So lately a topic of conversation I've noticed a lot between new moms/upcoming moms to be is the question of how soon is too soon to have baby out in a crowd, or at what point it's ok to allow "other people" to hold her. All of a sudden I feel as though I've done Kayla a disservice by not considering this question. I know that our first few days, maybe even a week or two will be spent largely at home sleeping, nursing, and just getting to know each other. That's totally understandable. But two weeks after my due date, we are slated to attend my cousin Catherine's wedding. It never occurred to me that maybe that was too soon to have her around such a large gathering of people.
Obviously if she would be born more than a few days beyond her due date, I may not be feeling up to attending the wedding after all... and I am not going to push things beyond what I feel like I am capable of doing. Obviously I will do my best to make the ceremony either way, but if the reception seems like too much, we may just go home. But that is me. What about her? Logically, I feel like she will most likely snooze through most of the occasion, if not the entire thing. Is it so crazy to think that it's not that big of a deal to take her?
In any case, we hit the 36 week mark on Saturday. Wow. I can't believe there's less than a month to go. My awesome mom came out to visit me Saturday afternoon and brought the baby monitor that she bought for us. So handy! Thanks to Shaun I know that the receiver unit works great, as does the paging feature. Thanks mom, we love it! We also got to meet my sister in law's new chocolate lab puppy on Saturday afternoon. She's just too adorable! My sister came out to visit after that - it was a busy Saturday for me. Poor Shaun spent a lot of it at work, and then napping since he was up at 4 am.
My next midwife appointment is tonight, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for some surprising news to come out of that. I'm not hopeful, being as Kayla is still riding high enough to stick her little toes in my ribs. I have been feeling some contractions though, a few more painful than others. At least that helps make it seem as though something is happening while I'm just sitting here going crazy.
I'll update again after tonight's appointment; cross your fingers for no blood pressure scares this time! I'm not too worried, since as Tiffany pointed out last week, I still have ankle bones, and my feet look normal, so I must be doing something right!
36W 2D
5 comments:
Our pediatrician told us to wait three-four weeks after birth until taking little man out in public, to allow a child to build up their immune system and since he was born during flu season we followed the doctor’s instructions. We had visitors in the hospital 24 hours after he was born but made EVERYONE wash there hands and asked kindly for anyone that was feeling sick to stay away…those rules upheld while receiving visitors at home.
P.S. my personal opinion is to ask a parent to watch Kayla during the wedding, I'm paranoid about strangers that I don't know where they've been or what they've touched handling my children…kids get sick SO EASILY especially newborns.
P.S.S. Another thing to consider about the wedding is babies become over stimulated REALLY easily and cry/scream when place in large groups.
LOL, hopefully this is my last post/comment ;0)
I'm going to gracefully disagree with the "advice" presented above, on two points:
one- newborns are already protected from roughly 90% of the bugs out there by way of development within the womb an then through the antibodies present in the mothers milk. Of course, always check with your doctor, but it's much more likely they will recommend you expose your child to healthy enviroments to assist in their immunity building.
two- if you feel ready to take Kayla out to the wedding, then do so. it a wedding...a multi-family event...and Kayla is now part of that. Everybody was a squirmy, fussy baby at some point, and our societies adaptation to remove and isolate children from events because they make sounds is ubsurd. At her age she'll be sleeping most of the time because the action will lull her down. If/when she does fuss, simply leave for as long as you need. Normal, understanding adults would rather see the baby than those who think babies should be seen and not heard.
Bottom line; you're the mommy, you make what ever decision you feel is best for you both. You will never please everybody as a parent, so don't try. Do what YOU think is right, and you'll do just fine.
Your friend!
I agree with "your friend"... You're the Mommy...
I got the same stuff from other mom's (especially with an early comer during flu and RSV season)...
I sort of looked at it like this...
If I were an indeginous person that child would have been strapped to my back or in a papous within hours of birth so that I could go back into the field...
a wedding can't possibly hurt...
If you're still worried ask your ped. But bottom line... You're doing what you think is best which is all you can expect from yourself (and others).
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