On the Mend

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. Normy is a trouper, and despite some pretty wicked diarrhea he's doing much better. I can totally handle the poopy stage of this icky bug better than the puking. The poor guy couldn't keep anything down yesterday. But, I hear it's going around. From the East Coast to the West Coast kids have the stomach flu.

I've got to admit, I was woefully unprepared for this motherhood gig. When Normy was first born I had some serious misconceptions of how it would be.

For example, after reading Dr. Sears I was convinced that if we simply co-slept our baby would feel so secure, content, and loved that he would never ever cry. I expected him to get a little fussy when it was time to eat or have a diaper change, but I thought the rest would be smooth sailing. Imagine my surprise when colic set in at about 6 weeks old. Sure he slept great, but when he was awake he was SCREAMING. And the fact that he's a great sleeper? I think that has more to do with his love of shut-eye than co-sleeping. I don't think he even realized he was in our bed those first three months. He certainly didn't notice when we put him in a crib.

I also thought if we used disposable diapers they would never leak. Um, no. That theory was quickly debunked. It's not even worth discussing how crazy that one was. And in fact, if it wasn't for a commenter on this blog I would not have realized that the shoulder-laps on his clothes could be used to peal soiled outfits off him without going over his head. Thank goodness too, who knows how many more sleeper sacks would have met their end on my scissors...

But, my biggest shock has been that breastfed babies do indeed get sick. Well, crap. Somehow I imagined my immunity-rich-boobie milk to be this super impervious defense against all viruses and bacteria. I snobbishly ASSumed that the only babies with runny noses were bottle fed kids in daycare. I was a moron. Normy has now had two colds and one stomach virus; all of which have been mercifully short-lived. But I am sure there will be many many more to come. And there's no stopping it.

There may be a few of you reading this shaking your heads in disbelief, wondering 1) how in the world I've made it this far; and 2) why the government doesn't require prospective parents to take a class or an exam before procreating. Well, 1) I'm a quick learner, as long as I can do it the hard way. And, 2) proposed testing has already been squelched by network lobbyists for fear of loosing their pool of cast members for reality TV shows.