Marathon Mom

Yesterday I read a blog about a woman who ran a marathon at 39 weeks pregnant, then went into labor and delivered a healthy baby seven hours later.

Today I saw a segment on the Today Show about the woman. Matt Lauer and Ann Curry were questioning whether or not it was acceptable for this mom to have run the marathon so late in her pregnancy.

Here is a woman who is fit and healthy and ran with her doctor's blessing. She slowed to a walk whenever necessary and drank plenty of water and ate along the way.

Now obviously this isn't something every pregnant woman should do. But this woman was an experienced runner and had already run while pregnant with her first child and earlier in her current pregnancy. She was cleared by her doctor and ran with her and her child's health in mind. Maybe for once we can stop judging every little thing that other moms do and recognize that here is a healthy mom who takes care of her body and her baby, and celebrate her strength and endurance.

God knows she'll need that same strength and endurance to get through the newborn phase. And I bet she'll be back to her pre-pregnancy weight in no time...a claim I still can't make a year later.

Why I Love and Hate Milestones

One of the coolest things about being a parent is watching your child grow and learn. It's fascinating to watch the progression of this person from a helpless little thing who can do nothing but sleep, cry and poop (albeit, he was very good at two of those things) to this person who crawls and stands and says Mama and Dada.

The flip side of this is that meeting milestones messes with babies' sleep. Now from my older posts, it's clear that I don't do well when Jack doesn't sleep. I can handle a day or two of bad sleep, but when it starts to stretch into a week or two, I get a little stressed.

And then there's chasing after the boy during diaper changes. If I can get him to stay still long enough for a diaper change, forget changing his clothes or buttoning his onesie. That usually involves me crawling after him trying to line up buttons while he makes his escape.

All in all, I'm at the point I just want him to walk already so we can get this milestone under our belt and get back to a regular sleep routine.

I'm Back

So it's been about a month since my last post. I actually thought it had been longer, so I have less blogger guilt now.

I do have some massive mommy guilt going on though.

While we were on vacation in South Carolina, my baby fell off the bed. Thankfully he landed on a pillow. Then two weeks later, he fell off the bed again...no pillow that time. I felt terrible. I felt worse the second time because it was totally my fault. And my little guy ended up with a bruise over his eye.

Plus I'm back at work now. My mother and mother in law split babysitting until my husband gets home. Jack is great for his grandmothers, but he likes to hassle his father. It makes me so sad that he's upset at bedtime and I can't be here to comfort him.

My only comfort is that it's only two days a week. I try to tell myself that it will improve the daddy and son bond, and honestly, the baby doesn't seem too traumatized by any of it. I think it's hardest on me.

Either way, we don't have much choice...and the paycheck is nice.

Changes are a-coming...

Well, I've been failing as a blogger. I blame summer.

I'm not gonna lie, I've been enjoying lazy days at the beach, playing Word with Friends, visiting with friends and their babies, and the other joys of being a stay at home mom. My baby has finally gotten on a pretty decent nap and bedtime schedule, and I can usually count on a couple hours to myself over the course of the day.

So now that we've reached this blissful period of my life as a mom, it's all going to change.

I go back to work in a couple of weeks. I realize that I'm very lucky that I only have to work two days a week...but all the same, the transition is going to be tough.

My little guy and I have never spent more than two hours apart from one another and suddenly, I have to be away from him for six hours! It's hard to say who will cry more, me or him (or my husband, who will be charge of getting the baby to bed those two days).

One way or another, we'll get through.

WBW, Post 5

So I have to double post today because my little nursling didn't want to let go last night, so I never got a chance to blog about him...there's some kind of irony there.

I'm a very mild mannered person. I tend to take "to each her own" as a personal philosophy. I do believe that nursing is the best start in life we can give to our children, but I don't believe that nursing works out or is easy for everyone.

Because of that, I honestly believe that if you nurse your baby for one day, that's better than no days. Two days is better than one day; three better than two...and so on.

If you start to nurse and stop after a couple of days (and your reasons for stopping are totally your own), you can congratulate yourself on 1) making the effort to nurse and 2) giving your baby at least a few days of that liquid gold.

Women are very hard on one another, and I wish we could see the value in standing behind one another--even if we disagree with each other's choices--rather than tearing each other down.

WBW, Post 4

A picture is worth a thousand words...

WBW, Post 3

My little nursling is a curious creature. I love that he takes such an interest in his world. He loves to look at his cousins (or any kids, for that matter) and he likes to go outside and take in the world around him.

The only trouble is that taking in the world is, in his mind, something that can be done while he nurses. Mama disagrees.

Because of this basic disagreement between our worldviews, I often find myself alone while nursing. I don't like this for several reasons. First of all, I like to be around people too and as adorable as my little Button is, I sometimes like to talk to grown-ups. Second (and more importantly), I think it's important for other nursing moms to see women nursing in public (NIP, in Internet shorthand).

I'm lucky that I know a large and supportive network of nursing moms, most of whom have never batted an eye about NIP. Because of this, I've felt pretty comfortable nursing my little guy wherever and whenever he needs...something I wasn't expecting. I fully expected to use a cover in the name of my own modesty. But when it comes down to it, I expose very little of my anatomy when I NIP. I end up feeling much more conspicuous when I use something to cover us.

So my point is, I don't like that I have to hide away when I nurse, and I like for people to know that I don't do it out of a sense of modesty or from some sort of societal pressure. The truth is, if I don't nurse in a quiet, dim room...my baby won't eat. And lord knows, this child needs to eat!