Making Sure Everyone Poops

Yes, this post is about poop.  And not just mine or the baby's.

At 2 months pregnant, my biggest fear was constipation.  Well, that and losing the baby.  But I had a good feeling about this baby.

The constipation made me have nightmares.

I had to battle it once before adjusting my diet.  For 2 days I was slowly becoming more and more miserable.  Then I discovered prunes.  A couple of those once a day, plus an increase in fiber and water intake, and I was golden.

GOLDEN!

After the baby arrived, my husband asked the nurse when I should start worrying about not having a bowel movement.  She told us that some women may take up to a WEEK to have that happen.

I was proudly announcing to everyone on Friday morning that I'd pooped.  All the doctors and nurses knew, and my husband was a little tired of hearing it.

Once we came home, the focus turned to the baby and his bowels.  Counting diapers was something we never really did, we just made sure we saw poop semi-regularly.  When the doctor learned he was eating soy formula the first question he asked was if the baby was constipated.  We proudly announced that he had at least 1 good poop a day if not 2.  The doctor let us know that some babies actually could go days between pooping, and if it was more than 4 days to call them.

I distinctly remember my husband's eyes when he said that.  I think he was wondering how anyone could do that.

Now, the baby has been fine in the almost 3 months he's been alive.  I think there was a day where there was nothing, and the next day we had 3 poops to deal with.  But none of them were huge, and thanks again to the soy formula we can smell it before he's even had a chance to recover from his red faced pushing.

He, by the way, thinks pooping is funny.  When we wrinkle our noses and tell him he stinks he laughs and laughs and laughs.

We will be in so much trouble once he gets to school.  I already feel bad for his future teachers.

In the middle of all this baby stuff, we have started to let each other know if we have pooped each day.  Some nights, the last conversation we have is to confirm if we each had a chance to poop or not, and if not should we try before sleeping.

Romance is still alive and burning bright in our lives, can you tell?

This started because I realized one day that I hadn't pooped in 2 days.  I wasn't in pain or uncomfortable.  It was just a fact: I hadn't had the time.

I am seriously amazed by what the human body is capable of when push comes to shove.

You see, it's not like I didn't need to poop.  It's just that I'd finally want to, start heading in that direction, and someone else would wake up or fuss, and my brain would immediately adjust focus to him and his needs.  Even with A here to help, I just kept going and moving and did what I needed to for the baby in those first few weeks.

What I find hilarious is that it's happening to A now.

Work for me is picking up, so I spend more time doing that and less doing baby things during my work hours.  This means that A is stepping up as daddy even more, so much more that I realized this last weekend that I hadn't had time to talk to the baby all week.  And A realized at some point that he never pooped on Friday.  That it'd been almost 48 hours, but like me weeks before, it wasn't pain or discomfort that brought that realization forward.  It was just something that had happened when it came time to be there for the baby.

So, now we both take time to talk to the baby, try to schedule meals so we can sit at the same time and enjoy them, and also take breaks from working our jobs during the day together.

And always make sure that everyone poops.