Compost Vs. Baby

Last winter I set out to do two things for the first time: get pregnant and make compost.

I'd ignorantly assumed the compost pile would be much easier to deal with. Michael bought a tumbler at the Natural Gardener and we had plenty of food scraps to add in with the leaves from the trees.

To my surprise, the compost did not form as quickly as the box advertised. I thought the 'compost in as little as four weeks' was a bit optimistic but I assumed I'd have some in a few months. This was not the case. I've been adding trimmings all year, trying to even out the abundance of brown matter I dumped in there last winter.

I keep wondering when there will be a knock at my door, "Hello Michelle, we hear you can't make compost. I'm sorry, we're going to have to take away your chemical engineer degree, you've become an embarrassment to us all."

This weekend I had a bit of excitement, it looks and smells like it might finally be turning to that nasty brown mush I've been waiting for.

My other source of brown mush seemed much easier to make. I've decided it's much easier to make a baby than a compost pile, or it was for me. Taking care of her is an entirely different story.

Unlike the compost pile, Leah needs a lot of attention and we can't just ignore her to see if she does what she's supposed to on her own. Feeding a baby is much more exhausting than feeding a compost pile. The compost pile does not root for food and there is no such thing as cluster feeding the pile. Of course, the pile is also growing and getting heavier but I don't think it's any match for the good eater.

Leah has another pediatrician appointment at the end of the week. I'm wondering how much she's going to have gained. We're awaiting the day when new born clothes don't fit anymore.

My First visit to the shop - Leah's tale

Today mom and I drove down to the shop for my first visit. On the way down she assured me I'd meet a lot of new friends and would see some cool things. I was a little skeptical at first, thinking this was a devious way of convincing me to go on her adventures with her.

As we walked in the door we were welcomed by a friendly staff who all seemed excited to see me. Not only was the staff friendly, the customers were running over to say hello also. I felt like a rock star.

I was happy to see the bike shop has more bikes than our dining room. I'd been getting a little worried about my parent's bike collection. I assume there will come a day when they leave me behind to hop on one of those two wheeled contraptions.

Since I don't like being left behind I asked Thomas to measure me for one of the bikes. Unfortunately, my diaper makes it impossible to get an accurate stand over height measurement. I'll have to wait until I'm potty trained for a correct measurement, I've put that on my to-do list for my second birthday.

I told Drew I like the new shop jersey and asked when we'd be getting one in my size. Apparently there is no such thing as an infant tri-top. I'm working on my get-rich-quick plan to design one. With all the new babies at the shop I'm sure they'd be a hot item.

The mechanics were very nice although none of them wanted to hold me. Mom said that was okay since they all had dirty hands from working so hard on all the bikes. Thankfully the other members of the staff were nice enough to give me some attention.

I liked the shop a lot, I think I'll go back. I hear the Jack guy is really nice too. I'm looking forward to meeting him very soon.

- Leah Garel

Trip to the shop - Mich's tale

Today was a big day, we had our first mommy and me adventure. I took Leah down to the bike shop for a visit. I think this was more beneficial to me than for Leah but I'm sure she had fun too.

Although Leah is pretty well behaved, especially when others are around, it's still tough to get out. There are a lot of logistics for making a trip out with a newborn and it's a bit strange to adjust to it. Everyone tells you that, it's true... you just don't know what it's like until it actually happens to you.

We got to see a lot of familiar faces and some new ones too. By coincidence Paula brought Catherine into the shop so we had our first play date.

A 3 wk old and an 8 wk old are pretty darn rambunctious when they get together:



Peri, Suzanne, James, Amy, & Rich also happened to stop into the shop while we were there. We got some fun photo ops and a couple of videos to commemorate the momentous trip.


Rich just returned from his honeymoon, following his wedding on Sept 26th.



Yes, we have made our way out into the world but I'm thinking it'll take a while before I'm ready to be bold enough to feed her in public. For now I'll just pump some extra milk and bring a bottle along just in case she has a need to feed.

Practicing early

Leah is up against some tough competition in her future. Our friends over at Jack and Adams seem to be producing babies at a rapid rate. 2020 might be a competitive year for youth triathlons in Austin.

It's never too early to get started training. After all, if you're not out there your competition probably is. Leah logged about 500 hrs while in the womb and unlike her mother she is not taking six weeks off.

Leah wakes up from a nap...

First a bit of stretching:


Time to get starting with her daily calisthenics:

A bit of arms, a bit of legs, and she's already for a day of baby life.

....

Although Leah is pretty happy most of the day, she does not like taking her clothes off. As her parents we are not upset by this. Actually, this characteristic lightens our concerns for the future even though it does make things difficult when changing diapers and giving her a bath.

Here's a little video from her first complete bath. We had to wait until earlier this week, after her umbilical cord stump finally fell off.

2 week checkups

Leah's was on Friday but mine wasn't until today, due to some scheduling conflicts.

It seems the 2 week checkups are a way to comfort the mom and give new parents a chance to practice their new scheduling needs. After our struggles to leave the hospital we overestimated the time needed. We were an hour early to the pediatrician appointment but only 15 min early to my OB appointment. After rushing to get there in time to wait (mostly due to being too early) I was a bit thrown when both doctors seemed rather nonchalant, "Doing well, any questions?"

