The Beginning of Baby Led Weaning

A few months ago I decided that when it was time for Maddie to start eating solid food, we would use the "baby led weaning" approach. For those of you not familiar with it, the general idea is that instead of feeding a baby mush, you start them off with solid food from the very beginning and they feed themselves. Still cut the food and soften it enough so that it is baby- and gum-friendly, but let them child pick what they want to eat when presented three or four options and just sit back and watch what happens.

The theory is that since they can't yet chew, they can't choke because they haven't mastered the mechanics of moving food to the back of their mouth. Since they can't choke, it can't hurt them to feed themselves real food. Baby led weaning follows a more natural pattern of development even though it may not seem as natural to some people to not spoon feed pureed mystery meals to their baby.


Baby led weaning isn't supposed to begin until at least six months of age, so I guess I jumped the gun a little bit (Maddie will be six months on July 3rd), but she can sit up unassisted and started to stare (hard) whenever I was eating something so I figured what the heck, let's give it a try.


For breakfast, I made myself scrambled eggs and a banana. So I pulled her high chair up next to my seat at the table and gave her a chunk of banana (which she didn't do much with other than play with for a few minutes before pushing it off to the side) and sprinkled a few cheerios on her tray for her to practice her pincer-grasp. Neither of these foods actually made it to her mouth, but that's OK. Baby led weaning isn't meant to happen overnight. But what was kind of cool was when I gave her a bite of my scrambled eggs. She readily grabbed my hand and fork and put it in her mouth before promptly spitting it back out. But she tried! Considering a week ago she looked down right offended when I offered her a bite of a banana or torn off sheet of tortilla, this is huge progress.

Then at lunch, magic happened. I was eating a sandwich without too much that was baby appropriate, so I quick steamed a carrot in the microwave and cooled it down and cut it into big chunks before putting in on her tray. To my surprise she picked up a big piece and started gnawing away at it for the durration of lunchtime! (I tried to give her a spoon of yogurt after that, but that was apparently pushing my luck as it almost wound up flung in my face. Oh well.)


As I cooked the bolognese sauce for dinner, I gave her some more carrot to chew on since I was already chopping some up and she happily gummed it while she watched me work at the stove. I don't think she actually ingested any food today other than breast milk, but it was so wonderful to watch her begin to explore a whole new culinary world. I may stick with the carrots for a bit so not to push my luck too much, but I have plans to buy some sweet potatoes at the store tomorrow and I have a feeling that they'll go over pretty well once we get them in her mouth.


In any case, I can practically taste the sweet, sweet freedom of finally having my boobs to myself again in the not-so-distant future. And that's what it's really all about it, isn't it?


Have any of you tried baby led weaning? How did you like it? Or better yet, how did your baby like it? Pin It Now!

Mother, May I...

...inhabit your belly for an extra two weeks please?

At least, if Maddie could talk I would imagine this is what she's been asking me with every kick, punch, jab and roll I've been lucky enough to endure for an extra 11 days (so far).

When I found out I was pregnant about two years ago (OK... in April), the first thing I asked my doctor was how long she would be willing to let me go past my due date. I realize that most women probably want to get through their pregnancies as quickly as possible, with some even opting for elective inductions or c-sections, but the thought of any type of medical "intervention" beyond some pain killers terrifies me.

For anyone that knows me, I'm definitely not your gung-ho natural birth ambassador. For women that know they're strong enough to do it all on their own, good for them. I still want to be numb from the waist down when the show gets on the road. But to intentionally torture myself with drugs that make labor come on harder and faster that has a 50% chance of ending up in major surgery? No thank you. Some things are better left alone, if you ask me.

When it got down to the wire, my new OB, which I switched to around 30 weeks, was estimating that Maddie may come two or three days late, but she probably wouldn't have me go much more than seven or eight days past my due date. She scheduled an NST (non-stress test) for a few days after my due date to see how both the baby and my body were responding to some extra baking time and since we both passed with flying colors (twice, actually), she decided to let me go another week to see if my body would go into labor on it's own before 42 weeks.

Well here I am at 41 weeks and four days and there's been no sign of labor whatsoever. We'll go back in for another NST tomorrow and then Dr. Nowroozi will decide once and for all what she's doing with me. From the sound of it, it seems like if I'm progressing at all in the land down under she'll schedule me for an induction, but if not we may skip straight to the c-section.

