Ode to Babywearing

The time has come. Menininho has finally hit 20 lbs. Because of my heart and back problems, my doctors told me before I became pregnant that once my future baby hit 20 lbs I’d no longer be allowed to carry him. This doesn’t mean I can’t do the day to day lifting into the crib, putting him into the car, etc., but I should let Mark do those things when possible and I can not wear Menininho anymore. I’m already missing it, and I hope someday to be able to wear another baby. I feel very grateful that I was able to carry my son for so long!

O Christmas Tree

Somewhat on a whim, Mark and I decided to try out a Christmas tree lot over by Target Friday night. We’d been planning on driving to a tree farm the next afternoon, but figured this might save us some cash (and 2 hours of driving).

It was a little bit pathetic…the trees weren’t clearly marked, the selection was poor, Menininho was crying in his Ergo, and I was dumb and wore flip flops. The first tree we liked appeared to be in the $30 section but was misplaced and there was no way I was going to pay double. Eventually we found a 5 ½ ft Douglas Fur for the right price and settled in line to wait for it to be cut.

The workers there were friendly enough. One woman proudly told us how the entire lot was run by her brother’s search light company (which explained the ginormous search lights beckoning to everyone within 30 miles). Another offered us free persimmons.

[Mark is currently trying to Google “how to eat a persimmon,” but got the response “how to eat a person.” Gross.]

The real highlight though was in getting the tree attached to the car. The man assigned to help us chatted amicably to Mark about the pain medication he’s taking and made faces at Menininho. Mark hoisted the tree onto the roof and the man insisted on doing the tying. After a bit though, we noticed that the man didn’t appear to be doing much. In fact, his hand was uncomfortably close to my ribs. In fact, he wasn’t moving. His arms dangled into the car through the partially opened window, his face was pressed up against the glass except for his nose, which hung over the window like an ornament hook.

He was either sleeping or had just suffered a major heart attack and died. Either way, both were kind of awkward.

I motioned over to Mark to say something because if I opened my mouth I was going to burst out laughing. He walked behind the man. “Um, can I help you?” And then again, louder. The man jumped up! “Do you need help?” he asked confusedly. And then, he just walked away.

Mark finished tying the tree to the car and we left in a hurry.

Never a dull moment!

Small Blessings

I dreaded Menininho’s 9-month checkup yesterday. I was sure I’d get bad news.

You see, I love baby wearing. I carried Menininho in a sling for months, and then transitioned to using our Ergo. Lately it’s been more and more difficult for me to carry him though. Marfan patients have restrictions for how much weight we can carry, because lifting weights raises our blood pressure, which in turn puts pressure on our aortas. My restriction has always been around 10 pounds, but when I was pregnant, my doctor told me I could stretch it to 20 in order to carry Menininho, and then I’d have to go back to my previous restriction.

So, I’ve known my days of baby wearing are numbered. Many of my friends’ babies surpassed 20 pounds months ago. It made sense to me that a 9 month old would reasonably weigh more than 20 pounds. I even started to write a post mourning my baby-wearing days.

You can imagine my surprise when the nurse informed me that Menininho is still shy of 19 pounds! I bet we’ll make it to Christmas before I have to give up carrying him.

I’m really grateful for small blessings like this. Isn’t it amazing how we’re always given the right child for us?

Library

It’s been really nice having Mark work from home this week. We’ve eaten lunch together every day, he’s had more time to play with Menininho, and we’ve been able to make a quick trip here or there as a family. Yesterday, our trip was to the Milpitas library!

I’ve been craving some non-baby related reading as of late, and Mark being home to help with Menininho was the perfect opportunity to check out the library. You see, I know at some point I am going to be rejoining the work force, and part of me is afraid that when I do, I will not only have lost all connection to my field (public health) but also the ability to carry on an adult conversation. So, thanks to a conversation on healthcare reform with my friend Fi over Facebook, I decided to start reading the New York Times Healthcare section to Menininho.

(I know you are wondering what this has to do with the library, but bare with me.)

Last week was also Match Day, when all the 4th year med students find out where they will be spending their residency. Having just left a ward full of med students, I was very excited to hear where everyone was matched to. The NYT also did a big piece on Match Day, and it was in the main article that I read about the book Match Day by Brian Eule. I decided I had to read it because the whole idea of the Match Process and the psychological implications of it are interesting to me.

Anyway, I needed to go to the library to get a card so I could put out a request for the book. Since this was Menininho’s first trip to a library, I felt the need to bring along the camera.

From the outside, the library is so large it looks like it could *almost* rival Columbus Metropolitan Library. In fact, they even have a firetruck on display.

Inside however…well…there is a lot of empty space. I’m hoping this means they are planning on adding to their collections.  There was an OK sized healthcare section. I checked out The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman, and Ana’s Story, by Jenna Bush (the latter of which I’ve already finished and have to say I was not particularly impressed by, though it wasn’t bad).

Anyway, we had a great time at the library and can’t wait to go back and get more books! I hope that we can instill in Menininho a love of reading, too.