I got skillz. (Essential skills for new mommies)

Before you begin the journey into motherhood, let me give you a few words of wisdom. Being three weeks into the new life of my second child, I have been recently reminded of a few skills that every mom should master prior to the child's arrival. Yes there are the basic staples: diapering, bathing baby, swaddling, etc etc. But there are also the ones that people fail to tell you are essential. Lucky for you all I am here to impart them:

• One handed eating... in fact one handed everything: Everyone always asks me how I lost the baby weight from my first baby so quickly. It's easy : babies do not let you eat. They are able to sense with their infinite baby ESP when mom is about to sit down with a knife and fork, and they begin to wail. They've been fed, cleaned and well rested, and just want to be held, and thus mom must resort to one-handed eating. I got so hungry that I resorted to stocking my feeding chair with granola bars and water bottles, because it seemed the only time I  got to eat was when I was feeding my lil' one. I know one mom who would only order items from restaurants that she could eat with one hand for the first year "just in case". So hone in on using one hand to spread peanut butter on toast, prepare a bottle, or wrap a gift. Maybe you and your partner could have a "single-hand-off" where you tie one hand behind your back for a day and see who can do the most tasks.
• Up all night, sleep all day (With a completely new meaning). Yes, we all know babies rob you of precious snoozing, but for those of you thinking "Whatever, I was a party animal in college, I can handle some sleepless nights", think again! The difference here is that you don't have a weekend to sleep in after a few sleepless nights, so just when you think you are reaching the end of your wit's, baby decides to sleep even LESS! And this is what many-a-fight is made of. Sleepy dad's and even sleepier moms, who no matter how tired they are must still open the all night buffet every 2-3 hours, for weeks and weeks on end. The only way to prepare for this is to get lots of sleep now!! And of course sleep all day whenever the baby does. I have found that mine sleeps best at the ice-rink with loud blaring music, but unfortunately I might look a little odd grabbing a little nap in the stands. Hopefully your child sleeps in a more comfortable environment.
• 10 second make up application. High maintenance ladies beware! When you have a baby you have 2 hours between feedings, so if you plan on running an errand it typically looks like this:  you will need to make sure baby is fed, then dressed, than diaper changed, and then you may try to jump in the shower, getting out quickly because baby is crying, you then get dressed while baby is in swing, in an outfit that takes absolutely no thought, just in time to rechange baby's diaper and  clothes too because pee has leaked onto previous baby outfit, then you run to bathroom while baby wriggles in crib with mobile playing, and apply a quick foundation onto skin and maybe some mascara, till you hear baby crying and pick him up, you hold him as you slip into some shoes, grab your keys and diaper bag ready to head out the door, until throw up is spewn across your shirt, by the time you change again baby is crying and is possibly hungry again, feed him one more time and if no diaper changes or leaks wrestle him into his car seat and be on your way. Whew. (This is not a fictional scenario!)
• The big stretch. Invest in some prenatal yoga classes, because the law-required rear facing baby seats in cars require some serious stretching. Too many time I have been caught in traffic and must become elasto-woman and twist my upper torso, and stretch my arm over and around little car seat contraptions to feel for my baby's pacifier and then search around for his mouth to place it into. The more flexible you are, the fewer muscles you pull.
  

Here are some "one-hand-eating" recipes. 

Please tell me  your essential mommy skills!
Love and little ones,
Kerry the Momster.

Hep B for newborns, the norm?

This is the next part in my ongoing research into newborn procedures and vaccinations.
Along with a Vitamin K injection right when your baby is born, silver nitrate is syringed into his/her eyes and then administered a Hepititus B shot.

Logically, if a mother has an STD, the infection can be spread to the infant through the eyes when passing through the birth canal, and thus the silver nitrate is an antibiotic to counteract this. But what if the mother doesn't have any STD's, why then is it necessary to burn a newborns retina and blind them for the first few hours of their life when they are at no risk? It doesn't! But it is a little something extra to add to your extrenuous hospital bill.

Then we come to Hep B, again, this makes sense if the mother has tested positive for the virus, but if not why vaccinate a child at birth and 3 more times over the next few years for a disease that is spread through blood and sex? The risks involved in this vaccine (or any vaccine) completely outweigh the tiny percentage of babies that might contract this disease from their mothers. If we were even in a country where the percentage of people with Hep B were higher than the meager 1% the current US statistics show, like in Asia and other developing areas, where the percentages are much higher.

According to the World Health Organization, the following are the ways in which Hep B is contracted:

Hepatitis B virus is transmitted between people by contact with the blood or other body fluids (i.e. semen and vaginal fluid) of an infected person.
Common modes of transmission in developing countries are:

• perinatal (from mother to baby at birth)
• early childhood infections (inapparent infection through close interpersonal contact with infected household contacts)
• unsafe injections practices
• blood transfusions
• sexual contact

In many developed countries (e.g. those in western Europe and North America), patterns of transmission are different than those mentioned above. Today, the majority of infections in these countries are transmitted during young adulthood by sexual activity and injecting drug use. HBV is a major infectious occupational hazard of health workers. 

I don't intend on allowing my newborn to engage in sex or intravenous drug use, although maybe by the time he is 4 he may be experimenting...  and thus I will not be injecting this live virus into my infant just because it's what is "done" at medical facilities. 

To be exempt from these procedures, you need to create a letter that is signed by the hospital/birthing center. Here are some samples you may use.

Further reading:

A Doctor's opinion

Thinktwice


Hep B Vaccine may be linked to MS

Love and Knowledge,
Kerry, the Momster