1. Just last Tuesday I was telling a friend that Claire was a model baby and the child and had never thrown up, not even once! Ohhhh yeah, that was a big mistake.
2. Claire vomited the entire contents of her stomach into her crib at about 10:30p. Then she vomited every 15-30 minutes afterward until about 1:30a, before finally going back to sleep. After the first episode she was only vomiting up the tiny amounts of water I let her drink (as there was NOTHING else left in her tummy) and it was heartbreaking to see that she couldn't even keep TWO SIPS of water down.
I called the night nurse at 1:00a and she said it souunded like the stomach bug going around and it would probably last 12-24 hours. And you know what I honestly thought at that moment?
"Well shit, if this is a 12-hour thing that means we're already two hours in and it might be over soon! I can handle anything for 12 hours! (Oh, and yes, my poor baby.)"
She's feeling much better this morning.
3. After A LOT of drama that I will subject you to later, I have finally found the midwife who will care for me during this pregnancy. She's only 6 miles from the house, has hospital privileges at a snotty, recently-remodeled medical center and she actually told me that she "does not do bullshit." She's only missed three births in ten years. She is My People.
4. Other than hiring a midwife, we have done absolutely nothing to prepare for this child. Have not cracked open a baby name book. Have not bought twee little onesies. Have not cleaned out the extra bedroom of boxes and given away the mismatched furniture. (Anyone need some mismatched furniture?) Have not transitioned Claire to a big girl bed so the baby can have the crib. We're thinking about doing some of these things this weekend but GOSH, it's hard for me to plan much without knowing if it's a boy or a girl. I don't know how you people who wait to find out DO this. It's like you have TWICE the amount of work in the same amount of time. I'm far too much of a control freak to ever wait it out.
5. It's a good thing that we'll probably find out the sex on November 30th then. (I'll be 19 weeks.)
6. Remember when I said that the Montessori people told me they were going to potty train Claire? Well, we're here. They said that next week they're going cold turkey on her, no more diapers, and that she'll be potty trained in a week. I was like, for real? Truthfully, I'm not feeling that much hustle to potty train Claire, mostly because it sounds like a lot of work and I'm not feeling like I have the extra bandwidth to dedicate to this right now because if there's one thing I've learned from the internet on this topic it's that you have to be consistent on an almost holy level for the concept to stick the first time.
But, it has to happen some time so we're taking in extra clothes on Monday and going for it. They say she's super picky (she is) and she'll hate being wet and they're very confident she'll pick it up fast. I figure these people have potty trained a LOT of kids and they probably don't say that about all of them so they might know what they're talking about. We're going to try and be consistent with what they're doing at school so we can make the transition as quickly as possible. It would be nice to be diaper-free for what, 5 months?
7. And speaking of diapers, I have not convinced Chris that this is a good idea yet, but I am pretty sure we'll be cloth diapering this new child. The economics of it just make too much sense and seeing what we've spent on diapers for Claire just makes me ill. I haven't decided yet on which brand/type or even shopped for them but this is something I considered doing with Claire but decided to learn about it a little too late and it didn't feel like a task I was willing to take on with all of the moving and packing we were doing in late 2009.
So there you go. A midwife and cloth diapers. I am a hippie that votes Republican. Take a picture, because I hear I'm a rare creature.
Wait, you vote Republican? Can we be friends?
Posted by: Jennie | November 12, 2010 at 09:34 AM
With all that money you will be saving on diapers you can buy your new washer and dryer.
Posted by: Mom | November 12, 2010 at 09:52 AM
haha. Let me know how it goes with Montessori potty training. I tried it- no luck. The Montessori people make me laugh sometimes with their methods that work on "every child."
Posted by: craftyashley | November 12, 2010 at 10:14 AM
I am your source for cloth diapers. Feel free to ask me anything :) And are you doing drug-free this time? I'm guessing so, since you've got a midwife. BRADLEY method is *the* way to go.
Posted by: Holly | November 12, 2010 at 10:49 AM
Glad to hear you finally found someone that will work with you! Best of luck on the cloth diapers. I considered it for baby #2, but after spending way too much of my precious after work evening time pre-rinsing tiny toxic underpants in the tub for my potty training older child, I knew that I could not scrub/soak multiple cloth diapers on a daily basis. As Manda has said, somewhere a hippie is crying over my landfill contributions.
