it time to throw them in the backyard now that we're about to have a baby? How do we even know that they'll get along with the baby? G said at one point that of course if it becomes a problem, we'll have to consider it, but until then they're indoor dogs. This was on top of me becoming almost apoplectic approximately the 10th time she brought it up. But I'm pretty sure it's not a topic that's been laid to rest yet.
The whole name thing has also been high on her list of annoying topics. She thinks we should use my maiden name as the middle name if it's a boy. For those of you that know it, you realize why that's a terrible idea. She keeps telling me how it's tradition to name at least the first kid after their grandparents, and the fact that I'm not doing it makes me a terrible Indian and so disrespectful of my culture. I'm thinking that the next time she brings it up, I'm going to tell her that she's absolutely right. We should name our kid after his or her grandparents, and out of respect for our family heritage, we've decided to go with G's parents' names as middle names. See how that sits.
What else? The house is old. Our couch is old (never mind that when we moved as kids, my parents kept this ratty old couch for years after until they finally decided it was time to get something else). There is no fan in the bathroom. The dogs shed too much (though in her defense on this one, the dogs are definitely shedding a lot at the moment). And they smell. The pillow is too soft. There is no disposal in the kitchen sink. She wants me to come up for two weeks (dude, she's only been here for a day and a half, she's already thinking ahead). I made the mistake of saying 2 weeks was a long time so that was pretty unlikely, so she's been on me about that ever since (G was much more tactful, said that we could see, but the damage was already done by that point - I'll never learn).
Anyway, so it's been a fun time. So now, I'm on a mission to get this baby out as fast as possible, to at least have something to distract me from the rest of the visit. According to the internet, there's lots of natural ways to induce labor, and I've been trying them all. Of course, exercise is supposed to be the most effective. So I've been taking the dogs on at least 2 walks a day. I also read in an online forum that some women have managed to induce labor by rolling around on an exercise ball. So guess what I've been doing while watching tv? Spicy food is classic of course -- I was tempted to drink a bottle of hot sauce except that that brings on one of my major labor fears: pooping during the delivery. Same with castor oil, which is supposed to just give you diarrhea (but sometimes also gets contractions going too with all the activity down there). Sex is an old standby too, but man, it's pretty uncomfortable at this point. If you know of any other tricks, please let me know. I'm willing to try most things.
Everything changed though on Sat after my mom came. I mean, it's been nice having her here (AWESOME home cooked meals, need I say more?), but she had been in the car maybe 20 minutes before she started nagging. And it hasn't stopped. It's usually mixed in with normal conversations, so it's not like we've spent the whole visits arguing. Far from it. But my mom has this knack for never letting things go. And just when you start to feel like things are all right and we're getting along, she'll manage to throw that nit picky thing in. It's pitch perfect timing, I almost wonder if she practices in her spare time.
So far, she's found plenty to nag about. She can't believe we let all 3 dogs in the house. Isn't it time to throw them in the backyard now that we're about to have a baby? How do we even know that they'll get along with the baby? G said at one point that of course if it becomes a problem, we'll have to consider it, but until then they're indoor dogs. This was on top of me becoming almost apoplectic approximately the 10th time she brought it up. But I'm pretty sure it's not a topic that's been laid to rest yet.
The whole name thing has also been high on her list of annoying topics. She thinks we should use my maiden name as the middle name if it's a boy. For those of you that know it, you realize why that's a terrible idea. She keeps telling me how it's tradition to name at least the first kid after their grandparents, and the fact that I'm not doing it makes me a terrible Indian and so disrespectful of my culture. I'm thinking that the next time she brings it up, I'm going to tell her that she's absolutely right. We should name our kid after his or her grandparents, and out of respect for our family heritage, we've decided to go with G's parents' names as middle names. See how that sits.
