a little more fun on a hot summer day

I.e. A new round of pick your own adventure.

Let's set the scene: you've recently moved, been under a lot of stress, endless work deadlines. Oh, and just for fun let's give you both Strep and a Yeast Infection in your breast.

Option A: Treat the Strep (if possible, not 100% and the treatment will probably make you nauseaus for say a full 7 days) and as a result massively facilitate the growth of yeast. You'll be able to eat again and probably beat the recurrent high fevers, but remember that you get stabbing pains on one side whenever you feed the dumpling (or pump).

Option B: It's almost tank top season, who needs to eat? Stock up on non-medicated cough drops, promise yourself not to google the complications of Strep and go for the topical cream to relieve yeast in the breasts.

Anyway, back in a few days. Nothing too serious going on around here.

And now a quick consult the internets question on breastpumps

I know that every warning sign out there says not to share a breastpump but I am seriously considering buying a used breastpump off of craigslist tonight so I don't have to carry mine to and from work. Here's the thing: I don't quite understand the danger. I know that the fear is catching a transmittable disease from a shared pump, but since I am only planning to use the motor and throw away everything else, I don't understand how the milk could possibly get contaminated. This website suggests that droplets could possibly be on the motor itself (http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/pumps.shtml) but even if they were how would they get into the milk? And how is it different than pumping on my possibly-never sterilized dirty desk at work? Plus none of the diseases mentioned are things where the bacteria could survive for weeks on a hard, cold plastic surface.

Am I missing something here? Any thoughts?

update: good news

Update: Platelets level normal. It does not appear to be either a clotting disorder or childhood cancer as per this blood draw.

I asked the doctor about anemia and she seemed to think that it was quite impossible. She said he was too young, that the cord was left pulsing for a good 5 minutes and the earliest a full term baby could be anemic was closer to 6 months. She also said that my anemia was not passed on to him in any way.

So for no, all the news is good.

But she was quite clear that we need to photograph every bruise/mark/discoloration and call them immediately.

It's probably nothing

It has to be nothing. And then the worst part of this whole experience will be watching 3 nurses try to squeeze the dumpling's arm to get enough blood to fill 3 vials. Out of a 3.5 month old.

I didn't post about this earlier because even Option 1 just seemed really awful to consider.

In the past 3 weeks the dumpling has had 4 bruises on him. After the first one I glowered at my mostly angelic 2 year old and give her a long conversation about being gentle. After the second one we decided to repeat that conversation every morning and every evening. Option 1: she's being too rough with him.

But the third bruise was on the inside of his leg. No way she accidentally elbowed there. And our daycare provider told me I really need to go see the pediatrician. Yesterday he had another bruise on his arm and Y. sat me down and told me I needed to take him in. So I called, and they said we'll see him first thing in the morning.

He's 3.5 months old. Maybe he just bruises easily. The chances of him having a bleeding disorder are practically nil. Not only do we have no family history and come from completely different genetic material, but he healed very quickly after his bris. Dr. Google suggests that it is either very common unexplained bruising in a baby or something far worse.

Platelet counts should be back by noon tomorrow.

good things are afoot

So, there are a few little downsides to our new apartment (besides the whole laundry issue ... the laundry is piling up, the fusspot has had 2 accidents, the dumpling has spit up on 3 of my outfits, it's probably about 95 in the apartment today so the stench is building and I still don't feel motivated to head to the laundromat ...) one of which is the mile walk to daycare. It's a mile, it's not so bad until you add in the 45 lbs of babies in the stroller, a breastpump, laptop, diaper bag for after daycare, my lunch, 2 pumped bottles ...

So yeah. It's a little unfortunate to arrive at work covered in sweat from pushing at least 60 lbs of stuff from one neighborhood to another, but I do think that it will help a great deal with Project Don't Look Pregnant Anymore (high standards, eh?). And the walk home in the afternoons is a lovely shaded stroll through one of 2 different parks with plenty of healthy snack options along the way (including six fruit stands).

And speaking of new neighborhoods, I think that we are going to be a much more organic-eating type of family post-move. Not only have I been reading more terrifying books about environmnetal destruction (currently Raising Elijah by Sandra Steingraber. Don't grab it unless you want an excellent depressing read) but Whole Foods is literally the closest supermarket to our new place. And the fusspot and I had a lovely time yesterday afternoon sampling the majority of the cheeses at their cheese container while the poor employee tried to look cheerful and even-handed as we requested yet another sample (what can I say, she was hungry, I wanted to try something new, and it reminds both of us of our beloved local, organic dairy stand at the market in Lalaland. Oh, local, organic lightly-pasteurized chocolate pudding how I miss you!).

