I am a living jolly jumper

Image from Didymos.

This week and the past week have been a very active time for a certain someone. She is large enough and strong enough to make sure I know that she is there! Sometimes it just feels like a squirm and other times she’s kicking the heck out of me. Last Thursday night I was reading in bed and it was like she was doing a Matrix-style training session – it felt like she was bouncing off every possible surface! Lately she’s taken to a more focussed attack – kicking the same spot repeatedly 10 or more times (an image of a prisoner trying to escape with a spoon comes to mind). If I am sitting still I can actually see some of the kicks, which is pretty weird! But it is really amazing and cool to be sent these messages by her, even if she doens’t know she is doing it.

So we finally started planning a few things for her arrival. One major decision was whether to get a stroller or not. Most baby strollers in North America are a) expensive and b) ugly. I saw some very nice ones in a parenting magazine I bought in Toulouse, but they don’t distribute them here. Anyway, having observed mothers struggle to carry their strollers down the stairs in the metro (at least 1 flight of stairs is guaranteed, sometimes more, sometimes very steep and long) I decided that was definitely not the way to go until the baby is large and strong enough to sit upright in a small & lightweight collapsable stroller, at which point I can pick up the baby, collapse the stroller and walk down in relative safety. Same for busses – strollers take up a lot of room on busses. It’s very crowded on the busses here and I’ve seen how difficult and frustrating that is. Some stores and restaurants (and my doctor’s office) don’t permit strollers either. Most of them are (very cleverly) designed to clip in a car seat for younger babies, but since we don’t have a car it’s not really all that useful. So, after reading up on babywearing, comparing the various types of carrying options and looking into locally available products, we bought a baby sling. But it’s not just any baby sling … it’s an stylish, organic hand-picked cotton, non-toxic dyed, sweatshop-free sling! It’s made by a German company (Didymos) which was started by a mom in 1971. Dan is totally into it too, so it should be a lot of fun. Thank goodness for the internet.

Diapers … well, we thought about buying a set of cloth diapers but the amount of work involved in cleaning them is a bit prohibititve (especially if I’m going back to work) so we are going to sign up for a cloth diaper service which costs the same as disposable diapers, about $20 a week.

Food: There is very little doubt that breastmilk is superior to formula, especially with respect to immune protection and it’s effect on the GI microflora of the child. So I am going to do my best to breastfeed for as long as I can. It has a lot of advantages (including the fact that it’s inexpensive compared to formula and always the right temperature) but also a few disadvangates. Formula-fed babies take longer to digest the milk and need feeding every 3-4 hours, whereas breast-fed babies need to be fed about every 2 hours at first … ouch. I guess that means not much sleep for me! But I did buy a pump, so after a few months Dan can share the joy of midnight feedings too. And for later on, this little kit looks really handy. My mom did the same thing for me and it makes a lot of sense. HINT HINT to secret santa … inexpensive gift idea here …

Sleeping arrangements: as I previously mentioned, Tony & Julie have very kindly offered us their crib when they move. It’s one of those kind that converts into a bed, so it will last for years. In the first few months, however, due to the aforementioned feeding issue, I’m thinking a co-sleeper like this one will be extremely useful. Also practially every customer review raves about it. It is practically impossible to find anything like it locally (most people I ask don’t know what it is) so this will definitely be an online purchase too.

Toys & clothes: we already have a ton thanks to the generosity of my co-worker and various family members.

Her room: well, that will be a challenge. We have 2 bedrooms in our place, but Dan’s music gear takes up a lot of space and has a LOT of wires. In the end, we decided it’s better to keep it all confined to one enclosed space (i.e. the other bedroom) then have it asking for trouble in the living room. So for the first few years, I think she will be fine in the living room if we get a room divider and a very compact changing table with drawers. By the time she’s ready to run around and have a room of her own we will be ready to move to a larger place with 3 bedrooms.

Well this is the fun part now. All the crying, peeing and sleepless weeks are still to come so I am trying to enjoy every minute of it.