What else? The house is old. Our couch is old (never mind that when we moved as kids, my parents kept this ratty old couch for years after until they finally decided it was time to get something else). There is no fan in the bathroom. The dogs shed too much (though in her defense on this one, the dogs are definitely shedding a lot at the moment). And they smell. The pillow is too soft. There is no disposal in the kitchen sink. She wants me to come up for two weeks (dude, she's only been here for a day and a half, she's already thinking ahead). I made the mistake of saying 2 weeks was a long time so that was pretty unlikely, so she's been on me about that ever since (G was much more tactful, said that we could see, but the damage was already done by that point - I'll never learn).
Anyway, so it's been a fun time. So now, I'm on a mission to get this baby out as fast as possible, to at least have something to distract me from the rest of the visit. According to the internet, there's lots of natural ways to induce labor, and I've been trying them all. Of course, exercise is supposed to be the most effective. So I've been taking the dogs on at least 2 walks a day. I also read in an online forum that some women have managed to induce labor by rolling around on an exercise ball. So guess what I've been doing while watching tv? Spicy food is classic of course -- I was tempted to drink a bottle of hot sauce except that that brings on one of my major labor fears: pooping during the delivery. Same with castor oil, which is supposed to just give you diarrhea (but sometimes also gets contractions going too with all the activity down there). Sex is an old standby too, but man, it's pretty uncomfortable at this point. If you know of any other tricks, please let me know. I'm willing to try most things.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
a few bits and pieces
My mom is coming on the 10th! She's been agonizing over the decision for weeks now, trying to get me to leak some information about when the baby might be showing up. I know that it's easy to believe that I might have the inside track on this info, but somehow, the kid's not talking. So my mom's been torn. She wants to be here for the delivery but only has a total of 3 (maybe 4) weeks off from work. So she doesn't want to waste it sitting around waiting for me to pop. But she finally made the big move and bought the ticket, deciding to err on the side of caution, and is crossing her fingers that I won't be too late. So I guess we'll see.
What I'm most amazed by is that I kind of can't wait for her to get here. Don't you dare tell her I said so. Just a few weeks ago, the thought of her being here for such a long time kind of freaked me out. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but I haven't been under the same roof with my roof for this long since college. And even after a few days, we start to bicker. But lately, I've been feeling something almost like relief. And I think it has to do with my constant tiredness. Lately, it's seemed like each day gets harder and harder. I wake up early, come into work, try to work some extra hours to stock up on a little more leave, and come home. And home never seems like that much of a picnic either. There's dinner to be prepped, dogs to be walked, dishes in the sink that seem to pile up for days, and usually no more than a 2-3 hours to do it. Because if I can't get myself off to bed by 10 at the absolute latest, I'm a wreck the next day. The thought of my mom taking over some of the household tasks sounds amazing. By that point, of course, I'll already be on maternity leave, so maybe it won't be the same rut, but I'm thinking the baby will be a whole new source of exhuastion. So I'm ready for the all the help I can get.
I think G feels it too. With me working longer hours, he's had to do more of the dog walking and household chores. Our weekends have been spent at baby classes or running the random errands we never have time for during the week, and we're both just beat. So more and more, I hear "maybe your mom will want to do that" creeping into his conversations, usually when things like cleaning random cupboards in the kitchen are involved. :) My poor mother has no idea what's in store for her.
In other news, yesterday, I walked into the bathroom at work and one of my co-workers M was in there. She proceeded to tell me how she was happy she had thought to bring some extra undies into work because she'd had a bit of an accident. Awesome. I love knowing that those details about my co-workers, you know, who has urinary incontinence, who doesn't. . . . She's not old and she's not pregnant, so not sure what the deal is. But she did manage to tell me that this isn't the first time this has happened. This is actually the same lady who months ago, when I happened to tell her I was pregnant, went off on a random tangent about how she'd had a boyfriend once who tried to pressure her into getting pregnant. But there was something off about him, and she was never quite sure what his deal was. He was Lebanese or something, and she'd often wake up in the middle of the night to hear him talking to a bunch of people in her living room. I think she wondered if he was a terrorist. And apparently he had an anger problem. I gotta say, it was the most interesting reaction I had to my pregnancy news.
