Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Things I've learned since having Scarlett (almost) a year ago

About Childbirth:

- Pushing and breathing during labor aren't nearly as complicated as everyone makes them out to be.

- Go in through the emergency room when in labor. Apparently everyone knew to do this except for me.

- Have the car seat already set up in the car, because otherwise you will end up trying to figure it out while parked out front of the hospital with your bags, flowers/balloons, baby, and an impatient and car-seat-incompetent nurse looking over your shoulder.

- Giving birth with no meds wasn't as bad as I expected.


About Infant Care:

- Deciding which cloth diapers to buy is ridiculously complicated.

- Some babies know how to nurse well right away, and it doesn't have to be painful.

- Not all babies get ear infections.

- Not all babies will cry when they need to eat.

- Having a baby who can "self-soothe" by sucking her thumb is the best thing ever.

- Baby will be surrounded by toys but want to play with a spoon or a bottle.


About beliefs, advice, etc:

- "Babywise" author Gary Ezzo is cruel and egotistical.

- I didn't know I had a "parenting philosophy" (because I didn't read child-raising books before Scarlett was born), but apparently the philosophy I'm closest to is Attachment Parenting.

- People love to tell horror stories about birth and parenting.

- Lots of people think co-sleeping/bed sharing is weird.

- People like to attribute anything "good" about Scarlett to her inborn personality, but anything "good" about their children to their parenting methods.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Testing

Testing to see if I'm technologically advanced enough to post photos on a blog.