Poop Glorious Poop!

One thing most new parents don't look forward to are poopy diapers. Me on the other hand have spent the last four months obsessed with poop! (Wow, has my life changed!) This wonderful obsession started our first night home from the hospital. Most newborns have their first bowel movement (meconium, this disgusting black tar like substance) in the hospital. My little Tyler was allowed to go home with no bowel movement. We were under strict instructions to call the hospital if he had not had a bowel movement by 8am the next morning. We were assured in the hospital that there was nothing to worry about, and he more than likely will poop for us at anytime. As a paranoid parent, the phrase, "Nothing to worry about" means that I am already behind on my worrying. If there was nothing to worry about, you would not feel the need to tell me, there was nothing to worry about. Ah, this was the moment where my poo obsession started. (Don't worry this obsession only extends the welfare of my son and no farther) Needless to say the poo hunt was on. At about 9pm on that first night home alone with our little man, one package of newborn diapers down the drain (they come in about 40+ count) and still no poo, it dawned on me. A nurse mentioned something about a temperature, he would have some grade of fever if he had a blockage. Well it certainly was a good thing I bought so many baby thermometers. Having read many baby books, I knew that the best way to take a baby's temperature was rectally. I decided that there was enough going on down there and I opted for the underarm approach (okay I chickened out). The first thermometer came with a fever chart for infants. The first time I took his temperature he was a one point below the fever on the fever chart (and the panic sets in). I decided to try again to make sure. Well this time he was a little low, time to try a new thermometer. The second thermometer was no more definitive than the first. I longed for middle school math where a I could just average them all together to get a good temperature. I knew what I had to do, take the temperature rectally (that nasty little voice in my head told me that its what a good mom would have done the first time!). I had read all about how to do this, but now the question is what do I use to lube up the thermometer? I had both A&D and Petroleum Jelly and both packages said for external use only. After some Internet research I decided upon the Petroleum Jelly (at this point my husband has thought I lost it). I knew that I would be the one who had to do it (my husband is squeamish). No sooner had I slid the tip on the thermometer into his bum, did a cascade of black poo come pouring down my hand and all over his pj's and changing table. At that moment it was the sweetest thing I had every seen, black gold (oh the things we cherish as parents). We had to laugh, we knew that this was just the first of our many adventures. Unfortunately, this was not my last poo adventure...

What is being a parent?

Before the little ones were in our lives, we looked at being a parent as having a snugly bundle of love, a little version of ourselves to teach about the world. Sure we know from our friends and family about the sleepless nights and dirty diapers, but what a world opened up to us when we entered parenthood ourselves. We have that snugly bundle of love sure, but it came with a lot of baggage! Being a parent is always feeling guilty, worrying about everything, dealing with the grossest things of our lives, but best of all being constantly amazed by the small little person who moved in with us. Welcome to a whole new world, let's enjoy the ride.