Also a few months ago at work, I got punked. We had a visit from our regional chief judge in the SF office at some point. I'd seen him once or twice before but had never really officially met him. But we were scheduled for a meeting between him, the attorneys, and the judges. Earlier in the day, he walked around the office and met with various other people. One of our newer office judges at some point informed me that I should try to talk to the chief judge during the day because he apparently had a bunch of baby items in his car that he's been trying to get rid of. They belonged to his grandkids or something. Judge Wiseguy thought I should hit him up and said that actually he had already told the chief about me, so he wouldn't be surprised if I approached him about it.
OK, let me stop here and say that ever since I got pregnant, I've had all kinds of people tell me they have stuff. So why would I think anything of this? I mean, sure, it's a little weird that a 60-year-old man would be driving around with onesies in his car, but wtf, why would I assume it's made up? For crying out loud, I have co-workers that inform me when they leak pee in their pants, surely this is nothing crazier than that? But anyway, I'm sure you can see where this is going. It was all made up, of course. And I was the idiot that approached our Chief Judge after the big group meeting and asked him about the baby stuff in his car. Judge Wiseguy happened to be standing by when I did it and I'm sure loved the expression of total confusion on the chief's face. Although I think he was kind of shocked that I fell for it and he jumped in trying to explain. And basically left the chief judge even more confused cuz I'm not sure he entirely understood what I was asking anyway, and then Judge Wiseguy jumped in before I could repeat myself. All in all, it was sort of a bizarre joke, and I didn't fully get why it was funny. But I got to walk around for weeks after listening to Judge Wiseguy tell the story and people looking at me in confusion going, "I don't understand -- why would you think the CHIEF JUDGE would have baby gear in his car that he drove down from SF just in the hopes of some random person being pregnant????" I guess they've got a point there, the more I heard it, the less likely it seemed. Anyway, if anyone's got a good joke I can play on our office prankster let me know because I'm still mulling it over.
What I'm most amazed by is that I kind of can't wait for her to get here. Don't you dare tell her I said so. Just a few weeks ago, the thought of her being here for such a long time kind of freaked me out. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but I haven't been under the same roof with my roof for this long since college. And even after a few days, we start to bicker. But lately, I've been feeling something almost like relief. And I think it has to do with my constant tiredness. Lately, it's seemed like each day gets harder and harder. I wake up early, come into work, try to work some extra hours to stock up on a little more leave, and come home. And home never seems like that much of a picnic either. There's dinner to be prepped, dogs to be walked, dishes in the sink that seem to pile up for days, and usually no more than a 2-3 hours to do it. Because if I can't get myself off to bed by 10 at the absolute latest, I'm a wreck the next day. The thought of my mom taking over some of the household tasks sounds amazing. By that point, of course, I'll already be on maternity leave, so maybe it won't be the same rut, but I'm thinking the baby will be a whole new source of exhuastion. So I'm ready for the all the help I can get.
I think G feels it too. With me working longer hours, he's had to do more of the dog walking and household chores. Our weekends have been spent at baby classes or running the random errands we never have time for during the week, and we're both just beat. So more and more, I hear "maybe your mom will want to do that" creeping into his conversations, usually when things like cleaning random cupboards in the kitchen are involved. :) My poor mother has no idea what's in store for her.