6 boxes to go, 4 days until JD starts his leave, things are looking up.

we survived the move

I packed 75 boxes. JD packed 1.
I unpacked 69 boxes.
There are 6 boxes left to be unpacked. 2 can't be done until we buy a new desk for me.
I made 4 trips to the hardware store and 1 to Bed, Bath and Beyond.
JD made 1 to the hardware store.
But despite it all, I'd say we survived our wild weekend quite well and I am deeply relieved to be done with the move.

And of course, while we were entirely neglecting the darling dumpling who was lying on a quilt on the floor amidst the debris, he figured out how to roll from back to front. And proceeded to do it 3 times. Of course, last week he figured out how to roll from his stomach to his back, did it 3 times in a row, and has not tried again.

And now a pumping question: do you think that it will hurt my supply to pump in the morning for the dumpling's daycare bottles and then not lug the breastpump to work at all? It means 2 almost 6-hour blocks when I don't pump or nurse at all during the day (one from 8:30 am to 2 pm when I am at work without the dumpling, and one from about midnight to 6 am)? He is such a laid back baby that I am slightly worried that if my supply did fall I would not realize it immediately because he wouldn't really complain about it.

Just one more little reason I love him

We spent our first wedding anniversary having a lovely pasta dinner overlooking the Adriatic ocean while our darling fusspot cooed happily in her stroller.

For our second wedding anniversary we went for ice cream sundaes at Baskin Robbins. With my-in laws in tow. And the fusspot, of course. (Yes, the whole point was they were supposed to babysit while we went out to dinner but somehow they decided to come with us instead ...). But, we also were 14 days post-trigger with a bfp.

For our third wedding anniversary (i.e. yesterday) we hopped in a cab with 4 suitcases, 2 boxes, 1 toddler tricycle and a large vase to drop them off at our new apartment. But after that, we went out to a romantic dinner sans fusspot or dumpling. Over dinner I mentioned that I had been reading the October 2010 Harpers (just a tad behind the times) about tension in the feminist movement and thought maybe I should be reading some feminist blogs unrelated to fertility and babies and such ... and JD jumped in with a full run-down of every major feminist blog from Feministing to an op-ed in Slate last week with his recommendations, which ones I would like, what was interesting but poorly written. Because despite being rather a slacker at some things my guy is very much on the same page as me about the things that matter.

And yes, for the record, I am very much the luckiest infertile in the world. In our 3 years of marriage I have now been pregnant for 15 months (oops) and breastfeeding for all but 9 of those 36 months (yes, that math is correct). (Not that we didn't try for almost 5 years prior to the fusspot, but once we really geared up for injectables things went very quickly).

Which is why I have mostly forgiven him for packing not a single box even though we are moving tomorrow. I'm expecting about 80 boxes given the 10 bookshelves we have (8 of my books, 2 of children's books) plus a kosher kitchen (i.e. 2 of everything), endless baby clothes, cloth diapers, art supplies, Etsy splurges, etc.

Oh yes, and since we are about to be laundromat people I have committed to washing every single item of clothing/blankets/pillows/towels we own. Anxiety about being a laundromat girl again? Yup.

Back again from my delightful new apartment. And let's hope for a cool weekend. Apparently our window guards will not be installed until next week (it's on the 6th floor and yes the fusspot could definitely rearrange the furniture and climb her way out any of the 6 windows unless we leave them bolted shut. Have you ever spent a weekend unpacking in a hermetically sealed NYC apartment? And apparently the building is not required to provide a gate for the 2 windows which open onto the fire escape even though it's a 6 floor drop and thus we will be spending $300-$400 installing our own gates ... let's just hope that the hardware store can order them tomorrow and get them installed Monday morning.

Back in a few

My adorable fusspot who breastfeeds her stuffed animals and very tenderly holds my hand when I use a public restroom and reassures me "It's not scary, mama. Not scary" fell asleep clutching her baby doll for the first time ever tonight. A co-sleeping gal after my own heart.

We are off on a road trip in the morning. So very, very excited. My first road trip with 2 babies. 3 different places to sleep, 4-5 cities to visit, 1 paper to give, the dumpling's first visit to the ocean ... should be fun.

I may just be too old for this adventure

In 2 weeks when we move we will yet again be ... laundromat people. And of course, laundromat folks in a neighborhood where most buildings have laundry in the basement. This morning I went to check out the laundromat options and they are grim. The farther one is bright and cheerful but three (!!!) dollars a load and with a blaring TV. The slightly closer one is about as dank and dark and stinky as you can get, and I can't even imagine where I would sit to nurse the dumpling should he happen to be with me.

