Cold Spaghetti

Paul’s Dad took this picture during October… but it is so cute I wanted to post it. Will is eating his favorite breakfast food: Quaker Peaches and Cream Oatmeal! 

Today is picture day at Will’s school. I saved this outfit for today so that he would look a little extra-snazzy. The bummer is that his hair *still* has not been cut… I did my best to control it with some apple-scented hair gel. I was focusing on making sure his hair was cut for tomorrow’s party and of course no one but Mommy thinks about stuff like planning for outfits, haircuts, parties, and picture day! (I’m a little ticked about this one!) 

Excited by the gift (below), Will started in on other presents from Paul’s parents… the ones we were trying to save until his birthday! 

A birthday present from Gwen, Mario, and Clare arrived yesterday! We opened up the mailer to expose the present, and Will got *so* excited that we had to let him open it. In sharp contrast to last year, where Will needed considerable help in opening packages and generally was just as happy to play with the wrapped gift as he was to play with the present inside, this time Will dove right in so quickly that by the time I was able to get the camera and start snapping shots he had already opened the gift and got out one of the toys (a matchbox car) inside! Other goodies included cute dinosaur PJs (perfect since one of his favorite books is “Dinosaur Roar”), some Elmo utensils, a magnet frame, and little puppy book. 

At least with packages shipped to hurricane-impacted areas and especially to New Orleans!

Paul’s Mom sent a package two weeks ago for Will’s birthday… including birthday presents, party supplies, and other goodies. It has not arrived and UPS has been terrible: rude, unhelpful, deliberately misleading, and generally awful. It came to Metairie last Monday and although we called and asked to pick it up (several times) the bottom line is that no one knows where the package is… and tracking is not a guarantee that it will be found.

Today, we saw on Nola.com uptown forum that UPS is seriously being terrible to residents… all of the problems we’ve been having are being par for the course.

So, for us, USE FED-EX! UPS stinks. (Or consider sending packages to us to my parents house instead!)

Paul’s folks are visiting for the week and yesterday, Nancy (Paul’s Mom), visited Will’s school. Nancy has worked in pre-school education for many years and actually certifies head start programs in rural North Carolina. So, she joined the staff of University Montessori for a day. The plus: we now know more about what Will does at school.

Turns out that he is using markers to color himself, not paint. Apparently, one of the kids started coloring their bodies with the markers and all of the other kids followed suit. (The question remains: was it my child that started the trend? Although Will had never colored on his legs or clothing before, he does like to color on his hands, so there is a possibility that he could be the culprit!) We also got the news that the day before (Tuesday) a child from Will’s class got a broken arm during school. Accidents happen, but around here these days, accidents make everyone very nervous… we currently have no trauma center in the city. Thankfully, Children’s hospital is near by and does have an emergency department.

During the day, the kids play outside, color, use various toys in the room (with emphasis on putting things away when they are done), read stories in their “circle,” and sing to songs. They get a snack around 10 with water (in regular cups, not sippy cups) and are given juice with lunch. At 11:30, the half-day kids get picked up while the remaining kids have lunch. After lunch (around noon), they lay down in cots for a nap. Nancy was impressed at how Will knew exactly what cot was his and how quickly he laid down and went off to sleep… sound sleep, for two hours. They wake up around 2, have a diaper change, and get ready for parents’ pick up at 2:30. That’s his day!

Then he comes home and is a total monkey!

Flashlight, snowman PJs, and combed hair: the little man is ready for bed! 

CNN reports that rates for Ceasarean Sections in the United States have risen to almost 30% of live births. Almost a third of all births.

FACT: According to WHO, there is no reason — no reason — that any medical center have a C-section rate of more than 12%, and that high only for the centers dealing with the most critical and complicated of cases. So, more than half of the C-sections done in the U.S. are done unnecessarily.

