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I Wanna Be A Cowgirl

The hospital that we’ll be delivering Blinkie in offers Programs for Parents - it is exactly what you think it is. For a small fee you get to pick the classes that you’re most interested in and meet other expectant parents that are pretty much just as clueless and feel better about how you thought you knew everything, but really knew nothing.

We took Breastfeeding and Infant CPR this week. Next Saturday we tackle the motherload; Lamaze, Baby Care Basics, and Comfort Measures. Both of the classes we’ve been to thus far have been great and we’ve really enjoyed going.

To be honest, I was terrified of the breastfeeding class thinking that the instructor was going to be a total boob nazi and make me feel bad about even having bottles in my house (just in case!). I was so grateful that she was not.

She did be sure to emphasize all the benefits of nursing and they were all pretty much stuff I had heard before. What I considered a bonus though was the fact that she was also a nutritionist. It allowed all of us to ask all the questions about diet while nursing. And oh my GOD I was so shocked (and ultimately THRILLED) to hear that nothing is really off limits just because you’re nursing! She did advise against dairy as some babies don’t like it and she also said that she tells her clients not to eat peanut butter due to potential reactions. I was a little freaked out as cheese and peanut butter (not together… ew) are two staples in my diet right now, but I took immediate comfort in the fact that on the approved list? CAFFEINE! AND BEER! AND OHMYGOD CAFFEINE! So many of my nursing friends swore off anything caffeinated while breastfeeding. I am so happy to say that I will not be one of them and I will not be feeling bad about it. The fact is that for ever 100mg of caffeine you ingest, the baby gets ONE. ONEmg. AMEN!

Oh and beer? It’s good for your milk supply. One Guinness a day? Sign. Me. Up.

Best class ever.

Oh yeah, they also went over how to get the baby to latch and how often to feed, yadda yadda CAFFEINE!!

The Infant CPR class was not for certification which kind of bummed me out, but they did go over the steps on how to do it and also went through a choking part which I think was SUPER informative and probably the most important thing to know about as the steps go against what your instinct would be to do. As a past EMT, all this stuff was review for me, but since it’s been 10 years, it was a MUCH needed review. Again, very glad we went.

So bring on next Saturday! I’m psyched to learn more. And then I’ll be the first to admit once this kid arrives that NO class would ever completely prepare me for this experience…

Here comes the first ever blog post on a Mac! I did it! I spent most of my child’s prep school education tuition, but I have a MacBook.

I also? Have no idea what I’m doing.

1. I’ve tried to right click about 91875609 times.

2. I don’t know what this ‘command’ key does.

3. Um. Where’s ‘home’ and ‘end’? Scrolling through lines is killing me.

4. I already bailed on Safari. I couldn’t figure out how to resize it so it took up more than a quarter of my screen. I HATE space around my active window. Solved that by downloading Firefox. Am much happier.

5. iChat is cool, but for some reason I can’t get it to video chat and I also can’t seem to have the same buddy in both of my AIM accounts - I have one for work and one personal one, but merging them is posing a challenge.

6. I DID, however, manage to import all of my iTunes which is AWESOME. Thank God for EHH’s external hard drive. However, it ate all my playlists. Le sigh.

So I have a feeling this is going to be a bit of a learning curve for me. I’m up for it. I’m also 100% positive that there are a million cool things on here that I haven’t even seen yet. Do you use a Mac? What’s your favorite cool feature?

Volume One can be found here for those that might have missed it.

I apologize to my two male readers that this is a bit one-dimensional in audience.

Question 1:

Kegels. I do them, but how do you know if you’re doing enough of them? It’s like 3 sets of 10 enough? Or should it be more like 10 sets of 30?

Question 2:

Stretch Mark Creams/Oils. Do you think they work? I don’t have any stretch marks (yet), but I’ve been religious about the oil. I have this one. Is my constant applying going to matter or is it a lost cause anyway?

Question 3:

Belly supports. Did any of you wear these? I haven’t bought one and I’m really sort of over buying anything maternity related with such a short time left in my pregnancy, but if this will help the excruciating pain in between my shoulders, I might entertain the idea. Actually, this one doesn’t look that bad. Waste? You tell me.

Question 4:

What’s your favorite parenting/pregnancy magazine or blog? Online, I love ParentDish and Lil Sugar. Offline, I think Pregnancy & Newborn has the most relevant content for me right now. I also love Parents magazine and I’m hoping I just continue to identify with it more and more.

Question 5:

Who else is NOT going to BlogHer? Because I think we all need to find a way to entertain ourselves while everyone else in blog land is partying it up in San Francisco. And we also need to get the petition started that next year’s conference is more centrally located or hell, how about on the East Coast? However, I’m loving the updates here. These ladies are hilarious!

Discuss!

Sharing these decisions openly is totally going to set some major troll bait. I’ve decided I’m okay with it. These are things I need to share. And, wait, what’s that? MY BLOG! Right.

Decision the First: We’re not going to bank the baby’s cord blood. (Exhale from that gasp you just took - you’re turning blue) This was a decision we made together and not for one particular reason alone, but for a few. One being the cost. Two being that it’s not 100% guaranteed to fix anything. Three being that I’m just not totally convinced it’s the right thing to do. Go ahead. Yell.

Decision the Second: I’m getting a new laptop. And it’s going to be a Mac. This must be surprising to some of you that know me and know that I don’t have the first clue about how Mac’s work, but I just seem to not have great luck with PC laptops and everyone seems to love their Mac’s. And well, I’m a joiner. So, here’s a place for you to be helpful. How do I get a Mac? Can I order one online? What do I need? There must be some features I need and some that I don’t. There’s got to be a level of MacBook one requires and one that’s over the top, right? I suck at research. Suck at it and HATE it with a passion. So tell me everything I need to know. Me = Lazy. Ready? Set? Discuss.

Decision the Third: I’ve adapted a new outlook. It’s called, “I am not physically or mentally capable of doing it all.” Amen. I realized that there is SO much to do and it’s just impossible for me to be able to do everything. Either I need to a- Ask For Help (Shock! Horror!) or b - Fucking Forget It. Haven’t decided which way I’m leaning yet, but at least I made the decision.

Decision the Fourth: We bought a new router which has made all the difference in the world when it comes to our network being totally efficient and thus increasing my productivity when I work from home by 1000. This was the best. Decision. Ever.

Decisions always make me feel good and help fade the ambiguity that sometimes hordes itself up inside of me and waits to explode. I feel a little better as I decide to do one thing over another. I guess It’s just another part of me being a major control freak. I embrace it.

It’s totally SFW. In fact? Call EVERYONE in your office over to your desk so you can all sit there with dropped jaw and amazement that there really are people like this out there.

Douchebag Phone Message

Via holytaco.com and the fabulous Samantha Jo Campen (Sam - Yes, you did TOTALLY make me feel better!).