A value menu haiku:

Cheeseburger, o-rings
And a strawberry sundae
All for four dollars!

Dairy Queen is finally rolling out a value menu. Gotta love that! You can choose any combos of the following: cheeseburger, hot dog, chicken wrap, onion rings, fries, side salad, medium drink, small sundae, or a small dipped ice cream cone. Two choices are $3; three are $4, and four are $5. Not a bad deal!

As far as what kinda deal I’d make with DQ to try the value menu for free…I’d blog about it. That’s good, right?

BTW, I’m blogging about this in the hopes that I’ll be among the first 250 bloggers to mention the deal, and then I’ll get a free gift card. Woot.

My new pal Renee shared a tip with me that, so far, seems to be working!

We were chatting about getting babies to sleep (and stay asleep) and she mentioned that I could try putting a recently worn shirt or tank top near my baby. The idea is that the scent lingers on the clothing, and they are reassured in their sleep.

Johnny does seem to notice when I’m not right at his side or in the immediate vicinity. Maybe he likes how I smell. Heh.

I have him in his swing and I put a blanket on him. I took off my tank top and put that on top of his blanket. I’ve been able to move about and get things done while he sleeps and dreams about who knows what.

As ya know, I had intended to give birth to my son with as few interventions (including going without pain meds) as possible. I had many reasons: my health, baby’s health, to have an easier recovery, fewer complications with nursing, less risk of having a c-section, and I just plain wanted to see if I could do it.

At the beginning of my pregnancy, I thought that I’d probably get an epidural. I figured, why be in pain if you don’t have to be? And then I learned more about it. Many women have epidurals and have good experiences. But, there are plenty of women and babies who have complications from epidurals. If, while pregnant, you’re not allowed to take an Excedrin for a headache, then why is it suddenly ok to be injected with narcotics? In your spine?

After more research, I decided the risks weren’t worth it.

It’s also been shown that epidurals can lead to a “cascade of interventions.” Your labor might slow down, so you’ll need pitocin to increase your contractions. The contractions are much stronger and more frequent than natural ones would have been, and this stresses your baby out. That could lead to needing a forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery, or a c-section.

With any drug administered, you’ll need continuous fetal monitoring. This might be done externally, with bands around your belly. Some hospitals are equipped with mobile units, which is nice since you’ll be able to move around somewhat. Other times, they might require you to have internal monitoring. That means they will screw a device into your baby’s head. INTO their head. Yikes!

If you’re stuck in bed, then your pain will likely increase. You won’t be as able to change positions or move about, or use the shower as you labor.

One blogger, a mother of seven, is considering a natural birth for her eighth child. I found her post and the comments that followed to be extremely interesting.

You also won’t want to miss the posts from another blogger explaining some reasons why women choose a natural childbirth. See part 1 on the medical aspect, part 2 on the religious, and part 3 on cultural reasons.

At the very least, if you’re pregnant or hoping to be, definitely take time to research all drugs that might be administered to you and all interventions that are possible. It’s better to be informed beforehand than trying to make a decision while in labor, or worse, looking back and saying, “If only I had known about this.”

If, knowing all the risks, you choose pain relief, then good for you. You made an informed decision, and that’s important. Don’t let any natural childbirth advocates make you feel bad for your decision.

For more on the topic, see my post on thoughts about natural childbirth.

Jonathan is two months old today. Wheeeee! I took him to the pediatrician today. I guessed his length to be 22.5 inches and his weight to be 9 lbs. 6 oz.

His length was 22.75 inches and weight was 10 lbs. 6 oz.! He gained 3 lbs. 3 oz. in one month. That’s a 44 percent increase.

If my weight increased by 44 percent, I’d gain about 60 lbs.

I’m really proud of us both. My body has been sustaining him for what, 11 months now? Give or take.

He smiles at us more and when I stick my tongue out and make sounds, he smiles and tries to do it too.

His hair is getting longer and darker near the back, but it’s short on top. Looks like he’s going for that male-pattern baldness look. Or a mullet.

He got some vaccinations today. He hated that, of course. Whatever, little dude — a shot is better than getting polio or some nonsense.

To show my empathy, I went to the Walgreens “take care” clinic to finally get my flu shot. I had intended to get one while pregnant, but the midwife was out of them the day that I thought of it. Even though it’s late in the flu season, I can’t risk getting it since it would be really hard on my little bebe.

The shot felt like nothing. I used to whimper when I got shots. No more.

Oh, and congrats to my friends who have recently announced that they’re expecting! Lynn, Sally Ann and Ashley. Best wishes, y’all! I think they’re all due around the end of July/or August.

I finally got my energy back! It’s been back for about a week now, actually. I wanted to wait and see if it would *stick* before blogging about it.

For those of you keeping score, that means that it took me seven weeks after my baby was born to really start feeling like a human again, instead of a robot.

Caring for a newborn 24/7 is exhausting, fyi. And, going from no kids to one kid is the biggest adjustment I’ve had to make to date. I’ve seen other bloggers say the same thing, and that gives me hope. Especially since some of them have 4-5 (or more!) kids.

No matter what you do to prepare, you can’t fully prepare for your life with a baby until you’re actually doing it.

Johnny is still nursing at least every 3 hours ’round the clock, and I’ve adjusted to that finally. I think there’s gotta be something hormonal going on, because if anyone other than a parent of a baby can sleep only 2-3 hours at a time and still function, they’d have a major sleep disorder.

It feels really good to be able to cook a meal, clean something, go out in public, put on normal-people clothes, etc. For the first six weeks, I pretty much lived in pjs or loungewear.

To his 3-day doctor’s visit, I wore the most ridiculous thing. You’d be embarrassed for me if you saw me. I was wearing black velour lounge pants, a green and black-striped tank, a robe-like tan sweater, and black snow boots. Oh.My.Gosh, ridic. I was semi-aware of my fashion crimes, but I didn’t care. It was cold out and I had just given birth.

Part of the adjustment period, no doubt, is for the new mommy to get used to her hormonal changes (major!), sleep deprivation, and caring for her baby. But also, I think the baby grows a ton during the first few weeks. By 6-8 weeks old, he’s a bit more mature and slightly less needy.

For example, Jonathan now has pretty good head control. It’s easier to hold him with one arm. When he was first born, his little bobblehead meant he could barely sit in his car seat without tipping forward.

So yeah, things are pretty good now. Oh, and the fact that he smiles at me really helps