The above in honor of tonight’s breastfeeding class.  The rest are here.

If you have only one more documentary you can watch for the rest of the year, make sure this is it.  Please please please, watch this.

As I mentioned previously, the cat enjoys snuggling in the Boppy and napping in the crib.  He has also recently acquired a fondness for the co-sleeper:

In getting some last-minute preparations done, I washed the co-sleeper sheet, stuck it on the co-sleeper mattress, and then covered the co-sleeper with garbage bags so that the cat wouldn’t leave his fur all over it.  My plan was foiled when Stoli peeled up the plastic bags and shoved them aside so he could sleep unencumbered on the freshly laundered co-sleeper sheet.  So, I ended up removing the co-sleeper from our room, sticking it in the nursery (which now has its door closed so that the cat can’t get into any more mischief), and cleaning all of the fur out of the co-sleeper.  Total pain in the butt.  Understandably, the cat is perplexed about being kicked out of the crib and now out of the co-sleeper.  In the most pathetic form of protest he could muster, he spent last night sleeping on the floor on my side of the bed where the co-sleeper used to be.  Every time I’d peer over the edge of the bed, he’d look back at me with the most hurt expression.  I don’t think he’ll get into the co-sleeper or crib once the baby is here and using those items; he’ll be too intent on staying as far away from the baby as he can, I am sure.   Luckily, we don’t have the same territoriality issues with our rabbit.  She goes about her day blissfully unaware of the changes that are about to descend onto our household.    

Went to the midwife today.  I am 3.5 cm dilated, still 80% effaced.  Baby is estimated to weigh around 8 pounds.  The baby’s back is usually shifted over to my right side (hence back pain on my right side), but now the baby’s back appears to be somewhere in the middle.  The baby’s heart rate was variable (it would speed up, then slow down, then speed up again), which is exactly what they want to hear.  I go back to the midwife in a little over a week if I still haven’t delivered by then, and at that point, we’ll discuss the next step (which I am assuming includes speeding things along somehow).  I DO NOT want an induction.  I will do everything in my power to avoid that.  At 41 weeks I will be fine with having my membranes stripped, but I do not under any circumstances want synthetic oxytocin!!!!  I will walk this town all day long in the heat if I have to.  I will go for a bike ride.  I will pole dance.  For the love of God, I just don’t want synthetic hormones.  

Most of you probably know that relative to most places in the U.S., the good people of Vermont are pretty open to breastfeeding (even in public!!)  We even have the laws to prove it—Vermont is just one of eight states that has laws protecting nursing in public (with a provision for enforcement).  What this means is that any woman who has experienced a violation of her right to breastfeed can file a charge of discrimination with the human rights commission, and can summarily seek compensatory/punitive damages including payment of legal fees.  Despite these laws, in 2006, a woman on board a Freedom Airlines/Delta Airlines flight preparing to depart from Burlington, Vermont was asked to de-plane after she refused to stop breastfeeding her daughter on the plane.  This woman, Emily Gillette of New Mexico, has since filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Relations Commission.  I’d like to think of this case as a rare exception within an otherwise civil community where breastfeeding is normally not just tolerated, but embraced.  Certainly, there exists the possibility that the airline crew were unaware of Vermont state laws that protect the right to breastfeed in public.  Horrifyingly, there are still several states that have absolutely NO LAWS in place to protect the right to nurse in public.  These states include Massachusetts (yes, this one was a surprise to me, too), Pennsylvania (no surprise there), Nebraska, North Dakota, and Idaho.  Federal laws do exist to protect the right to breastfeed, however, these laws lack an enforcement provision, making it essentially useless in those states that do not otherwise provide protection for breastfeeding mothers.  

 

So where does the coffee come in?  One of the cooler things to crop up in Burlington, Vermont within the past few years is a coffee shop started by two women who wanted to create a breastfeeding-friendly environment in which moms could come grab a cup of joe and chat with their friends.  Viva Espresso opened in 2006 in Burlington’s Old North End and has been enormously successful.  They have even been featured in Food and Wine magazine during their short tenure as a local, socially-conscious, purveyor of caffeine, art, baked goods, and community.  Viva is awesome in concept, and does not disappoint in the tangibles—The coffee is phenomenal!  We’re looking forward to many walks up the street for a cup of coffee with the little one in tow….