"Uh... yes, I have many questions. Most of them are stupid but I've been told there are no stupid questions so I'm going to pull out my list and ask you all of them. I need to make this appointment feel worthwhile. Since this will be my only adult human contact for the day I am going to take advantage of it."


There was a bit of debate about the color of Leah's poop. Michael (the color blind guy) thinks it was green. Personally, I think it was a more light brown and my mother said it looked like mashed up carrots.

Good news, any color is just fine. Even a dark brown would be okay if she was getting a lot of iron. I'm thinking of sneaking some new foods into my diet to assess the effects. I'd been avoiding beats for a bit to be sure she was not passing anything red. I'm tempted to go eat a few to see what happens. I vetoed Jack's idea of eating loads of black licorice while pregnant (he said she'd come out with black spots) but somehow my own experiments seem okay.

At my appointment we found out my recovery symptoms are quite normal post c-section. Apparently it's not uncommon to wake up sweating in the middle of the night. Due to the sudden decrease in estrogen levels hot flashes are quite common. Joy, I get to go through menopause now and in 20 years. Hormones are just so much fun, if we didn't have them we would miss out on the experience of crying for no reason.

As for my poop, the color of it isn't important, I'm more concerned about the frequency or should I say lack of frequency. Again... normal. Just in case you were wondering, removing your intestines, washing them, and placing them back inside you does not make them happy and more functional. Personally, I am wondering how this will effect my runs. For years I had to consider bathroom stops for evening runs. Maybe that will be less of an issue now. Wow, there could be another positive side effect to the invasive surgery.

I was cleared to drive again but reminded that I can not swim or exercise until I am cleared at my 6 week check-up.

"You need an appointment in 4 weeks. I've got 8:15 on Nov 2nd," says the receptionist.

I quickly try to fix this, "Since this appointment is actually 2 1/2 weeks after I delivered can I get an appointment on the Thursday before?" Michael begins to laugh because he can see right through this.

"No, just because this one was off doesn't mean we want to make the next one off too."

I don't agree with that statement but decided it was not worth the effort to argue. Once we get into the hall Michael laughs, "You didn't want to miss that weekend?!"

I turn to Michael and Leah, "I'm going to tell you now so you have 4 weeks to accept it... If I'm feeling fine 6 weeks after the surgery I'm not going to wait. I'm going to ride my bike that weekend." After all, I already have plans for a ride and pancakes that weekend.

Learning to share

Most of us have heard some saying about learning life's important lessons in kindergarten. I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't put off the things you can get done today. Leah is years away from going to school so I've decided it's time to start teaching her some important lessons. She probably won't understand them yet but it never hurts to try.

Our first life lesson is sharing...

Leah has been very lucky, she has many friends who have already begun sharing things with her. Before she was even born there were people sharing their old toys, clothes, books, and blankets with her. She had so many people sharing things with her that she got doubles of things and started to give some items to others.

Toys are great but there is something more meaningful that Leah can share; the liquid gold, milk. My leaky faucets are still going strong so we've got enough for Leah to be a good eater and too share some with others.

How do we know she's got plenty to eat? Leah weighed in at 7 lb, 1 oz on Friday. As the pediatrician walked into the room he told Michael he was putting together the Weight Watchers information packet for her. Leah gained about 18% of her body weight in 2 weeks, that's a larger percentage than I gained in the 9 months I was pregnant. No wonder she only eats, sleeps, and poops.

We know she's a good eater and we know there's extra food so we decided we might be able to share. Turns out there are 7 milk banks in the US and one of them happens to be in Austin. I called up the Mother's Milk Bank, went through my initial phone screening, and got my package of sterilized containers in the mail. Hopefully the good eater and I will be able to store up a large enough donation for the bank.

The Mother's Milk Bank of Austin is a non-profit organization whose mission is to accept, pasteurize, and dispense donated human milk to premature and ill infants: www.mmbaustin.org

Life is Good

Leah during the day:


I'm amazed at how content Leah is when she sleeps during the day. Nothing seems to disturb her relaxation time. Doorbells, phones ringing, visitors poking her, and dogs barking are all ignored when she's in the mood to sleep.

But once the sun drops and she's in the mood to get all the attention things change. At that point someone better be holding her or mom and dad will hear about it.

Leah at night:


Seriously, even our cute baby girl gets a bit ugly at night.

Thankfully, we may have discovered the miracle chair last night (thank you Donna). Michael's coworkers have hypothesized the chair makes her believe she is being cuddled. Yes, we have fooled the 2 week old. Lets just cross our fingers we can repeat this feat for another night.


Leah is 2 weeks old. I've been told the first 2 weeks after a c-section are the hardest. I'm expecting Leah to sleep through the night tonight and that I'll wake up in the morning pain free, with no more bleeding, functional intestines, and feeling back in the area of my incision. It might be a long shot but I can always dream big.

If you see me running at town lake tomorrow you'll know I ran into Miracle Max. mmm... chocolate coating makes it go down easy.