Of course there are plenty of full-service laundromats around. Besides the cost, I really can't stand having other people do my laundry. We never dry any of our clothes. I just don't get the point. It's bad for the environment, it's bad for your clothes and in the summer they dry in a couple of hours from the heat and in the winter they dry even faster near the radiators and that just leaves a few wet weeks in the springtime when they take overnight to dry. Which means that all of my clothes are going to shrink when they are sent out.

And then there's the diaper issue. That is, the cloth diaper issue. At this point it's not just all the usual perks of cloth diapers (like my 2 year old toilet training herself) but the added complication of co-sleeping. We only own 2 sets of sheets (and yes, we have guests a lot) and I'd guess that at least twice a week the dumpling's diaper leaks when he's wearing a disposable. Cloth diaper? No leaks. So if we use disposables and have him in our bed we'll need to buy more fitted sheets and be willing to lug those to the laundromat. But if we cloth diaper I can't even get away with once a week laundry (although using a cloth cover over a disposable would let me get away with a once a week trip). Plus, at $2.25 a load at the closer laundromat we're still looking at a minimum of $4.50 just to cloth diaper 4 days a week.

Speaking of cloth diapers, I am newly enamoured of Sunbaby diapers. I got a few in a craigslist stash and they fit really well, plus they are about $5 to buy new. The webpage is a bit sketchy (it looks like some artificially introduced the typos, etc.) but I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about them (they are the only one size AIO diapers made in China apparently)? I am considering buying a super-cheap stash of 24 Sunbaby diapers and being willing to let them sit dirty longer than the recommended 3 days if necessary. Also, going to float the idea of sneaking into our daycare provider's basement to use her washing machine for diapers "occasionally."

Oh, and the last wash at both laundromats is 8 pm. I was imagining putting both kids to bed, getting a teenage babysitter, and then running out to do laundry. But there's no way that I'll make it there by 8.

Ugh.

And if you've read this far, a photo I meant to attach to yesterday's post. An essential part of any complete breakfast (and yes, I was never farther than 2 feet from the table because I am well aware that he can scoot himself off). And since I honestly believe that I forgot to post his real name and birth photo, we went with the Norton Juster inspiration, hence Baby M---:

A few thoughts on the dumpling (aka Project 2.0) and sleep

It really is astounding how many posts I have from the fusspot's early days obsessing over her sleep and eating and such. It is hardly that we are neglecting the dumpling, but just that we are so much more confident in our choices and he really is an easy baby. But I am starting to wonder whether the poor baby (he's almost 3 months old) needs a bit more sleep. One of the classic signs of sleep deprivation is needing to wake your baby in the morning, and yup, my baby sleeps until woken. And let's be honest: it's lovely. There is nothing nicer than doing a nice dream feed with the baby, getting up and feeding the fusspot breakfast, showering, pumping, and packing up my stuff while he snoozes.

I do think the dumpling is an easy baby, but that statement needs a little moderation. As long as he is being held upright during the day and has his own person space heater to keep him company at night, he's easy. Which is to say that there are definitely days that he won't stand for being in the stroller or the bouncy seat or hanging out on the floor, and also nights that he won't consider going to bed alone no matter how much rocking/nursing/singing I do. But despite all of that he is so laid back. He's the type of baby where you can be mid-nursing session and need to leap up to save the toddler from her own clever idea and you just rip him away from his meal and dump him on the floor and he looks up with a slightly peeved look but hardly breaks into sobs (as the fusspot would have done). He doesn't seem to notice dirty diapers and has thus far not complained about the heat (we have just one window AC unit in our bedroom that we use at night, so it's pretty hot in the rest of the apartment).

So, sleep. He sleeps about 11-12 hours at night. Something like 9 or 10 pm to 8:30. And he takes a decent afternoon nap at home, although I always have to wake him to get the fusspot from daycare. He'll take a long mid-morning nap for me, but not at daycare and he mostly just catnaps in the late afternoon.

The real problem is how to get him to nap at daycare. Our daycare provider Y is entirely opposed to CIO. But she is also way too busy chasing 2 active toddlers to rock him quietly to sleep. I think that we both thought that he'd fall asleep in the stroller so if she just went out every morning he'd get a nap, but there are days that he absolutely won't stand for the stroller. So my question is how to get him to sleep at a busy daycare sans CIO. I've already tried bringing an item that smells like me and a blanket, but he doesn't seem to notice either. She's happy to carry him in the sling but he doesn't seem to fall asleep there when it's noisy. Any other tricks? Should I be really worried? I'm pretty sure that he gets about 13.5-14 hours a day on a weekday, but that's still on the low side.

And thank you for the decluttering suggestions (and Amanda for the clogged duct ideas!). It will certainly be an ongoing process all month.