Yet Another New Leaf

Mood: Relaxed.

Quotable Quotes: If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything. --Bill Lyon

POD:

My little nut!

I know my few remaining blog readers won't believe this, but I honestly *have* been thinking about this blog a lot lately. I feel like I put so much energy into it the past few years and I really don't want to let it die. But if the rumors are true and I really won't be getting a full night of sleep again until Khalil goes to college (and who is anyone kidding... I can't imagine having a kid in college is a reason for any parent to "relax"), I have to be realistic and admit that this blog probably won't be as active as it used to be.

Part of my reluctance to blog has been the fact that SO much has happened in the past months. How do I go back and recount everything? So, I've decided to just jump in and start with where we are today. In the process, I'm sure stories from the past while will be told, but for now, I'm going to just pretend this blog started today and I won't worry about documenting everything else.

I've also been thinking about what I want to do with this blog in general. I definitely want to continue to use it to keep folks updated on what's up with the K-man and our family. But I've also been thinking about doing something more with it. Over the past few months, and honestly, as soon as I got pregnant, the internet has been HUGE in helping me keep my sanity. To be completely fair, the internet has also been a HUGE source of my insanity, but that post will come in time. Either that or ask Shehrzad. :) So, I've decided that I want to use this blog to share a lot of the myths I've uncovered about pregnancy, giving birth, having a baby, the whole shebang. I know, I know, there have been millions and billions of babies, so I'm not really "uncovering" these myths. But I am for myself. And hopefully in the course of this blog, I'll save a parent or two out there the stress of checking out every single link after googling "baby hasn't pooped for 7 days" or "will I go bald after giving birth?"

And oh yeah, I've decided to be completely candid about everything from now on. So if you've got a heart condition or are related to me, consider yourself warned. :)

So, here we go.

Myth #1: Breastfeeding is natural.

I'm not entirely clear on what's so natural about smashing a baby's face into his plate of food while mom yelps in pain. I must have missed that childbirth prep class. As many of my friends and family members know, I have very strong opinions about this wonderful world of boobing. I'll start off by saying that K has been breastfeeding like a champ for months now and I don't see weaning in our near future at all, but I'll follow that up quickly with a very loud and clear STARTING WAS HARDER THAN GIVING BIRTH. Yes, you read that right. While I loved my baby boy from the second I saw his scrunched up face on my chest, I'll admit that I trembled with fear every time he cried for food the first few weeks. Getting started with breastfeeding was by far the hardest thing to deal with, with a close second being PUPPS (another post, I promise!). Whenever I think about it now, I get so angry at the breastfeeding class we took a month of two before K got here. The video we saw at the beginning showed all these babies being latched on perfectly, so easily, so quickly. I'm half tempted to file a report with the Better Business Bureau and complain that they should be required to inform the viewers that these babies are all at least 5-6 months old, not newborns! I just wish they had been honest. Not that it would have changed my decision to breastfeed, but at least I would have been prepared. I really thought that as soon as K popped out, I'd show him the boob, he'd look up at me and smile and start munching away. Um, yeah. Kids, don't believe everything you see on TV! It took a good solid 2 weeks of constant pain and frustration, not to mention the endless pumping!, to get it right. Honestly, I was probably a day away from deciding to go with formula. The thing that kept me going, and I'm not just saying this so that I don't have to change tonight's poopy diaper, was Shehrzad. He was SO encouraging and SO helpful, and I really don't think I would have stuck with it if it wasn't for him. So for all your moms-to-be out there, if you're planning to breastfeed, keep at it! I went from constantly squirting K in his face to now being able to feed him in the dark! lying down! sleeping! It has *become* natural.

Daily Dose of Lubna: American Idol tonight!!