In other news, yesterday, I walked into the bathroom at work and one of my co-workers M was in there. She proceeded to tell me how she was happy she had thought to bring some extra undies into work because she'd had a bit of an accident. Awesome. I love knowing that those details about my co-workers, you know, who has urinary incontinence, who doesn't. . . . She's not old and she's not pregnant, so not sure what the deal is. But she did manage to tell me that this isn't the first time this has happened. This is actually the same lady who months ago, when I happened to tell her I was pregnant, went off on a random tangent about how she'd had a boyfriend once who tried to pressure her into getting pregnant. But there was something off about him, and she was never quite sure what his deal was. He was Lebanese or something, and she'd often wake up in the middle of the night to hear him talking to a bunch of people in her living room. I think she wondered if he was a terrorist. And apparently he had an anger problem. I gotta say, it was the most interesting reaction I had to my pregnancy news.
Also a few months ago at work, I got punked. We had a visit from our regional chief judge in the SF office at some point. I'd seen him once or twice before but had never really officially met him. But we were scheduled for a meeting between him, the attorneys, and the judges. Earlier in the day, he walked around the office and met with various other people. One of our newer office judges at some point informed me that I should try to talk to the chief judge during the day because he apparently had a bunch of baby items in his car that he's been trying to get rid of. They belonged to his grandkids or something. Judge Wiseguy thought I should hit him up and said that actually he had already told the chief about me, so he wouldn't be surprised if I approached him about it.
OK, let me stop here and say that ever since I got pregnant, I've had all kinds of people tell me they have stuff. So why would I think anything of this? I mean, sure, it's a little weird that a 60-year-old man would be driving around with onesies in his car, but wtf, why would I assume it's made up? For crying out loud, I have co-workers that inform me when they leak pee in their pants, surely this is nothing crazier than that? But anyway, I'm sure you can see where this is going. It was all made up, of course. And I was the idiot that approached our Chief Judge after the big group meeting and asked him about the baby stuff in his car. Judge Wiseguy happened to be standing by when I did it and I'm sure loved the expression of total confusion on the chief's face. Although I think he was kind of shocked that I fell for it and he jumped in trying to explain. And basically left the chief judge even more confused cuz I'm not sure he entirely understood what I was asking anyway, and then Judge Wiseguy jumped in before I could repeat myself. All in all, it was sort of a bizarre joke, and I didn't fully get why it was funny. But I got to walk around for weeks after listening to Judge Wiseguy tell the story and people looking at me in confusion going, "I don't understand -- why would you think the CHIEF JUDGE would have baby gear in his car that he drove down from SF just in the hopes of some random person being pregnant????" I guess they've got a point there, the more I heard it, the less likely it seemed. Anyway, if anyone's got a good joke I can play on our office prankster let me know because I'm still mulling it over.
Monday, June 28, 2010
It's easy being green
Actually, it’s not THAT easy, I’m realizing. Kermit was right, I guess. But it is easy to want to be green, to fall in love with the thought of it. At least for me. But the execution always seems to be a lot harder.
Take, for example, my new obsession with cloth diapers. For a long time, I thought that people that used them were a bit crazy. I mean, not in a bad way, but you’d have to be pretty gung ho green to accept the challenge. I mean, come on, you got the smells to deal with. The annoying little pins. And then washing poop in your laundry machine?? EWWW. Plus, I grew up in India where that’s all there was when I was a baby. Seems like if I have modern conveniences available to me, why not use them?
And then a few weeks ago, G and I went to a basic baby care class and they passed around some different diapers. They weren’t pushing any particular type, but just had some out there for people who haven’t had have much exposure to diapers before. And a compostable diaper caught my attention. I had no idea they had such things, and when we got home, G and I started looking them up. The thing is, you go through a LOT of diapers, and it does make us feel bad. And G and I do actually try to be green when we can – we started composting recently because we started feeling bad about all our food waste. Last year, we were quite actively looking into installing solar panels and would have likely installed them if we had sure we’d actually live in our current house for much longer. We even have recycled dogs, in that they’re mostly all pound puppies. J I mean, it’s not like we’re one step away from moving to an ecological commune and pooping into a bucket or anything like that, but it’s nice to do what we can to reduce our impact on the world.
