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Journal Ethelred Unraed's Journal: The status of the Confessor, and the curse of the mom-in-law 22

Journal by Ethelred Unraed
We went to the hospital this morning with the Confessor, and pretty much had a repeat of my Day From Hell a couple of days ago...

Starts off at 9 a.m., as we are leaving the apartment, and my mother-in-law decides to call (we saw the number on caller ID). She knew damn well that the appointment is at 9:30, so why the hell is she calling now? BoE snarls and says we should just leave, and off we go...

...where we discover the traffic lights are inexplicably turned off in our neighborhood, with the resulting chaos...

...and get past that and promptly run into another, this time inexplicable traffic jam. So in spite of leaving 15 minutes early, we ended up making yet another wild detour and getting the scenic tour of Hannover in the process.

Then to top it all off, we get to the hospital, and can't even find an entrance or parking area or anything. We drive around several times looking in vain, park on the street a couple blocks away, walk into the compound (where the only entrance has a big Do Not Enter traffic sign -- beyond which is a parking lot), and look in vain for the eye clinic. Apparently this hospital doesn't believe in signs, let alone ones that actually tell you where the hell to go.

Then we find the building, get in there, and there's only a sign "Emergency Admissions Here" with a sign "Patients, 2nd Floor". We don't see an elevator, lug the stroller up the stairs, go to the sign "PATIENTS", where we are told we're supposed to go to the Emergency Admissions, and yes, we know it says Emergency Admissions, but it's really just normal admissions.

And the elevator is that unmarked not-elevator-looking door over there. Uhm, hokay.

So we were late, wildly so, but mercifully they were waiting on us and the examination went quickly -- without anesthesia, even. No biopsy was needed after all.

Turns out it's nothing serious (thank God!). The lump is a hemangioma, which AIUI goes away on its own in most cases and is harmless. We are only supposed to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't swell up and endanger the eye; if it does, they'll have to operate.

However, if anyone ever is in Hannover standing right in front of the Nordstadt hospital and gets run over by a truck or has a 16-ton weight land on them, for God's sake have yourself taken somewhere else. This place was the most bizarre hospital I've ever seen, almost surreal, and such a strong contrast to the Hannover Medical College (where I've been a couple times) and the hospital where the Confessor was born...

Then we get home, my wife calls her mom to tell her the news. Her mom, though, has been harping on her about breastfeeding for some time (she thinks it's inconvenient for BoE and not good for the Confessor and just so much hassle and other nonsensical things) and once again brings up the subject.

We've told her for months that every single doctor, every midwife, every pediatrician, every medical professional we've ever spoken to has told us to stick with breast milk until the Confessor is at least 6 months old, but that never cut any ice. "So-and-so's 3-month-old daughter is already getting bananas". "This-and-that's son is getting formula". And so on.

But now? Turns out she recently saw a TV show where they said breastfeeding is good, so we better make sure BoE sticks with it.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH...

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The status of the Confessor, and the curse of the mom-in-law More

The status of the Confessor, and the curse of the mom-in-law

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  • i'm very glad that Mr. The Confessor is oke.

    BoE's mum needs to be locked in a cupboard now, so she can't change her mind again. Yes, it's the best thing for confessor. Just ask bethanie! *grin*

    so here's to the health of the confessor. The king is- er, i mean... right. To the confessor!!!
    • Just ask bethanie!

      I better not, otherwise she'll be borrowing your Zippo (you know the one -- it's got that 40-gallon reserve tank of napalm) for a bit of burnination. ;-)

      so here's to the health of the confessor. The king is- er, i mean... right. To the confessor!!!

      He's not quite dead. Feeling much better. Come on, sweet Corcorde!

      Cheers,

      Ethelred

  • No not really. She's saving face, most likely. She realized you [Well not you as in you, you plural as in BoE and yourself are making the decision. If YOU were breastfeeding, I'd agree that formula would be better. ;-)] are going to breast feed no matter what, so she's going to encourage it now so she can get some credit. It's like when I tell my sister's dog to drop the stick and she doesn't so I say, "Hit me in the leg with the stick and then run away as soon as I reach for it! Good girl!" :-)
    • No not really. She's saving face, most likely. She realized you [Well not you as in you, you plural as in BoE and yourself are making the decision. If YOU were breastfeeding, I'd agree that formula would be better. ;-)] are going to breast feed no matter what, so she's going to encourage it now so she can get some credit. It's like when I tell my sister's dog to drop the stick and she doesn't so I say, "Hit me in the leg with the stick and then run away as soon as I reach for it! Good girl!" :-)

      I'm gettin

      • I'm just good at reading people and pattern recognition. I'd be great at behavioural science. I have the same problems, I hate the mind games, so I try to MAKE people be straight up. Like Boo's parents. I knew they sucked, but I THOUGHT I could talk sense into them, but they won't listen to reason. Maybe when they go in her room on the morning of her 18th birthday and she's already gone and there's a note for us on her bed, they'll understand how serious we were. As for your situation though, I'd just
  • I've never heard of an anti-breast-feeding zealot.
    • I've never heard of an anti-breast-feeding zealot.

