Clean and Fresh
The baby turned four weeks old on Sunday with a celebratory vomit into my freshly washed hair. An hour later he did it again, on the other side, which was equally gross for me but at least more convenient for Simon, who could then just avoid my hair completely rather than try to remember which side was safe to nuzzle. Up until that point, he'd been the one puked, peed, pooped, and drooled on, so it was only fair that I got it where it counted, and hey, at least my mouth wasn't open. Anyway, isn't a mother's merit-badge sash the swath of bodily fluids striped across her chest? I'll just consider myself now an official member of the troup.
Puke and all, four weeks down the road we're getting into a groove, me and my mini-me, and even moreso when he succumbs to a sleep deep enough that I can slide him into the Ergo carrier without him waking up and screaming bloody murder in my ear. With the Ergo, I can actually get something done, even if it's only unloading the dishwasher or sorting the mail. Without the Ergo, I might as well be eleven months pregnant and stuck on the couch all day: just because Wombat's not hungry doesn't mean he wants to be off my chest for even a minute. Today I earned the merit badge for using the toilet whilst babywearing. Aren't you proud?
True, it's great for the ego to be so needed by another person, but the dark side is that one day's groove can be another day's rut. Even I can't watch t.v. all day every day, regardless of how many episodes of Little House on the Prairie Simon has thoughtfully recorded to the DVR for me, but there's just not a lot else a girl can do when one hand is cradling an infant and the other is trying to keep his little noggin from bashing into my jaw/the doorjamb/the floor (which is what happens when he kicks his legs and arches his back so that his disproportionately large head tips his entire body away from mine and he goes plummeting down, down, down...Who's idea was it to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting with head-smashing tile? (Actually, no one has dropped the baby--or admitted to it--so far. One month down, only 215 more to go.)
What I wanted to record about this particular stage, however, is that it's really starting to feel like Wombat and I are becoming a team. With him in the carrier, we're helping each other out, reaching a comfortable symbiotic equilibrium. No one (not saying who) feels at the end of the day like a withered old hag whose muscles have atrophied into noodles and whose greatest accomplishment is that now her nipples are on a first-name basis with not just someone else's uvula but also every recurring character on Little House. I'M JUST SAYING.
Women who have gone before me always said that the one part of new-motherhood that made them feel most human was taking a shower every (other) day, and I while agree that taking ten minutes to shed the sour-milk aura is good for the soul and the sanity, I think babywearing is right up there too. Showering is still first, though. No one--not baby, not baby-daddy--wants to nuzzle in close when the vomit in your hair is more than a day old.
I love reading your posts about brand-new motherhood. Since I expect to be there in the next couple of years or so, I find myself hanging on every word.
My daily (Yes! Daily!) shower saved me from insanity in the newborn months.
My little guy turned 2 weeks old yesterday, and I too find that the most relaxing part of my day is when I lay him down to sleep at 10:30pm (pretty late bedtime for a newborn now that I think about it) and I get my 10 minute shower before passing out for 3 hours. I have never enjoyed showering so much in my entire life, and after not being able to shower for several days after my c-section, once I was finally able to take one, I have made sure to make it a part of my routine every night.
I've loved reading about your pregnancy, and it is comforting to read your words about motherhood - good to know that someone else is going through the same things. Thanks!
So stoked that you are enjoying babywearing. Again, my offer of a wrap stands. I would not go without a wrap carrier for any future babies that may come. E-mail me your address if you want to try it out and we'll pick you a fabric.
So you have the Ergo Infant Insert? How do you find it? I'm just interested because I've only used my Ergo with an older baby (from 5 months or so, when the Bjorn just didn't cut it any more) and I gave my sister-in-law an Ergo with the insert for Christmas.
Also, hooray for showers. Those ten minutes purely for yourself every day are something to savour.
I loved, loved, loved my Ergo from the very beginning until my daughter was about 18 months old. It totally saved my sanity in the early months, when I could put her in the Ergo (with infant insert!) and go for a nice long walk. Of course, she was born in December and I live in Canada so the Ergo was extra-great for keeping her snug and warm on our winter walks.
I also have the peeing while wearing a baby merit badge. If the choice is wet your pants or risk a screaming fit by dislodging the sleeping baby, well, then you gotta do what you gotta do.
I had resisted the slings, wraps, etc. because "attachment parenting just wasn't my style, and I wasn't going to wear my baby 24-7 and he would sit quietly wherever I put him and he would like it." (BAH-so naive). Except for he wanted to sleep on me in the afternoon and if I put him down, he most definitely did NOT like it.
Once I went back to work, I just couldn't afford to spend the afternoon glued to the couch. So I tried a couple slings-not satisfactory as he liked to be tummy to tummy. The bjorn was too hard on my back after a little bit. I tried the Ergo on in the store and he fell right to sleep in it. And the difference on my back from the bjorn was amazing. Like it wasn't even there. I plunked down the $100, brought it home and he's acted like it was made of fire ever since. I've used it maybe 2 or 3 times. (Every time felt like heaven for me tho!)
Now that he's bigger, I need to bust out the DVD again and see how to configure the Ergo for a hip carry. He doesn't need/want to be held all the time now, but we're fighting a flat spot so I try to keep him off the back of his head as much as possible.
Anyway, that was a long ramble to say I have the Ergo too.
Merit badges sound like a good idea. Peeing while babywearing? That's an accomplishment. (For reals.)
thanks for reminding me i need to shower.
We don't actually have the infant insert, but we figured out a way to configure a sturdy flannel blanket to do the same thing. Whatever works, right?
I beg to differ - I want to nuzzle in close BECAUSE of the vomit in your hair. Moms are hot. This mom is hottest.
Ok, just read Simon's comment, and not I have to go vomit.
just wait until he starts eating food, all your tops will have puke stains in different colors on each shoulder...now those are badges!
Hey, if you are showering more than once a week, then you are doing far better than I ever managed. What am I talking about, mine are 4 and 6 and sometimes I have to think to remember when I had a shower last...argh!
Enjoy! We are celebrating my oldest baby's 6th birthday as I speak...well we've already celebrated, they are playing now.....
I absolutely loved the Ergo. I have a lot of great memories holding my son next to me in that wonderful baby carrier. Now he's two and pushing 38+ pounds and there's no way I could lug that heft around. Another bonus point for the Ergo is that it has a high resale value. I just sold mine for a little less than what I bought it for.
got a photo of your tricked-out ergo? The bjorn is killing me with my 12 pounder (at a month old) and I'm thinking its shopping time.
(All typed with one hand while the human pup takes the other--there's an easy merit badge)