Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tamar

So this is a post dedicated to Tamar Poupko Smith, who took us shopping at Target, set us all up with clothes and strollers and car seats and bouncy seats.  You name it, she gave it.  This is a bit of an admission to her as well.  You see, Tamar is a very organized individual, and I, in my imperfect OCD complex, strive to be as good as her.  I had the baby's suitcase packed in New York the week before we left.  Well, not actually packed but everything gathered.  I boiled the n.i.p.p.l.e.s. (Our dear friend Arna, Tamar's mom, can't say the word.  So that's in honor of her.), washed the clothes, made my lists.  And then came The Night Before We Left, and we were running around try to find everything and make sure it all fit.  Plus I decided we needed two more n.i.p.p.l.e.s. and some liquid formula so I knew that we had to stop at Target again on the way out.  Tamar also convinced us we HAD to use the Playtex Drop-In line of bottles, with their pre-sterilized inserts.  My cousin Barbara, (who had divined we were having a girl from the start), a smart cookie and seasoned mom herself, told me we HAD to use Avent or Dr. Browns.  We almost switched, but decided to stick with our first purchase.  Anyway, there we are at the hospital, Gigi is born and we're ready to bring her up to the room.  They ask us to bring down a set of clothes, and a diaper.  I go to the wardrobe in the hospital room where I had set out all the baby clothes, and I realize I didn't bring any of the side snap undershirts, of which I have no less than 50 I guess sitting on the floor upstairs in the nursery in Cincinnati.  How could I have just neglected to do that?  I did have two long-sleeved ones, but all the short-sleeved one were missing.  And I didn't want to put anything over her umbilical cord stump.  Total failure.  Then the nurses kept asking about my strange bottles, wanted me to have something else. They also kept sterilizing everything for me, including the outside plastic "bottle" that holds the inserts.  I told them I could just wash that but the were insistent.  At one of the feedings, the sister (they call nurses "sisters" here) hands me back my insert holder and it is melted into an unusable shape.  Sort of like a Shrinky-Dink, for you boomers out there.  Down to one bottle, and they still kept trying to take the other away to sterilize.  I kept the misshapen one to show them why they couldn't have it.  In the end, I've been praising Tamar for insisting on the inserts.  Here in the hotel room, it would have been impossible to sterilize bottles, and the inserts have been a godsend.  The nips we wash and pour let sit in boiling water from our in room boiler, in our coffee cups, and do this a couple times each cleaning.  Then there was the poop and vomit episode for which I called Dr. Tamar Poupko Smith in the wee hours here.  Baby Gigi has been getting the hiccups a lot, which then cause her to spit up a portion of her meal.  Last night it was particularly bad.  Added to the fact the she hadn't pooped in 3 days.  This all lead to Gigi being out of sorts.  Tamar told us to do a little thermometer intervention, and low and behold today, poop.  Twice.

So we thank Tamar for all her wisdom, her phone appointments, and general good cheer.  Check out the bottle.

5 comments:

  1. Okay- so as Tamar's extremely proud M.O.M. (you can never be too careful)..I just have three words: "Nitzchunei b'nai, Nitschunei".

    P.S. I taught her every bloody thing she knows..........!!!

    The baby continues to elicit gasps of delight....omg!!!! Which now officialy stands for "OH MY GIGI"!!!!!

    love,
    Arna

    ReplyDelete
  2. I told you so. I was right about the baby being a girl and i was right about playtex being A PAIN IN THE TUSHY. No offense to your wonderful friend who helped you but with 4 kids al many feeding issues with all i am convinced less is more and easier. As for her hiccups. Her bottle nipple hole is too big and she is getting to mush too fast. Either switch nipples or burp her more often. this will help. This shall pass. As for the doody issue, malt supac if you can get it there or milacon to break up the gas and get things moving along. Well i must tell you one other thing. The skin tags as i mentioned are a goldstein thing as well as the doody issues but on another note. She is a clone of Sam and Harley as newborns. Sam was baffled at how much she looks like him. crazy but true i will send you pics for you to see. This comment is very long because it is too long to txt and i can never find the right time to reach you guys. Any much love to the 3 of you. Miss you . When are you all coming home?
    love, cousin "auntie barbara"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the pictures-she is adorable--BTW we used Dr. Browns with Eleanor and switched to the playtex drop ins for Jasper- I wouldnt use anything else. Hugs and kisses to all 3 of you--love Carrie

    ReplyDelete
  4. i am completely honored and humbled that an entire post was dedicated to MOI. SOOO relieved that the playtex system is working. the recent pics are gorgeous.. things here are all good..getting ready for funeral tomorrow (sorry that i'm using this like email) the family is expecting well over 1000 people. comment to auntie barbara: the nipple they are using is size "slow" - i don't think they come any smaller. please stop melting the bottles. LOVE YOU all, tamar

    ReplyDelete
  5. loved this posting Steven. Brought back so many memories for me. You sound like you are doing fabulously and Gigi is just gorgeous. Love, Kate xxoo

    ReplyDelete