Anyway, when we got home G showed me a link to some compostable diapers on Amazon. But looking into it a bit, we noticed that that particular brand was only 70% compostable. I mean, come on, if we’re going to shell out the slightly extra dough for compostable diapers, I want them to be 100% biodegradable. So I started Googling. And guess what? It turns out that it doesn’t matter how compostable a diaper is. The problem is that unless you take them to a composting facility, they end up in a landfill anyway. And apparently, nothing degrades in a landfill. So what would be the point? Commercial composting facilities that can handle diapers are apparently few and far between in the US.
So we moved on . . . turns out there are a few diaper services around that deliver compostable diapers and take them away each week. That’s not a bad option. Unfortunately none of them deliver to our little hole in the wall.
Then I ran across these things called GDiapers. Compostable diapers that you can flush down the toilet. Or compost in your own home composter. Either way, they don’t end up in the landfill! Aside from the slight EW factor associated with diapers mixing into our compost bin along with our veggie remains, seems ingenious right? I started reading reviews and asking people about them. For one thing, I gotta say, they’re adorable. Not the compostable part. But basically, you buy outer waterproof covers that you have to wash and reuse. And then they sell the flushable inserts. And the covers are kinda cute. They seem to have a fairly loyal following, but there are also naysayers out there as well. People that complain about the diapers clogging up their toilets, about the inserts not being that cheap. It’s true. It costs as much to buy the inserts as it does to buy disposables. To me, it seems like a great alternative. But I guess to people that look to cloth diapers as an inexpensive alternative, GDiapers just don’t make the cut.
And of course, that’s how I got led into the cloth diaper research. Crazy how a simple Google search can totally alter your outlook on something. It turns out that there are a lot of cloth diaper psychos out there. People who live and breathe by the cloth diaper, who wash their own, and join forums to lead others into the light. People who, and I kid you not, even make their own diapers and detergent solutions. And one of the key things they repeat over and over again is that cloth diapers are not the old school disgusting things that we probably all picture. For one, they come pre-folded now. You don’t have to fold them up yourself and put a big pin on each side. You can get Velcro and snaps. You get the cloth diaper, and you also have to use an outer waterproof cover. And the outer covers are pretty cute. There’s also a bit of research out there that shows that kids who use cloth diapers get fewer diaper rashes (because you have to change them more often – disposables are very absorbent and people tend to try to go as long as possible between changes). Also, kids who use cloth potty train sooner because they’re more aware of themselves being wet.
When you start getting into it, it’s not all peaches ‘n cream, of course. You use a lot more water and detergent when you use and wash your own cloth. The most environmentally conscious way to do it is to use biodegradable detergents and line dry the diapers. Or use a service that washes so many at once that it’s worth the materials. Also, cotton is one of the worst crops in the world in terms of pesticide use. So using organic cotton is best, although most diaper services don’t provide them. Or G found some bamboo diapers which apparently are awesome because bamboo grows like crazy and thrives without fertilizer or pesticides and without draining the soil’s nutrients. And again, how cute are they? This is what I mean by it being easy to be green but not at the same time. There’s lots of info out there and of course nothing is without environmental impact. The key for us is to find something that we can live with. I’m not going to be a stay-at-home mom, I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle on washing a load of bamboo diapers every other day and hanging them out to dry. Sorry.
And man, once you start looking at one green thing, it’s easy to get wrapped up in that too. For example, there are all kinds of biodegradable wipes out there, or cloth wipes too for that matter. OR disposable and non-disposable bamboo wipes. Needless to say, I don’t know what to focus on more these days, my Huffington Post addiction or my search for green baby items. And kind of randomly, I discovered that actually, I’m not alone: apparently something like 69% of people report being more green when they get pregnant/have their first child. How bizarre is that? Do you think it’s hormonal?
