In the Beginning

So, I'm starting this a little late. I mean, Hunter's already 9 months old, and I really should have been recording our experiences together since he was born. But I'm a little slow on the uptake, and frankly, I didn't hear about blogger.com until I read about it in Parenting this month. So, there you have it.

So a little bit about me and my baby: I gave birth to Hunter Alexander at 1:01 pm on Friday, September 17, 2004. He weighed 9 lbs, 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He was not a tiny baby, and I *am* a tiny Mommy, so they extracted him via C-section. They actually had to use a vacuum to suck him out. See, Hunter never did like anything touching his sacred belly cocoon, so when they strapped that vital signs belt to my ample waistline, he inched his little fetal form away from it until he was curled up under my ribs.



As of last Friday (June 17, 2005), Hunter weighed 25 pounds, 4 ounces and was 28.66 inches long. Now, imagine me, a 4'10 woman carrying around an infant almost literally half my size. Pretty funny. But boy am I in shape now.

Prior to Hunter's arrival, I was in rotten condition. Chubby, weak, tired, depressed. Now I'm still chubby--but instead I'm strong, energetic, motivated, and unbelievably happy. It's like the first 30 years of my life were nothing more than a holding pattern for the time when Hunter entered my life. I think my husband feels the same.

Greg is a fantastic Daddy. According to my mother, I'm a fantastic Mommy. I'll admit, I've taken to Mommying rather well. For a girl who didn't know which end of a baby was up, I've made amazing progress.

The first few weeks of being Hunter's Mommy wasn't all rainbows and ponies. I was terrified. Mom came to stay at our house to help out, and if it weren't for her experience and tender instruction, I'd probably be bathing poor Hunter in the washing machine. Heh, not really, but my only understanding of babies at the time of Hunter's birth was a textbook synopsis combined with what I gleaned from the Internet. But as I'm sure many new mothers know, experience is far different than "Baby Book" anecdotes.

Mom taught me several things that I wouldn't have known to do on my own:

1) Wash baby's face, feet, and hands in the morning and at night (and when needed throughout the day, of course). Logical, right? Well, unless Hunter had been covered in dirt, I probably wouldn't have thought of it. And I'm sure many parents don't do it. But I've found that not only does it refresh my boy, but it gives me more opportunities than just bath time to find anything unusual on his newborn skin. For instance, within the first few days after bringing Hunter home, I found a small blister mark on his thumb that turned out to be impetigo. The doctor treated it immediately and all turned out fine.

2) The evening wipe-down is a great time to change baby's outfit for bed. The first night or two after we brought Hunter home, Greg and I were just leaving him in his daytime onesy for pajamas, until my mother caught on and gently suggested that not only would a fresh outfit feel good, but it would also give Hunter an early start into the routine of changing into pajamas before bed.

3) Change Hunter's linens frequently and do his laundry daily. See, Greg and I, before becoming parents, lived sorta like college students. We did laundry once a week, maybe. Truthfully, we let it build up until the only reason we were doing laundry at all was because one of us needed underwear. Hehehe. Don't tell my mother! I probably wouldn't have been *that* bad with Hunter's laundry, but I certainly wouldn't have done it daily. Turns out that doing Hunter's laundry daily led to the epiphany that doing laundry often is a good thing... doing lots of little loads often definitely beats doing 7 GIGANTOR loads once every three weeks.

There were lots of other things my mother taught me during her time with us. But mostly I learned from watching her with Hunter. It's amazing... it had been 15 years since she had been around a baby, and she still was an expert. Of course, she did have 6 kids of her own, and a multitude of grandkids for continuing education.

Some other changes to my life include:

1) Daily vacuuming! Vacuuming was another once every three weeks sort of thing before we had Hunter. So was dusting. Or mopping. Or cleaning in general. Gawds, were we slobs! But now anything Hunter could get his grubby little hands--or slobbery little mouth--on must be clean... and that pretty much means everything!

2) Poop texture is a topic of conversation. Now don't get me wrong... I'm notorious for discussing my own bowel movements, much to the displeasure of my audience. I can't help it. I like grossing people out. However, Hunter's poop is something EVERYONE wants to talk about. Is it hard? Is it soft? What color is it? How many times a day? Does it stink? (And BOY does it ever. He takes after his dad in that regard.)

3) Food groups are important! I could have cared less about my own diet for the past 32 years. But with Hunter I measure, measure, measure. So much veggies, so much fruit, this much meat, and of course, don't forget the grains! So many ounces of formula a day, so on and so forth. My anal retentive side rears its lovely head when it comes to Hunter's diet.

4) Everything is a choking hazard. I look at everyday objects in a new, ominous way now. Penny on the floor? Choking hazard! Plastic eyeball on a bear? Choking hazard!! Piece of dogfood? Choking hazard! Kitchen sink? Choking hazard!! Well, maybe I'm a bit paranoid.

And there are many other ways in which my life has changed, of course. They'll come out in time as I record my thoughts. But one thing is for sure--I love being a mama.

Next time I'll write about Hunter's milestones. I'll probably also rant about my pediatrician's feeding instructions (He's an excellent pediatrician---I'm just a frantic, paranoid new mother.)

I'll also talk about the beautiful babies I saw at my WIC appointment today, and Greg's upcoming trip to Germany. (He's gonna miss Hunter's first birthday!! :( ) I'll introduce everyone to Chad, our roommate and Hunter's self-appointed nanny. We call him the Manny---you know, the male nanny.

Oh, and we're working on another baby. I should know as early as next Monday if I'm pregnant. I'll let you know.

For now, my bed awaits!

~Loribug