Milksop
Awhile back on NPR, they had a feature about a man that recorded sounds that "took people back". For instance, the clanking of the tetherball chain might take a recess teacher instantly back to the empty schoolyard, after all of the kids had gone back to their classes. (I'm making that example up - however that particular sound takes ME back to Thoreau Elementary - walking tardily through the schoolyard!) Anyway, if this guy had a super-subtle recording device I bet any breastfeeding mother would be able to recognize the recording of a child eating. Pant-pant-pant-snuffle-swallow. Repeat.
This is just one of many weird thoughts that cross my mind while I am watching Sammy eat.
I know many women get into the spiritual nuturing Earth-Mother feeling of breastfeeding. I am trying to get there. But I just can't rid my mind of the picture of the big sow lying on her side as her multitudinous piggies eat. I'll keep working on it. Until I reach that zen state, I will have to make due with these images to keep me in that loving state:
This is just one of many weird thoughts that cross my mind while I am watching Sammy eat.
I know many women get into the spiritual nuturing Earth-Mother feeling of breastfeeding. I am trying to get there. But I just can't rid my mind of the picture of the big sow lying on her side as her multitudinous piggies eat. I'll keep working on it. Until I reach that zen state, I will have to make due with these images to keep me in that loving state:
- Sammy using her shoulder for leverage when she's REALLY hungry. Shrug swallow shrug swallow shrug swallow...
- I am no longer in the wince and grimace stage of breastfeeding (thanks Mom for the tip on black tea bags!)
- Every once in awhile a little gas smile will surface and all I can see, since her mouth is hidden, is a softening of the eyes and a dimple in her cheek. That look kills me everytime.
- Wondering if she will do another Victory Dismount - where she launches herself off my breast while simultaneously raising her right arm over her head. "Done!"
- The definition for Milksop is a timid man, ineffectual and childlike. However, I propose another definition be added. Specifically the heroin-junkie-"I-just-got-a-fix" milk coma expression as seen on this little girl's face:
Fitting, no?
And as a bonus for all her fans - here is "Happy Baby":
posted by SeattleS | 5:11 PM
3 Comments:
YEAH!! Another post. You are absoltely right. Just reading your description of the sounds brought it all back for me. I also remember the definitive finish and the expression of just having a "fix".
I'm glad nursing is going well now. Curious about the tea bags?? I drank fenugreek tea to increase the supply but I don't think that is what you are talking about.
She looks so big in the "happy baby" pose. It is AMAZING how fast they grow. Enjoy every second of it because it truly goes by VERY fast.
I'm glad the nursing is going well too - it is nice to have one thing that is "easy" since so much of learning about a newborn is challenging!
The tea bags: my mom told me that if I used the Lansinoh Lanolin cream (that everyone recommends) it would keep things nice and soft, but what you really want to do is to toughen things up. So if you put cool tea bags on your nipples after you feed, you get the soothing cool sensation, but the tannic acid of the black tea helps to toughen up the nipples. I tell ya - I did that for one day, and no more wince and grimace!
Multitudinous—I love that word! And I love reading your blogs . . . so creative and oh . . . there must be a word . . . aw, I can't think of a good word for "right on!" I can hear Sam's signs, shrugs, pants, snuffles, sucking, and all those baby sounds through your writing. I'm so glad the toughening happened . . . it sure hurts like crazy until that point! I can remember the . . . oh never mind, you really don't need to hear me, you know what I mean! That tea bag trick . . . your mom must not have known that one 36 years ago . . . sure glad you can benefit from that tip!
I don't know about the Earth-Mother feeling of breastfeeding . . . but it sure did beat the option of sterilizing bottles and making formula like "they" did in my young-motherhood-days!
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