Anyway, so we’re still unsure what we’ll do in the long run. But, after some difficulty, I did find a cloth service that’ll deliver to our little town. They don’t have the fancy compostable or organic options, just straight forward cotton. Figure for now, we’ll test it out and see how we do. Maybe also get a few cute little bamboo diapers and GDiapers and see how it feels to wash them ourselves every once in a while. And of course we have a lot of disposables given to us by friends, so we’ll throw those into the mix during the first month or two also and see what we like best. Cost-wise, it’s probably the same or cheaper to do the service as it is to buy disposables. With that, and the fact that they bring them to your door, it seems a shame to not give them a shot.
The funny thing is how quickly I’ve turned 180 on the issue. When we first started discussing it, G was the one who thought that even washing our diapers might not be as hard as it sounds. How much effort is it to throw one more load in the wash, we’ll be doing more loads already with all the baby stuff? And while I’m still resistant to that idea, the thought of it doesn’t gross me out as it used to. Within the span of a day or two, I went from “no way in hell” to “maybe, if it’s not too much hassle.”
So we’ll see where we end up.
Take, for example, my new obsession with cloth diapers. For a long time, I thought that people that used them were a bit crazy. I mean, not in a bad way, but you’d have to be pretty gung ho green to accept the challenge. I mean, come on, you got the smells to deal with. The annoying little pins. And then washing poop in your laundry machine?? EWWW. Plus, I grew up in India where that’s all there was when I was a baby. Seems like if I have modern conveniences available to me, why not use them?
And then a few weeks ago, G and I went to a basic baby care class and they passed around some different diapers. They weren’t pushing any particular type, but just had some out there for people who haven’t had have much exposure to diapers before. And a compostable diaper caught my attention. I had no idea they had such things, and when we got home, G and I started looking them up. The thing is, you go through a LOT of diapers, and it does make us feel bad. And G and I do actually try to be green when we can – we started composting recently because we started feeling bad about all our food waste. Last year, we were quite actively looking into installing solar panels and would have likely installed them if we had sure we’d actually live in our current house for much longer. We even have recycled dogs, in that they’re mostly all pound puppies. J I mean, it’s not like we’re one step away from moving to an ecological commune and pooping into a bucket or anything like that, but it’s nice to do what we can to reduce our impact on the world.
Anyway, when we got home G showed me a link to some compostable diapers on Amazon. But looking into it a bit, we noticed that that particular brand was only 70% compostable. I mean, come on, if we’re going to shell out the slightly extra dough for compostable diapers, I want them to be 100% biodegradable. So I started Googling. And guess what? It turns out that it doesn’t matter how compostable a diaper is. The problem is that unless you take them to a composting facility, they end up in a landfill anyway. And apparently, nothing degrades in a landfill. So what would be the point? Commercial composting facilities that can handle diapers are apparently few and far between in the US.
So we moved on . . . turns out there are a few diaper services around that deliver compostable diapers and take them away each week. That’s not a bad option. Unfortunately none of them deliver to our little hole in the wall.
Then I ran across these things called GDiapers. Compostable diapers that you can flush down the toilet. Or compost in your own home composter. Either way, they don’t end up in the landfill! Aside from the slight EW factor associated with diapers mixing into our compost bin along with our veggie remains, seems ingenious right? I started reading reviews and asking people about them. For one thing, I gotta say, they’re adorable. Not the compostable part. But basically, you buy outer waterproof covers that you have to wash and reuse. And then they sell the flushable inserts. And the covers are kinda cute. They seem to have a fairly loyal following, but there are also naysayers out there as well. People that complain about the diapers clogging up their toilets, about the inserts not being that cheap. It’s true. It costs as much to buy the inserts as it does to buy disposables. To me, it seems like a great alternative. But I guess to people that look to cloth diapers as an inexpensive alternative, GDiapers just don’t make the cut.
