Baby Healthcare Provider

I got a nice little comment pop into my inbox a couple days ago, which means that some poor, lonely soul is still checking this blog. Well, what can I say? Christmas has come and gone, and my baby is now 9 months old and standing up! There is so much change packed in such a short period of time that life just whirls by at lightning speed. I've got a knitting project on the needles (probably the same one from the last time I posted) which, on #2 needles, is moving so slowly I can only hope to have it finished by next fall. I think it will be a really nice knit, though, for what that's worth.

My latest projects have been getting organized at home and finding a new pediatrician. As for the former, I've started a list of all those nagging little things around the house that I keep meaning to get around to, and trying to start checking them off. This includes things like: cleaning out the garage, organizing the baby's closet, going through my closet and getting rid of clothes I'll never wear again, etc. The pediatrician search has been a little less straightforward. We have a really nice guy right now (in fact, my husband went to school with him), but honestly I don't think he is very like-minded concerning healthcare. Probably the main issue was our wanting to delay all and skip some of the baby's vaccinations. He said he was okay with it initially, but on our last visit with him he seemed to get irritated with us. We didn't want to give any vaccinations on that day because the baby was a little under the weather with a cold, and I feel like when their immune system is down you shouldn't burden any further if you can help it. As a pediatrician and a father, he was a strong proponent of the AAP schedule of vaccinations and felt that we should follow that as well.

I am in a women's social group in my city that meets twice per month. A friend of mine in the group was talking about vaccines, saying she thought people who don't vaccinate are somewhat like leaches, riding on the immunity of their peers. She comes from a medical family - her father is a very well-respected allergist and her husband is also a doctor. I've heard this perspective before, and I suppose to some extent, it's true. If most people did not get vaccinated, and the risks of these diseases were greater, I would probably be much more likely to vaccinate on schedule. I would just have to decide if the risk of my baby contracting the disease was worse then the risks associated with the vaccinations themselves. However, I have to make decisions based on our current situation; the risk of some of these diseases is fairly low (either because of the success of vaccine campaigns or because the disease isn't all that serious to begin with, such as with the chicken pox). Furthermore, my son stays home with me and doesn't go to daycare, so his exposure is minimized, and he is still breastfed. So I have the luxury of being more choosy about what vaccinations he will receive and when - something I take very seriously. To me, it isn't like taking a vitamin supplement; it is a strong dose of medicine designed to initiate a significant immune response, and it usually comes with a hefty portion of chemical preservatives. I think vaccines are one of the most important of all our medical advances but that they should also be used with care and perhaps not given in such intense quantity.

SO, I have appointments with two different pediatricians that I plan on visiting for the baby's 9- and 12- month appointments and I am really hoping that one of them works out for us. As I said, our first one was a really nice guy, but I don't want to have a debate or argument every time I have to take the baby in for a checkup. I know there are doctors out there who will be more agreeable to our choices, I just have to find one.

"High Price of Cheap Food"

(article): According to Time magazine.

Really interesting article here about the mass-production of food in the U. S. and how it's hurting us. I've read two fabulous books by Michael Pollan, 'In Defense of Food' and 'The Omnivore's Dilemma,' which cover the subject in much greater detail. Aside from being stupendously interesting, the books are engaging and articulate; I can't recommend them highly enough.

I've started making a conscious effort to cook more at home rather than eating out so much. Not only is it much easier now with having a baby, but if you eat out every day it gets to be really boring: "Okay, where are we picking up food from tonight?" Then throw out a handful of the same suggestions you always pick from. Takes all the fun out of it for me. We've also started shopping more at the farmer's market, and buying 'wild-caught' fish when available. Just chipping away - every little bit helps, I guess!

Cold Season?

Who gets a cold in the middle of summer? Me, apparently. I started feeling a little crappy on Saturday, then when I woke up yesterday morning I knew it wasn't good. My sore throat was killing me, and I was worried about getting the baby sick. After downing 5 cups of hot herbal tea throughout the day (which really wasn't helping), I finally remembered the cure that always seems to work - a hot toddy! Whiskey, hot water, a little sugar (or honey), and a tiny squeeze of lemon. It works like a charm. I instantly felt better and only wished I'd thought of it sooner. Keep it in mind for the coming cold and flu season. So far, baby seems perfectly healthy and happy, so either I just got lucky or the breastfeeding is doing what it's supposed to.

