Yesterday--one of the first not-hot days in the past months--Istra and I were out and about quite a bit. First we headed to Pharma Plus in search of a NUK nipple for her bottle. While checking out with our prize, the cashier started asking me questions about Istra. Lately, I have sort of stopped sugar-coating my experience as a new parent. If people ask I will tell them that it was hard at first but is getting easier. I told this to the cashier and she got a defeated look on her face; she then told me that she was 3 months pregnant herself and "very scared". I backpeddled a little bit because I firmly believe that if you are afraid you are pretty much guarenteeing yourself a horrendous experience. I told her that labour and delivery was easy-peasy. I told her not to be scared and that she would be fine. She sort of smiled at me but she ultimately looked unconvinced.
I thought about her all the way home. What could I do to help her? Would she think that I'm a freak if I try to help her? I talked to Tim about it. I thought maybe I would give her my Bradley book (that is, my Bradley book of Natural Childbirth); but then I thought that if she's already in the medicalized mindset the idea of an unmedicated childbirth might be too "out there" for her and she would be immediately turned off. Tim suggested that I hook her up with the Midwives Collective--an excellent idea. The midwives could spend the time with her to talk her through her fear and offer her all the options--medicalized or not.
So on my way to meet my prenatal group I stopped in at Pharma Plus again and searched out the cashier. It looked like she was on her way home but I managed to catch her. I gave her the Midwives Collective card, telling her what a good experience I had wth my midwife and that they could help her overcome her fear. She thanked me and told me that she really appreciated it. I feel a bit better about her; but I still feel like I want to talk to her.
I feel like I'm becoming a pregnancy and birth crusader or something. Earlier this week I emailed the Women's Centre at York about breastfeeding/pumping space on campus and they told me that I should come to their mom's group and help them start a bit of activism on that issue.
Anyway, I met Jess and Yael and Anna and Simon (who I hadn't seen yet) at a place called Madeleine's. This was truly the cutest little ice cream/dessert shop I've seen! There was comfy couches and chairs and the place just felt like it was from a different era. Jess, Anna and I chatted over lattes and milk shakes and then headed next door to The Children's Storefront for a La Leche League meeting. Basically that was just a small bunch of women sitting around, breastfeeding, talking about breastfeeding. I got some reassurance about pumping for school. We picked up another young mom who is probably going to be joining us on Thursdays with her monstrously huge baby (14 lbs and younger than Istra).
Istra and I attempted peeing in public; but every time I took her to the washroom, someone was in there and we were stuck outside peeing in our diapers. You just can't tell an 11-week-old to hold it for just one more minute. After three such incidents, I gave up on EC for the evening. Oh well! We caught a few when we got home.
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