Friday, April 17, 2009

I nursed three babies at once

Something popped out of my mouth yesterday, that I never thought I would say. I guess unbeknown-st to me, the "Aussie-isms" are creeping up on me... and it's kind of weird.

See, to me... "nursing a baby" has always been to breastfeed a baby. It's feeding your baby with your boobs and it's what I did with all of mine. I "nursed" them. I had nursing bras, nursing pads for those inevitable embarrassing leaks, and breast pumps made for "nursing mothers"

So, the first time an Australian mother asked me if I wanted to nurse her baby, I freaked and said "NO WAY I'M DOING THAT ... ARE YOU NUTS?"
Which actually constitutes yelling, not saying... but I'm pretty sure that's what I did anyway - and I still remember the look of shock on that mothers face!
Plus she's never let me live it down, and the kid is 12 now.

To most Aussie's, nursing... well, it means an entirely different thing. It just means to hold and cuddle. Sniff their little necks and stroke their silky cheeks. Revel in their baby-ness.
But the term "nursing" when applied to other peoples babies and not my own, still leaves me feeling kind of squeamish.

Anyhow.. yesterday I had 3 babies at once and these babies were all thoughtful, caring little souls.
If one of them cried, they all joined in in sympathy... and they joined in heartily. So you can just imagine my joy... as well as the blood leaking from my ears, as I tried to deal with 3 screaming, wriggling, little sweaty bodies at the same time.

Nobody really knew why they were crying, but they thought it was sort of fun to do, it showed solidarity to their playmates and it was guaranteed to make Tatie frantic.

So at one point, I had 3 wigglers in my lap ... there were bottles in the mouths of two of them and a pacifier in the mouth of the third... and I was singing to them.
(and of course because my hands and arms were occupied, my nose started itching like crazy. why does it always do that?)
But at least they were all calming down ( still screaming, but at least my ears had stopped leaking blood), and 3 sets of little eyes were finally going droopy.

Then the Old Guy, in his infinite wisdom, strolls in, sees me battling 3 screaming babies at once... and calmly informed me that the 6 year old was pulling the toilet paper off the roll and stuffing it in the toilet. And when I said my hands were kinda full at the moment and could he please deal with it, do you know what he said?
He said:
"But what if he doesn't want to listen to me? Maybe you should go do it."

ME???
Don't you see that I kind of have my hands full here?
You think I should just drop these little ones on the floor, start them into doing their best air-raid siren imitations again, start my ears bleeding again... and go tell a 6 year old to simply stop doing what he's doing?

Can't you see I'm NURSING babies here????

And that's when it hit me. I was "nursing". Not my own child, skin to skin, boob in the mouth kind of thing... but I was nursing other peoples babies... and I was fully clothed while doing it.

Next thing ya know, I'm going to start saying "wat-ah" for water, or ask for a tinnie at the end of the day.

14 comments:

Sherri said...

According to Josh you already say wat-ah...hahaha

Anonymous said...

You had me laughing out of my chair here.
You know how us Southerners are??
We have a lot of our own sayings around here too.
But the Old Guy sure sounds like my Old Guy around here! Just like him, when it comes to something the "younguns" are doing.
Have a great weekend.
Pam

Tatersmama said...

Sherri, I do NOT say wat-ah! NO NO NO! Pay no attention to the boy!
~~~
Pam, I'm glad you can laugh... is that a Southern thing, laughing at other's misfortunes? ;-) LOL!
You have a great weekend too!

Kathy said...

That was funny. I think you are amazing. 3 babies all crying at once and you tending to them all. Wow!!

Neabear said...

My goodness. Wears me out reading all this. How do you have the energy? Am I getting old before my time that just reading this makes me tired? I hope you did survive the week.

rubiesrnotpurple said...

You obviously have a big heart Katietatie ... and bloody looonnnggg arms.

Laura said...

Hee, hee, hee... That 'will you nurse my baby part' made me LOL!

Becky said...

I would have thought the woman was bonkers too! Gotta love the Old Guy, he probably thought he was helping! Libby called me from the airport in New Orleans, her flight was delayed for 3 hours the last I heard. She is gonna be tired whenever she arrives in Orlando!

Tatersmama said...

Kathy, It's illegal to stuff them in the closet, so i had little choice. It was either that or go crazy!
~~~~
Neabear, Honey I'm running on fumes... believe me! But I did survive. Barely.
~~~~
Rubies, it has nothing to do with long arms. I just have a big lap!
See hun, I'm not fat... I'm just comfy and built for work! *SNORT*
~~~~
Farmergalsmarket, Can you imagine? I thought she wanted me to breastfeed her kid! *shudders*
We ended up becoming best friends, so it all worked out in the end. ;-)
~~~~
Becky, Helping? Are you on his side or mine? ;-)
I'm tryin' to do the mental math and figure out Libby's arrival time... but no matter, she's gonna be worn to a frazzle!
Tell her I said Muuaaaaaahhhh!
(and one for you too!)

Michaela Dunn Leeper said...

If you'd quit telling these stories in such a way, we'd stop laughing at your misfortunes ;)

PS- to do the line through stuff you put < s > before your words to cross out & < /s > after those words (no spaces). HTH!!

rubiesrnotpurple said...

Just as a curiosity - I once cared for a child who was wet-nursed. I knew what mum meant but when I said it to a colleague they couldn't figure it out.

I didn't realize wet-nursing still happened - the child was born in 2001!

Queenie said...

When my youngest was about six months old, I was visiting my cousin in Connecticut and she took a quick trip to the store. That is precisely the moment her little one, about two months old, decided to wake up starving. It never occurred to me NOT to nurse her baby and so I did.

That child had Down Syndrome and holes in her heart and she later died. I will hold that little memory of feeding her close in my heart forever.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what you meant when you said you nursed three babies at once. I would have thought the woman was out of her mind, too!

The W.O.W. factor! said...

...and you didn't HIT the Old Guy as soon as you quit "nursing" those three on your way to rescue your toilet from a 6 yr old??


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