Now of course with Maddie taking her sweet time and no definite answer from the Doc as to when and how this is all going to happen, everyone around me seems to have become more anxious than Brendan and I ourselves. Some people think I must not have calulated my LMP (last menstration) correctly, others think the doctor is a quack for letting me go "so long." When non-doctors question my physician, it makes my skin crawl. Dr. Nowroozi has been practicing obstetrics and gynecology for almost 50 years -- I think she knows what she's doing!

So here are some stats to ease everyone else's mind so Brendan and I can get on with preparing for our little one in peace:

My LMP date is March 17, 2011. How do I know this for sure? I was in Clearwater, at a Phillies game, in the bathroom, yelling at the lady trying to get in my bathroom stall before I had even poked my head out that unless she had a feminine product to spare, she wasn't getting in. We went to three games when I was there. It wasn't the day I wore white shorts, and it wasn't the third game. So trust me, I'm positive I have the date correct.

Based on a 28-day cycle and my LMP, my estimated (key word: ESTIMATED) due date was December 22, 2011. Fun fact: only five percent of babies are born on their due date.

After getting my big fat positive on the pregnancy test, I went for my first ultrasound at six weeks. When ultrasounds are done early enough, usually prior to eight weeks gestation, an ultrasound can be very accurate in predicting the gestational age of the baby. When I went for my six-week appointment, Baby O. was measuring five weeks six days. Not too shabby.

Every appointment after that, which was monthly until I reached 30-weeks, the size of my uterus (or fundal height) was measured using a very simple method - measuring tape. From bottom to top, however many centimeters fat my belly was getting corresponded to how many weeks along I was measuring. Only two appointments out what's been nearly 20 by now have measured something other than which week I actually was. And, to be fair, those were the weeks I went on a Monday or Tuesday instead of my regular Thursday appointment days. Once I measured a week ahead, and once I measured a week behind. I'm splitting the difference before I start splitting hairs, though, and calling it was it is - a perfectly timed progressing baby.

So now that we're fairly certain I'm not harboring a baby with a gestational age of eight months versus nine and a half, let's move on to why I haven't yet induced and why I'm a lot more comfortable with that than a lot of other people seem to be.

We've already seen how only five percent of babies are born on their actual due date. Well, about half of all pregnancies go beyond that magic date. Furthermore, about seven percent of babies are born at 42-weeks or later.

Yes, there are plenty of reasons why women induce not too much longer after their due date has passed. For many, it's because the doctor has recommended it due to either the baby or the mother's bodies simply no longer responding positively to the pregnancy. Perhaps mom has developed preeclampsia (or pregnancy induced hypertension) which can cause complications in labor and delivery, or maybe the baby is just plain old getting too big to try delivering the traditional way. So far, neither of these things have happened to us. I don't have gestational diabetes, my blood pressure took a temporary spike but calmed down after a week or two of observation, Maddie's heart rate does not drop when I have my fun little practice contractions (or Braxton Hicks contractions), she has plenty of amniotic fluid to swim around it, and have I mentioned the fact that I don't want to be induced if there's no medical reason to?

On the other hand, there are some moms out there that, in their words, simply can't stand the thought of being pregnant anymore, or want to pick a certain birth date for their child (seriously) and happen to have a willing physician that will perform an elective induction. Taking the baby out too early scares the daylights out of me, and here's why:

• Approximately 50% of induced labors end up in a c-section because the mother's body was simply not ready to progress enough for a vaginal delivery.
• The medicine administered during an induced labor is meant to bring contractions on harder and faster to progress and dilate the cervix. These "unnatural" contractions can cause the baby to go into distress. Their heart rate may drop with each contraction, they may not be recieving enough oxygen, etc. The mom also becomes more exhausted faster leaving her with little energy to push when the time comes - all of these things can lead to a c-section.
• The risk of infection for both mother and baby increases dramatically. Typically when you are induced, you water is broken for you. Most practitioners recommend that mom goes no longer than 24-hours with broken membranes to reduce the risk of infection both in herself and the baby. These bacterial infections can lead to complications beyond birth that could have been avoided by allowing the body to progress naturally or having skipped the medical induction and gone straight to a c-section.

Of course there are risks with a c-section as well, but in my not-so-professional opinion, I feel that a lot of the complications and risks of a medical induction can be avoided especially if it's known the mother's body simply isn't going to favor a traditional delivery.

So long story made longer, this is why we have chosen to simply wait out mother nature. Of course we would like to avoid a major surgery if at all possible, simply because, hello, c-sections are major-freaking-surgery. But why even opt for surgery if everyone is healthy and (relatively) happy even at 42 weeks?