      Neither had I until now...

      Her take on things was breastfeeding is so messy and inconvenient and your boobs droop and people stare at you.

      OK, that last one might be true (and if so, so what), but first off, there are things called maternity bras (even I, clueless testosterone-addled being that I am, knew that), and it's not as if sterilizing bottles, boiling formula and whatnot is more convenient than whippin' out the ole titty...

      (And yes, BoE actuall

    • Some Woman wrote:
      I've never heard of an anti-breast-feeding zealot.
      For a long time, companies such as Nestle promoted baby formula as being better than breast milk. When they couldn't do that in Europe and North America any more, they started doing it in the third world. Time magazine revealed this practice sometime in the late '70s or early '80s, IIRC.
      • For a long time, companies such as Nestle promoted baby formula as being better than breast milk. When they couldn't do that in Europe and North America any more, they started doing it in the third world. Time magazine revealed this practice sometime in the late '70s or early '80s, IIRC.

        Yup. This is why I as a kid wasn't allowed to have any Nestlé products -- my mom was boycotting them for that reason. I was bottle-fed, but after I was off the bottle she found out about what you're talking about and

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Apparently you weren't "aware" in the 70's... My mother was discouraged from breast feeding. As such- I was a simulac kid. And Apparently my dad didn't realize you had to water it down. That can be the only explanation for why I'm a Diesel MoFo now. ;)
      • As such- I was a simulac kid. And Apparently my dad didn't realize you had to water it down. That can be the only explanation for why I'm a Diesel MoFo now. ;)

        Oh God. I just got this image of a baby goin' M3KK4BERZERK0R D00D GRAAAAWR and beatin' the snot out of his stuffed animals.

        Kinda like the Confessor. Well, not really. He interrogates them first.

        Cheers,

        Ethelred

      • As the 70s were a good two years before I was born, one could say that I wasn't aware then. But wouldn't that be cool if I was?

        And it's been 30 years. I thought the La Leche League zealots had already had their special ops forces take out all of the enemy combatants. Apparently Ethelred's MIL got away.
        • As the 70s were a good two years before I was born, one could say that I wasn't aware then. But wouldn't that be cool if I was?

          Why, you little whippersnapper -- oh dabbit, my teef fell out again!

          And it's been 30 years. I thought the La Leche League zealots had already had their special ops forces take out all of the enemy combatants.

          Funny, I thought of the Triple-L people as the Bare-Breasted Commandos, too. *g*

          Conjures up all sorts of...interesting...mental images...

          Cheers,

          Ethelred

  • Happy (?) to hear its only some capillary action that will probably go away.
  • You will likely know when the Confessor is ready for solid food. While six months is not a bad rule of thumb, it can vary widely. Our older daughter started sleeping through the night at about six weeks of age. Then, at about three and a half months, she started waking up again. My wife was pretty sure that the baby was hungry (moms learn to distinguish different types of cries very quickly), but the pediatrician was dead set against any solid food in the first eight months. We put up with a couple of
    • My mom tells the same story about me. Nobody thought I was ready for solid food, but it worked well. If she'd been able to nurse, my mom probably would have continued; I know that's what we've done with my son.
  • Typically hemangioma is harmless. My 1 year old nephew has had one on the top of his head since a month after he was born...its starting to dissappear now.
    One of the kids in the neighborhood I grew up in had one the size of a large egg on the top of his head...looked really weird after he grew hair :P
  • Why is he called "The Confessor"? I may have just missed an earlier installment, but it's bugging the hell out of me now. I keep thinking "Edward The Confessor" (a king from many centuries ago).

    What did he confess?
    • I keep thinking "Edward The Confessor" (a king from many centuries ago).

      The answer is staring you in the face. ;-)

      Hint: his real name starts with "E".

      What did he confess?

      Nothing yet, but we're working on 'im.

      Cheers,

      Ethelred

  • It's like a strawberry mark, but on his eye. So glad to hear that all's well with the Confessor, even though his mom and pop are probably dishargs by now. He'll have you whipped into shape in no time.

    My own mother (now promoted to the status of Aged Mum) was a staunch supporter of breast-feeding when nobody else was doing it at all. Her standard rejoinder to criticism? Breast-fed is best-fed.

    Anne
  • Might I suggest a good T-shirt [tshirthell.com] for The Confessor?

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