Adventures in Parenting: Story #1

We took Andrew on our first field trip - back to the hospital to pick up his birth certificate. We completely forgot to get it while we were there, what with all the interruptions in sleep from my doctor, his doctor, nurses checking vital signs, visits from the payment lady, the chaplain, the lactation specialist, the housekeeping staff, etc. What were we thinking?

After the hospital, we decided to maximize our time out of the house and get some lunch since Andrew was sleeping so well. We were almost done with our burgers when he woke up and needed some lunch of his own. I did not have a nursing cover, but luckily had just made one the night before out of a blanket, some binder clips and a ribbon and had thrown it in my diaper bag. So I looped it over my head, got Andrew set up and nursed in public. While eating french fries. And it wasn't a big deal. No one pointed or stared or made comments. It was liberating.

Halfway through feeding him, he made a poopy diaper, so I gathered up my bag and headed to the bathroom to change him. Lesson number one: Not every restroom has a changing table. This bathroom did have a small sofa table against the wall. Something kinda like this:

So I somehow managed to lay out a blanket (I also realized I didn't own a portable changing pad. Add that to the list), grab a diaper and wipes and get Andrew laid carefully on the table that was barely wide enough to hold his squirmy little body. I got him changed into a clean diaper, dropped the dirty on one the ground, dirty side down, and miraculously got everything cleaned up and loaded back into the bag. It did make me wonder what I would have done had there not been that little table. Surely I wouldn't lay him down on the ground, or change him in the booth. Maybe the backseat of the car???

Feeling pretty proud of myself for overcoming obstacles, and knowing my husband had ordered me a chocolate milkshake, I quickly tried to wash my hands while holding a wiggly baby only to discover that he spit up all over the front of my shirt and I suddenly needed to use the restroom myself. So I sprinted out to drop off Andrew with his dad and head back to the bathroom to take care of my own needs.

I was finally rewarded with my chocolate shake, was able to zip my hoodie up over my wet t shirt, and we made it out of there alive. Ah, the adventures in parenting that are yet to come...