Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Weather 1, Me 0

I had to have blood drawn this morning. It was the best part of my day.

There are times as a parent when I just get totally dispirited. Parenthood is a workout every single day--for years. There are no days off, no recharge days. So when stress and fatigue reach a certain level, it's disastrous. If you're not a parent, that description won't make any sense, but if you are, then you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Eli 3.3 is suddenly made of balsa wood and has had a dizzying array of strange ailments in the last few weeks. Because he hasn't been feeling well, we made some exceptions in terms of what he's allowed to do, and these exceptions have created Godzilla 3.3, at least temporarily.

Outstanding.

We're all sick to various degrees, nobody's sleeping, and we're all miserable. So I'm getting blood drawn and this very nice lady is digging the needle in just a little farther each time she pulls out a tube and replaces it with another one. And another one. And another one. Or two. By the time she gets to the fifth tube, I feel like the needle has gone through my arm and is coming out my shoulder blade.

Since I'm on parenting this morning, I'm going to mention a couple of things that I told friends of mine in the last few weeks. They're both having babies soon, and there are two things that no one told me before Eli was born that I really wish I had known about.

First, it is almost impossible to change pediatricians after your child is born. We tried to change pediatricians after about six months, because it really wasn't a good fit, and it was absolutely hopeless. Pediatricians generally accept new patients as newborns only. So if you're interviewing pediatricians, do it early and be extremely thorough, because your choice is what you're stuck with, and it will be very hard to make changes.

Second, buy the car seat early, and by early I mean three months early. Car seats are the most damnable, impossible to install contraptions every created. I saw a study once that said that 85% of all car seats were installed incorrectly, and that number just shocked me, because I can't believe 15% of them were done right. You are going to feel totally incapable and ridiculous the first time you install one. I felt that way the first ten or fifteen times, at least. It requires a huge amount of leverage and force, it's extremely awkward, and it is definitely a skill that you acquire only with practice. So buy it early, install it once a day, and get to the point where it's just automatic.

There are so many things about childbirth that honestly can't be prepared for. The car seat is something you can completely master prior to the baby's arrival, and it's one less thing to worry about. There is nothing scarier than trying to install a car seat for the very first time in the parking garage of the hospital when your baby is ready to go home. Eli was a month early, and that's what happened to me. Babies also can't keep their heads upright, so you'll need one of those little soft collars that fit around their neck so that their heads aren't lolling around like a bobblehead doll.

Site Meter