Parents' professions through the eyes of a 3-year-old

Zachary, Jacob and I visited my friend yesterday at the college where I worked for the last several years.  For some reason, Zachary thought it was a doctor's office.  We explained to him that it was a school and that Miss Gayle was a teacher there. 

Knowing that Brian is also a college professor, Gayle asked Zachary what his daddy did, thinking it would help him to understand that we weren't at a doctor's office.  Zachary surprised us, though, when he answered "he builds beds".  We do have 7 children, so Brian has spent a fair bit of time putting together beds.  He's put together basinets, cribs, bunk beds, futons, and doll beds...he has, in fact, built a couple of beds from scratch, including our bed and the captain's bed he built for Rebecca before bunk beds entered our lives. 

For follow up, Gayle asked Zachary what his mommy did, and he replied that I am a nurse.  I am indeed a nurse...I have been an RN for 20 years and although I am not currently working in the nursing profession, it indeed remains a large part of my identity.  I was feeling kind of proud and smug that he knew my profession and not his dad's.

Today, I wanted to see if Zachary had a different answer for yesterday's questions.  You know the 3-year-old's imagination:  things can change rapidly.  Well, his responses were the same...dad builds beds and mom is a nurse.  I went one step further today, though, and asked what mom does as a nurse.  I was thinking maybe he'd say "give shots" or "help people".  Nope.  You see, 3-year-olds view relationships through the filter of how they are affected or might benefit.  Knowing that, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when he stated "you nurse babies".  Yep, I do....I've been breastfeeding my babies for nearly as long as I have been an RN!
 
I am not nearly so smug as I was yesterday...but I am humbled and happy.  What could be more pleasing than being recognized by your child for providing a safe and secure place to lay his head and the food he needs to live?  That is our job, a job we lovingly and gratefully accepted when we said "yes" to God's call for becoming parents.  There is no more important profession nor part of our identity, after all, than that of being parents, and I thank Zachary for reminding me of that so clearly! 

Time to get back to "work"...I need to lie Jacob in his basinet so that I can prepare Zachary some lunch!

Graduating the "bonus month"

Our Jacob surprised us on August 2 when he arrived 5 weeks before his due date and 4 weeks before his scheduled  "eviction".  He arrived at a good weight (nearly 7 pounds, 4 ounces), which gave him an advantage.  The usual reaction to that news is "wow, can you imagine what he would have been if he'd made it to term?"  Yes, we can, as the median weight of our seven children is 9 pounds, 11 ounces...we assumed that Jacob would definintely reach, if not exceed, that weight.  Although weighing in large was an advantage, he was still very much a preemie and behaved as such. 

The "bonus month", as a friend of a preemie refers to the month we weren't really expecting or ready for, brought some trials.  Jacob was very jaundiced, and endured daily lab tests for elevated bilirubin, "sunbathing" and forced feeds.  He was also a poor nurser, as many premature infants are, which resulted in a weight loss of over a pound his first week and a month of visits to the lactation nurse, using breastfeeding aids and force-feeding to get things going.  For the first 3 weeks, he and I lived in a cave (my bedroom) with a nurse/pump/supplement schedule going every 2-3 hours around the clock, with naps in between that routine.  Our other children wondered if they had a mother, I am sure!  Fortunately, Brian was on summer break, as were the children, which eased up our running around and allowed him to chauffer us to/from appointments.  We received delicious hot meals delivered every evening for three weeks arranged through the Martha Ministry, a group from our parish that provides meals for during difficult times for parishioners, such as illness, new babies, adoptions and the like.  We were truly blessed!

Jacob is now eight weeks old and has officially been a "newborn" and not a "preemie" for three weeks, and is behaving accordingly.  His visit at the pediatrician today had him weighing in at 9 pounds, 13 ounces (which is what both of his brothers were at birth) and 23 inches in length (over 3 inches since he was born).  He "graduated" from the lactation nurse last week because he was nursing exclusively without breastfeeding aids and was gaining weight so well.  We're getting a stretch of about five hours of sleep at night, which is a vast improvement over 2-3 hours.  And, to top it all off, he has rolled over from his stomach to his back over the past two days!  He is definitely on track developmentally and is such a wonderfully loved and cuddly addition to our family.  I am thankful that he is growing and developing, but I am also very thankful for and will miss that "bonus month" that he has graduated from.