Boy Oh Boyers

Wanting a snapshot of their bare pregnant bellies seems common among gals in my generation. I suppose it's just in fashion, or ladies my age don't mind showing skin as much as in generations past. After all, we aren't the generation responsible for the "itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini" song. If I recall correctly from listening to Grammies' collection of records, this song was about a poor gal who wore a bikini and then was so mortified to be seen in it that she either stayed in the water or kept herself wrapped in a blanket! Ladies these days (for better or worse) are less inhibited. It's interesting to note what changes a generation or two bring about in women's thinking.

While talking on the phone to Grammies yesterday, I told her about some upcoming Pictures of the Day including June 18th's bare belly picture. "Oooh", she said in disgust, "I never wanted to look at things like that when I was pregnant. I was too squeemish!" Being very good friends with my grandmother, there are still times she says things that absolutely puzzle me. Granted the fifty-something years between our ages must account for a great deal of language nuance that is the culprit for my occasional confusion (and hers in return, no doubt), but many of these puzzling quandaries aren't from misunderstanding each other. They're from completely different mindsets.

When my grandmother gave birth to her first child she was in the hospital for two weeks even though it was a routine delivery and both she and the baby were completely healthy. Her generation was not actively encouraged to breastfeed, and she made "formula" out of canned cow's milk mixed with syrup. When I was a nanny back as a young teenager, I remember you put babies to sleep on their stomachs because it was considered the safest thing. You didn't want them to get sick during the night and choke on their own spit-up, it was explained. Made sense to me. Since then, massive amounts of science have shown it is dramatically safer to put babies to sleep on their backs. Perhaps baby wisdom doesn't change as often as fashion, but they're surely not far removed from each other.

The good thing is, unlike fashion, baby wisdom can be backed up by science. Tom and I both enjoy taking in lots of perspectives and then weighing them to see which one makes the most sense. I'm sure that trend will continue as we become parents, especially as a myriad of literature is available for us to understand objectively what can be objectively understood about raising a child (and believe me, it's humbling to see how few things really can be considered that way). I'd imagine the majority of our choices will be in harmony with the wisdom of our parents and grandparents. And for the ones that aren't, like the bare belly picture, I know our families love us enough to accept the whole package anyway.