While in Seattle I spent some time with my cousin's wife Jennifer and my other cousin's friend Mary, both with new babies. They both have other children, but are exclusively breast feeding their little ones and therefore brought them to most of the weekend's festivities. In watching and talking with them and going through my own experiences, it became clear just how inconvenient breast feeding can be. I don't mean inconvenient in a bad way, more like in a way that forces you to be unselfish in not only your every day activities but special events as well. For example, Jennifer and Mary were both in the wedding party and were going to a salon to get their hair done. Mary had to bring her baby along, even though her husband was home with their other child. Jennifer left her baby at home with her husband, but he had to bring the baby to the salon when the baby was ready to nurse. I had to time my own trip to the salon around Jack's feeding schedule as well. Easy? No. But as mothers that chose to exclusively breast feed our children, we automatically chose to be unselfish - and sometimes that's hard to deal with. Am I doing what I think is the absolute best thing for my child? Of course!
After the wedding ceremony, it was about time for Jack to nurse again so I went to find a quiet space. There happened to be some couches where the bridal party had their stuff, so I sat down and nursed Jack. Side note: my dress for the wedding was chosen specifically with ease of nursing in mind! My number one dress choice? Nope. Sigh. After several minutes, I was joined by Jennifer and Mary and there we sat, nursing our babies. And it was then that I realized that even though I sometimes have a difficult time being unselfish, I don't have to be lonely. And that, my friends, felt good!
Okay, enough about boobs. When you think you're headed down the "granola" route of parenting, you hear lots of talk about immunizations. HOT TOPIC ALERT! Don't do any, wait til he's older, they cause autism, etc etc etc. While I was pregnant and after Jack's birth we read several books on immunizations, and a favorite became The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. After reading this, it didn't feel right to us to begin vaccinating until 6 months of age. Since Jack is now 3 months, we've been looking for a pediatrician that will do his well child visits and be open to an alternative vaccination schedule. I can tell you that 5 phone calls later to 5 different pediatrician offices warranted 5 big fat "We can't take you as a patient if you won't follow the required vaccination schedule". Seriously? Aren't we living in the good ol US of A, the land of opportunity, free from discrimination? I was spoken to as if I was the most negligent, irresponsible parent (and I'm sure at least one person reading this thinks that we are....). How frustrating. I'm not going to argue the validity of our point, but encourage you to do your own research. Now I'm going to make some calls to a Family Physician and see if we have any luck there.
On a more positive granola note, getting new cloth diapers in the mail makes me happy!
Oh! And in terms of co-sleeping Jack has moved out of our bed (did I tell you that already?) several weeks ago and sleeps in a Pack n Play next to our bed. The arrangement is working perfectly and I love being able to meet his needs without having to wait to hear him cry from another bedroom.
That's all! :)
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