And of course, that’s how I got led into the cloth diaper research. Crazy how a simple Google search can totally alter your outlook on something. It turns out that there are a lot of cloth diaper psychos out there. People who live and breathe by the cloth diaper, who wash their own, and join forums to lead others into the light. People who, and I kid you not, even make their own diapers and detergent solutions. And one of the key things they repeat over and over again is that cloth diapers are not the old school disgusting things that we probably all picture. For one, they come pre-folded now. You don’t have to fold them up yourself and put a big pin on each side. You can get Velcro and snaps. You get the cloth diaper, and you also have to use an outer waterproof cover. And the outer covers are pretty cute. There’s also a bit of research out there that shows that kids who use cloth diapers get fewer diaper rashes (because you have to change them more often – disposables are very absorbent and people tend to try to go as long as possible between changes). Also, kids who use cloth potty train sooner because they’re more aware of themselves being wet.
When you start getting into it, it’s not all peaches ‘n cream, of course. You use a lot more water and detergent when you use and wash your own cloth. The most environmentally conscious way to do it is to use biodegradable detergents and line dry the diapers. Or use a service that washes so many at once that it’s worth the materials. Also, cotton is one of the worst crops in the world in terms of pesticide use. So using organic cotton is best, although most diaper services don’t provide them. Or G found some bamboo diapers which apparently are awesome because bamboo grows like crazy and thrives without fertilizer or pesticides and without draining the soil’s nutrients. And again, how cute are they? This is what I mean by it being easy to be green but not at the same time. There’s lots of info out there and of course nothing is without environmental impact. The key for us is to find something that we can live with. I’m not going to be a stay-at-home mom, I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle on washing a load of bamboo diapers every other day and hanging them out to dry. Sorry.
And man, once you start looking at one green thing, it’s easy to get wrapped up in that too. For example, there are all kinds of biodegradable wipes out there, or cloth wipes too for that matter. OR disposable and non-disposable bamboo wipes. Needless to say, I don’t know what to focus on more these days, my Huffington Post addiction or my search for green baby items. And kind of randomly, I discovered that actually, I’m not alone: apparently something like 69% of people report being more green when they get pregnant/have their first child. How bizarre is that? Do you think it’s hormonal?
Anyway, so we’re still unsure what we’ll do in the long run. But, after some difficulty, I did find a cloth service that’ll deliver to our little town. They don’t have the fancy compostable or organic options, just straight forward cotton. Figure for now, we’ll test it out and see how we do. Maybe also get a few cute little bamboo diapers and GDiapers and see how it feels to wash them ourselves every once in a while. And of course we have a lot of disposables given to us by friends, so we’ll throw those into the mix during the first month or two also and see what we like best. Cost-wise, it’s probably the same or cheaper to do the service as it is to buy disposables. With that, and the fact that they bring them to your door, it seems a shame to not give them a shot.
The funny thing is how quickly I’ve turned 180 on the issue. When we first started discussing it, G was the one who thought that even washing our diapers might not be as hard as it sounds. How much effort is it to throw one more load in the wash, we’ll be doing more loads already with all the baby stuff? And while I’m still resistant to that idea, the thought of it doesn’t gross me out as it used to. Within the span of a day or two, I went from “no way in hell” to “maybe, if it’s not too much hassle.”
So we’ll see where we end up.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
the itchy and scratchy show (please, turn it off already)
So for the most part, I have to say that I’ve been pretty relaxed about my various symptoms during my pregnancy. Actually, when most people ask me if I’ve had a lot of morning sickness or other issues, I always tell them how it hasn’t been that bad. And it really hasn’t, but I guess that’s not the full truth. And it’s not like I’m trying to hold back, I honestly forget soon after I experience them that I had them at all.
The morning sickness, for example. Sure, it wasn’t too bad. If you LIKE that sort of thing, I mean. I know women who have spent most of a trimester vomiting at work, being unable to go to work, etc. Not the case with me, but there were plenty of mornings where I woke up feeling pretty damn awful. Plenty of mornings when brushing my teeth would promptly have me yakking. Just it was so early in the morning that there wasn’t much to throw up. And when I think about it, this particular symptom lasted well into my 2nd trimester and even seemed to be making a comeback for a few weeks in my third trimester. Nothing like barfing JUST AFTER you've brushed your teeth. There were a few days in the morning also when I was tempted to stop the car and throw up (though I never actually did), or a few evening events that I went to where I hadn’t eaten and felt pretty miserable until I had the chance to nibble on something.