Because as high risk as a c-section may be in terms of recovery, leaving a baby to cook longer than necessary is even riskier. Point blank, the placenta may or may not simply stop working after 42 weeks of pregnancy. The organ that is the baby's lifeline may fail. That is huge. I would rather deal with a scar and some stitches than risk my child's life by either taking her out too early or letting her bake too long. If my doctor thinks 42 weeks is just right, then 42 weeks it will be.

So hopefully you all feel better knowing that one way or another Madeleine will be here by this time next week. And of course, when I know what's going on, so will all of you. But until then I hope everyone can understand or at least respect why we're choosing to wait before we drag her out kicking and screaming (literally!).

But if she decided to make an appearance, say, today, that wouldn't be so bad either ;-) Pin It Now!

Resolve is for Carpets

As you all begin making your way back into the office this week, make it a point to ask ten of your coworkers what their New Years resolution was. I guarantee at least nine of them will answer with some variation of diet or exercise. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to better yourself, and what better time to start that journey than now, but this year I couldn't be one of those people making the same old commitment I always do.

Here I sit, 41+ weeks pregnant, and the last thing I'm allowed to do right now is hop back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon (which, for the record, has always worked well for me and I highly recommend it). Once Maddie is born, which should thankfully be sometime this week, I do intend to get back into the swing of things as best I can (especially since we don't know right now if I'll have to deliver via c-section or not yet), but zooming back to the gym definitely isn't the first thing on my mind right now.

What I've been engrossed in for about the last three weeks has been a severe case of nesting. My house is as spotless as its ever been, almost everything that can be organized has been placed in plastic bins, labeled with my spiffy new label maker, sorted into magazine files, purged from the home completely, donated, trashed, recycled, upcycled, you name it. If there were a poster child for people who actually follow through with the things they've pinned on Pinterest, it would be me. Point blank, with a baby more stubborn than her mom and dad combined, I've had a lot of time to obsessively Martha-dize my home while I wait not-so-patiently for her arrival.

But circling back to New Years resolutions, I couldn't think of much I was willing and/or able to commit to right this moment other than continuing with my new ways. They say if you do something for 21 days in a row it becomes a habit. That's all well and good, but I'm fairly certain my mind-over-matterness can out-lazy the pants off a well established habit any day. So instead of resolving to change my eating habits (which have to be adjusted to accommodate a breast-feeding baby anyway) or resolving to go to the gym four days a week, I'm just going to keep Resolving my carpets.

I'm sure with a brand new baby in the house (in addition to the cat, dog and husband I already look after every day), keeping up with my cleaning schedule (because of course there's an excel spreadsheet involved) is going to be a bit of a struggle. But having a clean and organized home, even if I only get to go through the motions a few days a week, will help cut down on my stress level severely. We enter our house through the kitchen, and when the kitchen is a mess it sends shock waves to my brain every time I walk through that door. I'll have enough to worry about once baby is here, so I'm pretty sure having my home as spic and span as possible will help keep my mind less on the dust bunny in the corner and more on the baby in the play yard.

I plan to use this blog as a medium for my first year as a new mom, my three months as a bonafied housewife before it's time to head back to work post-maternity leave, and the occasional mental breakdown I'm sure I'll have from having to drop my daughter off at daycare three days a week. And once baseball season starts back up I'll be mixing in some of my freelance columns as they're published as well, if nothing more than the simplicity of keeping everything I write in one spot. Again, organization and simplicity, my friends.

Heck, anything to keep my mind off of the fact that whether or not I'm willing to admit it, I'm a grown up now is welcome.

Holy crap, I'm going to be a mom.

I need to go vacuum something. Pin It Now!

Jimmy Rollins Breaks His Silence

Originally published by NBC Philadelphia

After Friday night’s heartbreaking loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, both Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins declined to speak to the media leaving Ryan Howard to do most of the talking once he changed out of his uniform for the last time in 2011. Rollins declared he would speak out on Tuesday instead.

Almost without missing a beat, Victorino took the more modern route of reflecting on the Phillies season via his Twitter account, from thanking the fans for their continued support to wishing Howard well after he ruptured his Achilles tendon in his last at bat of the year.

Rollins, on the other hand, waited until Sunday afternoon to make a peep about anything Phillies.

He shared the message “Thanks to all the Phillies Nation that helped to make 2011 such a wonderful experience to be a part of! I love you all.” on both his Facebook fan page and Twitter account. The response was overwhelmingly positive; fans asked him to consider signing on with the Phillies for the next leg of his carrier and thanked him for his contributions in the division series.

