Hug a Doula

Reading Margot an unconventional bedtime story

Not that long ago I had big dreams of walking to the library with a baby strapped to me.  Today I’m happy just to get up off of the couch without crying out in pain… things change.

A few days ago I had minor surgery.  I was pretty hesitant to talk about it here because the nature of my surgery was kind of delicate.  You see, I had some lingering issues from childbirth, and it’s my experience that people get kind of hush-hush about these types of things.  But, I’ve already talked here about my boobs (and shared photos of them on many occassions, in fact) and our struggles with infertility and our decision to not have any more children.  I’ve been pretty honest on here and I may as well keep chugging along.

I had a lot of anxiety leading up to my surgery for a lot of reasons, some of which are probably obvious, and some which are more private than even I am prepared to share with the entire internet.

But, the most significant thing for us was that my doctor wanted to put me under general anesthesia and I emphatically did NOT want that.  I was not comfortable with that course of action, but when I asked if that was necessary, the doctor said, yes, it was, so… I went along with it.

Then, I wrote a desperate e-mail to my amazing, wonderful, incredible Doulas, and immediately got an e-mail back saying, “Call me! Now!”

Debbie, who you may remember as the hero from Margot’s birth story, encouraged me to be insistent with the doctor about my wishes just as I had been about my wishes during pregnancy and labor.  She even spoke to the doctor on my behalf.

And, in the end, I got spinal anesthesia instead of being knocked out.

It was a huge relief and less risky for my health concerns and more comfortable for me overall.

I think we have been conditioned to believe that we should follow blindly with what professionals tell us is “the best course of action” but we forget that we often know our own bodies better than anyone else, and that we have rights as patients and as human beings.  So, my message for the world today is… stand up for yourself.

I did, and it did not come naturally to me to do so.

The second message: Doulas are amazing.

Seriously.

I owe a lot to my Doulas, and it just so happens that May is International Doula Month.

So, do me a favor? Go “like” my Doulas. Or visit their website. Or find a Doula and give her a big hug.

 

How to cure a cold in 24 hours

On Friday, Margot had her first day of “school.” We had heard from someone that our school district has a literacy program for children age 0-4. We are always looking for ways to enrich Margot’s growing mind and thought this sounded pretty great. Especially because it is a bilingual program. Ossining has a large Spanish-speaking population and one of the goals of the First Steps program is to help prepare those children from Spanish speaking homes for their entry into school at age 5.

On our way to school… perhaps I should have taken Margot’s reluctance as a sign…

There was singing and signing and reading books and dancing and all of it done in English and Spanish.

It all sounds great, right? And it IS great. But, this is the email I sent to Todd upon our return from school:

When I say the word “pandemonium”… that doesn’t even feel like an accurate description of how First Steps was…

I am really glad we went.

But. Dude. Pandemonium. For real.

Yeah. It was a little bit hectic. I am terrible at counting and prone to exaggeration, but I am pretty sure there were more than 100 people packed into one room, and more than half of those people were children.

Despite this, when Margot and I both woke up with the sniffles the next morning, I blamed the pollen in the air.

By Saturday evening I was starting to suspect my “allergies” were presenting themselves a bit unusually.

Then, when I woke up early Sunday morning, it was clear it was definitely NOT allergies and WAS, in fact, a cold.

And not only was I suffering, but so was my sweet girl.

We very begrudgingly cancelled our plans for the day and set out to kick this cold square in the butt.

Here’s how we did it, with nary a pharmaceutical in sight:

Water
Rest
Soup
Vitamin C
Eucalyptus steam
More water
More rest
Hulu and HBO Go and a laptop computer

Enjoying some steam.

The real key to my recovery, though… Todd Moore. He toted sniffly Miss Margot around with him while retrieving some of the above listed items. He fluffed my pillows and boiled water and served me soup and crackers in bed.

As for our little girl, she was a little boogie monster, but she never seemed to be as sick as her Mama. I credit this 100% to her steady diet of Mama’s Milk.

Not only does breast milk contain antibiotics specific to the germs in your immediate environment, but breast milk is my answer to everything. Stuffed nose? Shoot breast milk up there. Cut? Rub a little breast milk on it. Diaper rash? Breast milk. I even vanquished a pimple with breast milk before it had the opportunity to come to the surface.

But, seriously, breast milk is pretty amazing stuff.

So, how did it all work out? Well as of this morning, Margot and I are not quite ready to go to Storytime at the library, but, we can breathe out of our noses and we have migrated down from the bedroom to the living room.

I am still unbelievably disappointed that we had to cancel plans that I was very much looking forward to… But! We made it through Margot’s first cold! And… honestly… a sunny spring day spent convalescing with this little love hardly makes it onto my list of “Worst Days Ever.”

Better one? Better two?

As a glasses-wearer, I’ve often been asked why I don’t get contact lenses.  My standard response used to be that I have Astigmatism, so contacts weren’t an option.  That has become increasingly invalid since “they” have been offering contacts for people with just that infliction for probably as long as I’ve been wearing glasses.

The truth is, glasses are a part of my face.  I’m rarely ever photographed without them on, and when it was suggested I remove my glasses for our wedding photos I refused.  I wanted to look like myself.  People have often commented when I remove my glasses to clean off a smudge, “Oh wow, you look so pretty without your glasses on.”  I think that is supposed to be a compliment.  But, I feel like it would be just as complimentary to say (after removing my nose from my face), “Oh wow, you look so pretty without your nose on.”

True story: I used to think noses were horrible looking, and I spent a day cutting out or coloring over the noses in my coloring book to see what Jem or Barbie would look like without that horrible appendage on their faces.  But, no… noses are unpleasant but IMPORTANT for facial beauty.  I mean, look at Lord Voldemort.

As many people think I look pretty(er?) without glasses on, I universally think everyone looks more attractive WITH glasses on.  I make Mr. Moore try on my glasses pretty often.  He usually refuses to open his eyes while wearing them for fear that he will degenerate his perfect vision.  It’s all a part of my secret plot to turn him into a glasses wearer, because damn if he doesn’t look even more handsome with them on!

All of this is just a lead-in to tell you that I got my eyeballs checked out yesterday and I ordered myself some new spectacles on the internet.

The doctor asked if I’ve ever worn contacts and I lied a little bit when I said I hadn’t.

See: Halloween 2010

But, that was a one-time thing.  So, I told him emphatically that, no, I was not interested in getting contact lenses.  He dutifully wrote out my prescription for me, and I was all set to order some new glasses.

This will be my first time ordering glasses online, so I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing.  On 39dollarglasses.com they have these handy pdf versions of their glasses that you can print out so you can “try on” some different styles.  But, it’s not exactly the same as trying on glasses in Lens Crafters.

Here are some of the styles I chose from:

I’d love to leave the deciding up to you, but I’ve already ordered them.

You can still feel free to comment on my choices as you see fit, but the damage is done.