France

About three weeks ago (more or less) I was listening to a report on NPR about the health care system in France. After hearing the piece about new mothers and babies (and having just had a baby) I am so jealous of French women! They have access to such excellent care after the baby is born. Now, I don't have many complaints of the prenatal care I received; several of the doctors I saw could have used a refresher course in bedside manner, but overall it was excellent care. (And I still talk about my wonderful midwife Dixie, she is the one that nicked named Freya "piglet".)

I was also jealous of the time that new mothers get in hospitals, I was in the hospital for 3 days, I could have pushed it to 4 if I had wanted, but I was ready to be out of there. Every time the lactation consultant came by, I had either just fed, or it wasn't time yet to feed Freya, resulting in me not getting any real help with breastfeeding until my parents came to visit. Every nurse and doctor gave me conflicting advise regarding breastfeeding, so we just went with what worked for us, which my mother reaffirmed for me. I was actually getting more depressed about being in the hospital than I was freaking out about being at home alone with an infant.

I also liked that part of the report where they discussed home health care. It was almost more than I could manage to get Freya to her first doctor appointment, even with Chris there helping. I wasn't all that prepared for the aftermath of having a baby, with abdominal surgery courtesy of the c-section. I mean, I knew that it wasn't gonna be pretty, this is the only major surgery I have ever had, and I had a very difficult time for as independent as I am. To say that I felt like I was pretty useless is an understatement. I was good for about 3 things: cleaning the baby butt, feeding the baby and sleeping with the baby.

Our pediatrician does not send a doctor to the hospital where I had Freya, so we had an appointment at their office when she was 5 days old. Now, Freya was a big baby, and in the three or four day period that it took for my boob's to come on line and for her to get a full belly from them, she lost about a pound. And boy did they make a huge stink about that! Enough of a stink that I ended up freaking the hell out, and we had to make several trips back to the office for weigh-ins. Looking back now, I get pretty pissed about that, I mean we were just getting the hang of the whole eating thing and they just put so much pressure on the whole eat! eat! eat! that I was needlessly stressed out. Because she gained her birth weight back and then some in the week between appointments. And don't even get me started on pumping...

Where was I??? Oh - Now see if we lived in France, we wouldn't have had to go anywhere! Other than to answer the door when a nurse came to visit with us, in our home. I had pretty much no contact from my OB once I left the hospital, although they may have called once, I'm not sure, those first few weeks are pretty hazy. How nice it would have been, to have someone come to the house and stay long enough to make sure all was going alright. Not only with things like breastfeeding, but also with things like making sure the Mom and Dad are doing alright with the stress of having an infant.

The French, as well as most of the rest of the world, get a huge chunk of (paid) time away from work to be with their new baby. I got a day and a half paid time off. The rest of my 6 week maternity leave was unpaid. Add to that the cost of actually having a baby, even with insurance, it's just staggering. I believe our total came to somewhere around a Honda Accord, fully loaded. I would have loved more time at home with Freya, but I also love my house, and eating, and driving my car. Six weeks is a disgustingly short amount of time really, our country should be ashamed of itself. Parents should not have to make the decision of whether or not to return to work, or if/when both return to work based on financial fear.

So to make a long rather long and disjointed story short - if we decide to have another baby we are totally moving to France.

Countdown

And so the countdown to the first plane trip with Freya begins! I am both very excited and very nervous... Not so much about how Freya will take to flying - I will have a bottle and her binkie ready - but about my ears as I have managed to get sick again. Or maybe I'm just still sick from before and all this not sleeping or remembering to eat is kicking me in the ass. Anyway - it's off to Target today at lunch for some super cold/sinus medicine. And maybe some clothing items that will transition from summer into fall, as I am slowly putting together a wardrobe that will fit now as well as after I loose the remaining baby weight. (Not doing so bad - got about 15lbs to go!) Because that is what everyone really needs to know, that I am going to buy clothing at Target. Sheesh. Riveted now aren't you??

New Bad Habit

Changing all the settings on my blog!
I am feeling quite clean and tidy now.
Whee!!

So... yeah

Not so good with the whole "update the blog" thing here. And, really it's pretty much business as usual around these parts. Freya had her 4 month well baby check-up and she weighs in at 16.1 pounds and is 25 inches long. She is also getting it into her head that she can roll over. She's not quite there yet; she can flip from her tummy to her back but not the other way round. Although she is pretty wiggly - she has tends to get all jammed into one corner of her crib. I don't think that she minds too much, it's when that damn binkie gets under her ear that she starts to fuss.

We have also started with rice cereal. The look on Freya's face was: "you have been holding out on me woman!" So I think that it is a success. In the next couple of weeks Moose will be the happiest dog in the world because when Freya starts actual baby food, I plan on using Moose to clean Freya up post meal. What? Isn't that in the contract when you get a Lab?? That they get first dib's on cleaning the baby after they eat?? I am pretty sure that it is...

Let's see what else??? Getting ready to go on our first trip as a family! Flying up to Richmond next week for Labor Day weekend. I think I have more things to pack for Freya than I do for myself!! As long as I remember to grab clean knickers for myself, I'll be good, but heaven forbid if I forget to grab Freya's monkey!! (We are very attached to our wonderful soft monkey.)

Now, I have to go and make lots of lists for packing and shit for the Labor Day trip. Because, I would rather make lists about doing my laundry than actually DOING my laundry.