Posted by: Morgan S. | November 12, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Oooh, I will be excited to hear how the PT goes.
Posted by: Katie | November 12, 2010 at 11:35 AM
I also use cloth diapers (and reusable grocery bags) and vote (mostly) republican. We should form a club!! :)
Posted by: Erin G | November 12, 2010 at 11:59 AM
A'Dell, I feel that I could have written much of this post (we are twins!) My toddler just got over the nasty stomach bug (poor baby) and may be on the cusp of toilet training, too.
You will LOVE midwifery care. Both my kids were delivered by midwives and the quality of care (especially post partum) is amazing. And they are so much more respectful and open than most physicians.
Finally - and I say this as a Mom with two in diapers who made the switch when Veronica was days old - cloth diapering is much easier than you'd think. I find it kind of fun, actually! They look so cute, and I am thrilled at the savings!
Posted by: Sarah in Ottawa | November 12, 2010 at 12:44 PM
I'll join the club! Midwife-loving, cloth-diaper using, have never voted for a Democrat. We also co-sleep and extended-nurse, and honestly I think my teenage self would be SHOCKED at what a hippie I've become.
We switched to cloth diapers with our second kid and we're never going back. There's just something about using cloth that's incredibly satisfying (in a tactile way, not in a green-smugness way. at least for me). I'll also have a ton of advice for you if you decide to go that way!
I said this already, but I'm just so happy that you've found a midwife! Hooray for sympathetic, smart prenatal/birth care.
Posted by: Arwen | November 12, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Yay! I am so happy you found a midwife you like! Now you just have to find a beet field...
Posted by: Elizabeth | November 12, 2010 at 01:01 PM
Sprog went to Montessori and when they said one week on the potty training? THEY MEANT IT. Sprog was one week, no accidents, no reverting. CRAZY TOWN.
Posted by: Raven | November 12, 2010 at 02:53 PM
Another cloth-diapering Republican here, and I would totally have gone to a midwife if I didn't already go to the relatively crunchy/no contraceptives/non-profit/Catholic OB/GYN practice. You're not alone!
I can't wait to hear about the Montessori potty training. I don't know how I missed the fact that Claire's preschool is a Montessori program. I've been reading up on Montessori stuff and am SO interested. Tell us more about it!
Posted by: Petroni | November 12, 2010 at 03:23 PM
I think the fact alone that you send your child to a Montessori school whilst voting republican is enough to make the time/space continuum in the minds of many irrevocably warp.
But seriously, whatever. I'm a raving democrat and my republican mother is my favorite person in the world. We CAN all get along. :)
Posted by: Shilo | November 12, 2010 at 03:46 PM
Wait. Did I just read that there's another Republican-voting hippie on the internet? You are my people.
Also, I'd be interested as to what you find out about cloth diapering. I'd like to do that myself once my kid arrives.
Posted by: Home Sweet Sarah | November 12, 2010 at 04:01 PM
Glad to hear you found a midwife! There's nothing like making it halfway through a pregnancy not knowing who's going to deliver your child. I did it with my second, looking for someone who would be supportive of a VBAC with a Christmas eve due date. In my case it was an OB (small town means not much selection) and she was great.
Let us know how the cloth diapering goes. I haven't tried it, but I'm certainly interested.
Posted by: Elsha | November 12, 2010 at 04:50 PM
Yay cloth diapers! (No time to write more.)
Posted by: Dr. Maureen | November 13, 2010 at 03:52 PM
Hippie republican. LOL. Don't forget your liberal obsession with Apple products, too!
Glad to hear you found a midwife and figured that whole deal out... because if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy. More people need to understand that concept.
L has never really vomited yet, either. She had some ferocious spit up events as a newborn, but we've yet to endure the vomit. I hope Claire is feeling MUCH better. And I will make sure to buy a pillow liner when we get to that stage. I have been contemplating putting a pillow in the crib but that seems to be a controversial topic. Does Claire do well with it?
At least your not hippie enough to NOT find out the sex of your child. That's just ludicrous!
Posted by: Mel | November 15, 2010 at 01:32 PM