And of course, there was the constant tiredness, the coming home and wanting to do nothing more than lay on the couch and sleep. For a good month or more, the house was a wreck, the dishes unwashed, piles of clutter everywhere, laundry unfinished. G tried to do what he could, but it’s not like he was swimming in time either. Sometimes, it was all he could manage to come home, walk the dogs, and start dinner (because it certainly didn’t make itself and I was always STARVING).
And oh yeah, there was the bitchiness, too. I remember one time fighting with him because . . . I’m not entirely sure, but the sequence of events went something like this. It was the weekend. We slept in but that meant I woke up super hungry and it being way past my breakfast time. G tried to ask me what I wanted and nothing sounded appetizing. I might have gotten a little whiny about our lack of options. (He might have suggested waffles and/or pancakes and I might have also gotten whiny about not liking sweet things at breakfast). Not knowing what to do exactly, G busied himself with a few other things around the kitchen probably hoping that eventually I'd make up my mind and tell him what I wanted. Instead, I got peeved and warmed up some random leftovers, like spaghetti, because all I felt like in the early days were carbs. Anyway, G eventually started making something too. And it was WAY better than anything he had suggested earlier. So I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I think I got all mad at him for holding out on me, and for making breakfast without me. Or something. Whatever it was, it was ridiculous and I knew it even as I was arguing about it. But dude, those scones smelled delicious -- at the time, it seemed like borderline cruelty to hold out on his best ideas when a hungry pregnant lady was involved.
Anyway, my point is that there were plenty of symptoms, but I just let them slide by because well, I don't know. It's not that I don't like to complain, clearly you all know better. But they honestly seemed minor compared to the miracle and coolness of being pregnant. And I don't know, the symptoms always seemed less dramatic than other pregnant stories I've heard. I even handled the weird stuff with few complaints. The strange dreams. The totally bizarre few weeks earlier this trimester when I was horny as hell but it HURT to actually have sex (that, by the way, is proof a twisted god if there ever was one). And of course I mentioned the gross stuff already, too.
But THIS. . . this is the last straw. Never mind that in the last few weeks, I've just felt more and more awkward. It hurts to lay down, it hurts to get up. Sleeping is more difficult. My ankles and fingers have been super swollen and always hurt. I'm stiff when I get up. I waddle. Whatever, I'm hanging in there just fine until finally, last week the damn itching started last week. OMG -- my stomach looks like it's been a battlefield for a major ant war or something. And I can't stop! I can't sleep, I can't work. I've been lathering cream, taking Benadryl and just feeling perpetually groggy . . . nothing. First it was the stomach. Then it was my wrist and fingers, then my ankles. I finally saw my doctor yesterday because nothing was working (and poor G would try every night as I laid there tossing and complaining -- unfortunately for him, distracting me with sex only worked once). She started to say that although there are some rare serious pregnancy-related conditions that cause itching, mine seemed to be harmless. And I think she would have left it at that except that I kept begging for something, ANYTHING, to help, and she finally gave me some steroid cream to try. I don't know. We'll see if it works. I tried it last night and it was a lot better, but it was all sticky and pretty much stayed that way all night. So THEN I couldn't sleep because I couldn't settle into a position where the cream wasn't sticking all over the sheets.
So pretty much now, I've about had it. Even last week, I was worried about the little watermelon coming too early. I'm not even going on maternity leave until the week before, and I want my days off dangit. But now, I don't care. If it means the itching will stop, I want the kid out NOW. Seriously, I feel like a drug addict that'll accept just about anything to take the edge off.
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