U.S. public health officials have a goal of bringing the C-section rate down to 15% by 2010. It’s quite a lofty goal, given the current state of things, so I thought I’d make some friendly suggestions:

— More birth centers, more midwives, more doulas. These professions should be recognized as legal in all states and be covered by insurance, regardless of where the mother delivers (in a hospital, in a birth center, or at home.)
— All birthing women should have doulas.
— Low risk women with non-complicated pregnancies should see midwives in birth centers, or at the very least, be encouraged and supported to do so. Women who are high risk or develop risk patterns should be referred to OBs. OB practices should be limited to those who need OB services, i.e.: women who require medical intervention. (Incidently, this is the safest option for women with low-risk, normal pregnancies. Women who fall into low risk categories are the least at risk for complication by planning a birth outside of a medical system; delivering with an OB within a medical system actually places them in a higher risk category because of the strong likelihood (read: certainty) that they will receive medical interventions that are unnecessary.)
— Good birthing education should be given to pregnant mothers. Chuck the “welcome to your medicalized birth” psuedo-education offered at most medical centers.
— Train OBs to handle vaginal births. Including vaginal deliveries of twins and breech presentations.
— Breech deliveries should not be mandatory C-sections. My C-section was unnecessary.
— VBAC births should be commonplace. The CNN article misleadingly stated: “…doctors became worried by studies that showed that women who deliver vaginally after having a C-section earlier suffer a ruptured uterus — a potentially lethal complication for both mother and child — in about 1 percent of such cases.” What this is leaving out is that the ruptures were caused by the medications given to the women in labor, most specifically pitocin, which is a very dangerous drug that causes uterine muscle to contract. Why this drug may lead to an increase in uterine rupture for women with a Ceasarean scar should be obvious. There is no statistical increase in risk for women who proceed with a vaginal birth without these interventions.

Is a safe birth too much for American women to ask for?

– 16 Days until Comps
– Studying alone
– In recovery from sinus infection
– 6 days into 10 day dose of antibiotics
– In-laws arriving today for one-week stay
– Weaning only child (sore)
– Parents arriving Friday for weekend visit
– Only child’s 2nd birthday on Monday
– Planning child’s first ever birthday party
– Weekend after is Thanksgiving (exactly 1 week from the first day of exams)
– 15 weeks pregnant
– House needs cleaning
– Living in a City not quite yet functional
– Suffering from insomnia

I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed?

In all the literature out about breastfeeding, it is really difficult to find good information on weaning. And the majority of what is out there is geared towards folks trying to wean when their babies are way young and milk dependent. I’m a little burned on trying to find good information for Moms like me, who have breastfed for two years (as recommended) and are facing weaning.

That said, I think that Will may be weaned. He’s been naturally nursing less over the past few months. When we were in Mobile for the two month Katrina aftermath, my parents started putting him to bed and he lost interest in night-nursing (he’d be so tired and full after dinner he’d fall asleep as we were putting on his PJs.) During this time, he stopped asking for daytime nursing and only nursed in the mornings during our cuddle time. Then in the last month or so, Will started skipping days. When he did nurse, he only nursed for a very short time (less than a minute) and was more interested in playing than nursing. Now it has been at least 5-6 days since he last nursed and he doesn’t show any interest in nursing again. Does that mean he’s done? Is he weaned?

If he’s done, that is fine. He seems ready, he eats great, and it didn’t involve any tears on either of our parts. (I was worried he would be difficult to wean.) But I want to know what is going on with my body. I read that I could make milk for months afterward, which I thought was interesting. Particularly being pregnant, that made sense to me. I have had some soreness on one breast, but nothing terrible. I wonder if that will continue? I don’t feel the need to express at all, I don’t feel “full,” but I’m not sure how I should be feeling. It’s all a very new thing and it’s not like there are other Moms to ask. (No one breastfeeds here… Louisiana actually has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the country, according to a speaker during our “breastfeeding week” at the School of Public Health last fall.) Anyone have any experience or information about this one?