7.17.2009

Random observation

When, at 2 AM, one cannot hear one's baby breathing or see him moving, being a pediatrician counts for squat when one is trying to resist the urge to poke him and make sure he's OK.

(By the way, I don't have any intention of turning Bleakonomy into the Dooce of gay parenting. I promise to get back to snarky amateur punditry in due time. But, for the time being, I'm willing to assume that the Sotomayor nomination is moving along without any scrutiny from me.)

5 comments:

  1. I find it hard to resist parenting posts, too. And you have no idea how nice it is for a non-pediatrician parent to hear that pediatricians are just as insane.

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  2. I found the Infant First Pump story hilarious. Seems to me I made some wise-ass scatological machine reference to both of you not long ago. All things considered I see by the 2:00 AM check that boy will be so spoiled. :)

    Jim

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  3. No worries--he's your world right now, and that's as it should be.

    I found that if I placed the baby monitor quite close to the head of the baby's crib (not close enough for him to grab the cord, obviously), I could usually just hear him breathe if I turned the receiver up to its highest level. (Keep it at the lowest level while you're sleeping; just turn it up when you wake up panicked in the middle of the night to reassure yourself.)

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  4. Elizabeth, just as insane? Make that...um...more insane. At least that is the way I choose to remember it, I am now on my 3rd baby (11 months). I know I haven't done that with him. Actually, I do remember with my first when I was away calling my wife at 2 in the morning just to check on him because I had this intense feeling something was wrong. Something was wrong, and that was I am an idiot. She was not pleased at my showing of parental concern. If you do get to 3 kids though, I promise it gets easier.

    charo

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  5. Charo,

    Good to hear, especially since I'm on number 2, and plan to hit 3 within a couple of years. I know I'm FAR less worried about this pregnancy and what the baby will be like, and I heard from some newly second-time mom friends that the anxiety is much less the second time around once the kid is born, too.

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