As far as what comes next? Well that’s all going to be a matter of hearsay and speculation until the ink is dried on whatever contract free-agent-to-be Rollins winds up signing next, be it with the team he’s grown with in Philly or with a team in need of a short stop closer to the town he grew up in such as the Giants.

J-Roll has played 12 seasons with the Phillies receiving multiple bids to the All-Star Game, Gold Glove awards, and winning an MVP in 2007. He batted .268/.338/.399 in 2011, and led the team in the 2011 NLDS batting .450/.476/.650 along with Chase Utley (.438/.571/.688).

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J-Roll vs. the Fans, Part 2?

Originally published by NBC Philadelphia.

In 2008, he sparked controversy by calling the fans front runners. In 2011, Jimmy Rollins comments on how quiet the crowd was at Game 2 of the NLDS and Twitter is in an uproar.

After Sunday night’s 5-4 Game 2 loss, Rollins tweeted, “Not the result we wanted but that's the way it is!! Now we just gotta handle biz on the road! Also fans were waaay to quiet tonight (sic).” With more than 100 retweets and hundreds of fans (and otherwise) sharing their two cents with the Phillies shortstop.

Reactions varied from defensive (@M_C__McKenna tweets “@JimmyRollins11 don't ever say "us" fans weren't loud enough #thatspunk good luck with the fans in oaklyn or mets fans next yr when u leave”) to supportive (@rachie919 tweets “@JimmyRollins11 digging the positive attitude..Think positive & positive things will happen! #redoctober”).

Rollins wasn't just heating up Twitter with his rheotoric. Before he powered up his iPhone to do the talking, John Clark reported, "Jimmy Rollins said after the game 'You could hear a pin drop out there. Fans were a little uptight. It was not a good atmosphere.'"

Jimmy followed up Monday evening by tweeting “So I'm hearing that the media said I blamed the loss on the fans last night??!! Smh if you believe what they said... U should know better!”

I admit when I woke up Monday morning and read through both Jimmy’s and commentary from various members of the media, I was angry. How dare they try to blame the loss on the fans! What do they want them to cheer about when their team blows a four-run lead and only hits in three out of nine innings -- held scoreless for the last seven innings of the game?

To his credit, Rollins is on fire so far this postseason having gone 5-for-8 scoring five of the Phillies’ 15 total runs in the first two games of the series, so perhaps he’s the best candidate to “talk the talk” since he is in fact walking the walk.

For some people, though, his hitting doesn’t make the loss any easier of a pill to swallow.

But amid the interpretation and possibly misinterpretation of Jimmy’s words over the past 24 hours, it begs the question of what role the fans really have at the game.

Are they really the “10th man on the field” as the commercials boast? For the past five years, Citizens Bank Park has been known to house the toughest fans in baseball. Analysts and players alike will tell you how rough it is playing in that park when the fans are not on your side -- and that goes for the visiting team and the Phillies.

But what happens when the gas tank runs dry? Maybe the game is boring or slow or just flat out bad. So bad that the fans can’t even be bothered to boo -- something they’re known for especially in South Philly. Sure, these players are getting paid millions upon millions of dollars to do their job (as envious of a job as it may be), but how easy is it to turn it up a notch when a ballpark that’s packed with the most fans ever in attendance is so quiet you can hear a pin drop? I mean, they don’t hand those rally towels out at the door for nothing.

Perhaps it works both ways. The fans are quiet because the team isn’t giving them something to cheer about in that moment. The players are just going through the motions because the fans aren’t giving them anything to feed off of. Just like the Phillies fans can get under the opposition's skin (Jamie Moyer vs. Johan Santana, anyone?) the visiting club can get to the fans. The same fans that have been seemingly spoiled yet almost justifiably cautious in letting too many of their emotions get in the way of reality after being disappointed day after day, week after week, season after season for the 25 years prior to 2008 and once the fans are out of it, the Phillies can get sucked into a vicious cycle that churns for nine straight innings, maybe even nine straight days, making it harder and harder to break out of a funk.

The point, however, is that the Phillies don’t have nine days -- they have two. The Cardinals are bringing the momentum of Sunday’s win back with them to Busch Stadium and the Philly faithful aren’t going to be in St. Louis to be that 10th man for the Phillies.

So let the team hear you when they get home, because they’re going to need you in the NL Championship Series or even Game 5 of the NLDS. Cheer for every at bat; get in the pitcher’s head; get in the dugout’s head and make them feel like they have something to play for. Something more than a ring.

They wouldn’t even have this opportunity if it weren’t for you filling the stands every single night giving Ruben Amaro, Jr. the financial flexibility he has to bring in star players like a Cliff Lee or a Hunter Pence to give the team the edge. Prove it wasn’t all for naught.