Speaking of the coming flu season, supposedly there is a lot of controversy about the new H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine that will be coming out in the face of a potential swine flu epidemic. The general criticism seems to be that it was developed too quickly and won't have time to be adequately tested. Which is scarier, contracting swine flu, or being a vaccine guinea pig? I honestly don't know. But may be worth further investigation before jumping on board with that one. I remember I was so angry when my doctor convinced me to get the flu vaccine last year (while I was pregnant) and I later found out that I was given the kind that contained thimerosal. I wish I had known because I definitely would have passed! The crazy thing was, the doctors in the practice were shocked when they found out that the shots they were giving to pregnant women had thimerosal - and my asking was what prompted them to look. Shouldn't they have known (or thought) to look for that before? Guess you have to be your own 'medical advocate' to a large extent. And maybe it's just me, but it seems like every year they end up saying, 'Oops, we didn't include the right flu strains in the vaccine.' After all, it's just a guess which strains will be going around in any given season. So unless we can get the thimerosal-free version this year for me and baby, my gut reaction is that we'll be skipping flu shots and just trying to avoid contamination.

Farmer's Market Saturday

Okay, so another redeeming quality of summer is the fantastic produce. One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is to head to the local farmer's market. It's good to be out in the fresh morning sun before it gets too hot, and I love seeing Mr. Scott, the farmer I shop from. There are lots of "farmer's markets" around that are just a joke: grocery store produce shipped in on trucks from who-knows-where that has no flavor. It actually offends me that they call themselves farmer's markets; what a lie. But this one is the real deal. It's a humble little gathering in a parking lot on a traffic circle, nothing like the amazing San Francisco farmer's market on the bay (that makes me so jealous of people who live there). But the people are great and the food is delicious.

I think that the tomatoes tell the most about the quality of the produce. It's nearly impossible to get a decent tomato from the grocery store, and the perfect-looking hothouse tomatoes have no real flavor. But a real farm-fresh tomato in the summer is about as good as it gets. So today I saw Mr. Scott had big buckets of seconds tomatoes, a little beaten up but still bursting with delicousness and perfect for cooking with. I decided to get out my rarely-used tomato press and put up some sauce for winter (if I can wait that long).

It always amazes me how many tomatoes it takes to make just a little bit of tomato sauce. But it is so worth it; the resulting sauce is truly incredible. Thing is, there is so much tomato "waste" left over, and I can't stand to throw it out. It still has plenty of flavor and nutrients. I put it in bags to freeze and I guess I'll use it for soup stock. Wish I could think of something else, though, because that's a lot of tomato just to use in stock. Any ideas are welcome!

(leftovers on the left, fresh tomato pulp on the right)

(after reducing)

When I was pulling these images off the camera I found several pictures from the day E. was born that I had never even seen. They made my heart smile; I can't believe it was just a few short months ago.

Are we there yet?

The only good thing about it being August is that we don't have the entire summer still ahead of us. I'm getting the late-summer blues. Aching to sit outside and not swelter. I'm living in denial that for all practical purposes, we still have probably another two months of this.

The babe is doing great. It is incredible how much he has changed in just the past two months. At about four months old, he is babbling, laughing, starting to sit up on his own, eating, rolling over all the time, etc. He is a joy, and so much fun. The one teensy, tiny, weeny little thing that is driving me absolutely insane is his napping - or lack thereof. Okay, in all fairness, he is sleeping pretty darn well at night. And he does nap, but for no longer than 30-45 minutes at a time, at which point he wakes up cranky and yawning and still tired. Every once in a blue moon he'll take a great, long 2+ hour nap, and it's fabulous. He seems so happy and rested. So, after reading every book I can get my hands on, I'm trying sleep training which is a euphemism for letting him cry until he goes back to sleep in order to 'train' him to extend his naps. It sucks. I know it's highly controversial to let your baby cry, but none of the gentle methods have worked. However, this certainly doesn't seem to be a miracle cure as of yet. I'm on day 4 of the 3-Day Sleep Solution, if that tells you anything.

In knitting news.... you know how you can be working a garment, and something in the back of your mind is whispering (okay, screaming), "This isn't going right; it's not going to turn out how you want it. Stop before it's too late. PUT THE NEEDLES DOWN." Yeah, well, that's where I am. The yellowy mohair top I was working - it's not going well. I'm finally admitting that to myself. The design was for a blousy top that needs a fair amount of drape, so why oh why did I choose a lace-weight mohair yarn? What was I thinking? Anyhow, I am so disappointed, and I am having to stop and regroup. However, my experience has taught me that when this happens it is best to cut my losses and rip. So, nothing great to report here. Trying to figure out how I want to re-work this design to suit the yarn while still incorporating certain features that I was excited about. And now that I've posted this I've got probably another 5 minutes of baby sleeping time so I guess I better get started.

State of Affairs

It's 9:15 and all I feel like doing is falling into bed and sleeping, but I still have one more feeding to go at 10:00 so I have to stay up for that. I thought I'd post on my little blog while I'm waiting. Little E. is 10 weeks old today, as of 45 minutes ago. It feels like it's been so much longer than that, but as Monty pointed out, that's nearly 20% of a year. Wow, that sounds like a lot!

We're currently trying to get a more regular sleeping schedule going. Actually the baby sleeps really well at night, and has since he was 6 or 7 weeks old. Most nights he is sleeping from 8pm to 7(-ish)am, with me waking him up once at 10pm for a late feeding. He usually goes right back to sleep after that. So nighttime is really great, most of the time. However, he is not a good daytime napper, which we need to work on because he gets really tired and fussy but has a hard time going down. We do all the usual tricks: swaddling, white noise, dark room, nursing, pacifier, etc., but while he will usually go to sleep, he won't stay asleep more than 20-30 minutes. That's not long enough for him to get good rest. I've read Baby Wise and The No Cry Sleep Solution, two books that are pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. The no-cry book is a lot closer to my parenting style, and is pretty much how we were already doing things. I must say, however, that I did find helpful suggestions in both books, and there were also things in both that aren't for me. 

The no-cry book is very supportive (encouraging?) of co-sleeping. That's something I never thought I'd do, but we did for several weeks in the beginning. It made nighttime nursing much easier, and was peace of mind for us. We had a sleeper in the middle so it wouldn't have been possible to roll onto the baby or anything like that. I felt like I slept better because I could hear him breathing and look right at him and see that he was okay. At about 7 weeks we moved him into the bassinet by the bed, and about a week or so ago, he finally graduated to his crib. We eventually moved him because he was waking us up by stirring in his sleep, and we were doing the same to him. I think we're all sleeping better now.

Baby Wise is much more strict about scheduling and letting the baby cry. I have found that I may have been rushing in too soon sometimes when he'd fuss after I put him down. Trying out a suggestion from the book, I tried to give it a little longer and see if he'd settle, and it really has worked. I only do that when he is fussing mildly. After a few minutes, I'll go back in and try to soothe him and give him the pacifier. Also, if he is really crying, I go get him. I don't have the nerve to let him scream. It makes me too sad.

The hardest part of having a baby right now is keeping up my energy. I have to be *ON* all day from the time I wake up until I put him to bed. Holding, soothing, entertaining, feeding, changing, bathing, etc., etc., etc.! You don't get a chance to just sit down for a minute, especially when he doesn't nap very well. And at night I just collapse, then wake up and do it all again. It is blindingly perpetual. I can imagine it only gets more intense with a toddler since they are walking/crawling and you have to keep them safe and keep them from getting into everything. From where I stand now, it boggles my mind that people are able to keep up with more than one! Still, it is much more enjoyable than in the beginning, because now he is smiling at us a lot, and babbling, and really interacting with us. That is the wonderful part of it, and it makes this crazy lifestyle seem more manageable.

Food for Thought

Three thought-provoking articles on (you guessed it) breastfeeding, and its implications for the modern woman:

The Case Against Breastfeeding

The Backlash to Breast is Best

Baby Food

The second article was written by Jennifer Block, the author of the book Pushed, a fascinating book about modern maternity healthcare that I read while I was pregnant. The last article focuses on the political and social aspects of the breast pump.

In all my reading about breastfeeding, it has only been recently that I realized how politically-charged the issue really is. There is a lot more to it than a good latch (trust me).