Let’s face it -- this isn’t Tampa. You aren’t part of an average 9,400-person crowd every night. You’re one of 45,000-plus waving those rally towels above your head.

Make them proud. Be heard, Philadelphia.

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2011 Key Moment: The Power of Pence

Originally published by NBC Philadelphia.

All this week Philthy Stuff will be looking back on some of the key moments in one of the best Phillies regular seasons ever.

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In what has become tradition across Major League Baseball, the Phillies were part of the mad scramble that is the July 31sttrade deadline and for the third year in a row walked away with the top billed player of the summer. First it was Roy Halladay, then Roy Oswalt, and in 2011, the Fightins added some offensive pop with Hunter Pence.

With Domonic Brown’s declining performance and a roster full of seasoned, yet sporadically slumping sluggers, the Phils knew they had to make a move to give them an edge on their competition. Prior to Pence’s debut with the club on July 30, the Phillies had a 66-39 record (.628 win percentage). They led the National League East by five games, still hadn’t been swept in the three-game series and were averaging just above four runs per game.

Excluding the team’s historic post-clinch eight-game skid, the Phils posted a 35-13 record (.729 win percentage) when Pence had an at-bat in a Phillies uniform. They averaged just above five runs per game, clinched first place in their division, reached 100 wins for the third time in club history and still have a chance to have the best record in team history with a “W” on Wednesday against the Braves.

Coincidence?

Sure, the numbers look good, but it’s what the presence of Pence has done for those around him in the lineup. For example, prior to July 30, Ryan Howard was batting .246/.337/.459 (BA/OBP/SLG) in 104 games with 20 home runs and 78 RBI. Since, he is batting .269/.368/.563 in 46 games with 13 dingers and 37 RBI. The team as a whole was batting .249/.322/.388 prior to his arrival and .259/.324/.406 since.

Of course there are always players, even entire teams, that have a tendency to turn it on closer to the end of the season, but Pence’s own stats don’t lie. Entering play Tuesday Pence was batting .320/.387/550 with 10 homers, 31 RBIs, 33 runs and 12 doubles in just 200 at bats since joining the Phillies. All it takes is one person to add a spark to a clubhouse and incite a little friendly competition. Who wants the new guy to show up perennial All-Stars and hometown favorites?

Just like the playful rivalry between the Five Aces (I have no problem throwing Vance Worley in with the rest of them after his outstanding performance this year), the position players can and should be inspired by one another to be better. Looking back, the turning point in the Phillies season for me wasn’t necessarily the return of Chase Utley, or when they turned it on against the Cubs in June and never looked back, but I feel as though it would have been much easier for the team to fizzle towards the end of the season without a stand-out player like Pence keeping the squad on its toes and seemingly having fun.

Let's eat!

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Mayberry Seeks Mermaid – Inquire Within

Originally published by NBC Philadelphia.

Perhaps all the rain the Phillies have seen lately has John Mayberry, Jr. wondering what it would be like to actually live under the sea.

Mayberry has his sights set on Antoinette Nikprelaj, who played the part of a mermaid in the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment, and his CAA (Creative Arts Agency) representative has been trying to make the actress part of his world, according to the New York Post.

In an e-mail from Mayberry’s CAA representative to Nikprelaj’s agency:

"I imagine you’re familiar with CAA and some of our clients, as we work with Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Buster Posey and Andre Ethier among others. 

"I hate to even be sending you this e-mail, and I’m quite embarrassed to say the least, but we have a young client on the Philadelphia Phillies who asked us if we knew any agents at Innovative Artists and could connect him to Antoinette Nikprelaj.

"I know you’re not a dating or set-up service, but John Mayberry Jr. (Phillies OF) would love to meet Antoinette or invite her to a baseball game sometime. Would this be possible?"

He added, “Here’s a bio of John to give you some more info on him (he’s a great guy, down-to-earth, humble, Stanford-educated, etc.) Thanks for considering this as you know how this business is and servicing clients.”

If Nikprelaj isn’t impressed with his college transcript, or if her, uh, husband takes issue with her dating someone else, maybe Daryl Hannah still has that mermaid outfit laying around (bonus: she’s single!).

Teammate Hunter Pence is taking a different approach for finding Mayberry a date:

Unconventional? Perhaps. But if the mermaid thing doesn’t work out for him at least there are plenty of fish in the proverbial Twitter sea. Although, he may not be taking Vance Worley up on his suggestion to join the social media world until things blow over.

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