This is goodbye! I hope you enjoyed the blog, and if you have more questions, check out the whole book, which covers many more topics: epidurals, home births, weight gain, and hot yoga, among others.
My book stops at the delivery room, but as many people have pointed out to me in emails, the decisions definitely do not. As we part, I just wanted to share with you the first big one I faced not as a pregnant woman but as a new mom. My daughter was born at 7 pounds 12 ounces, and since she arrived first thing in the morning, we got two nights in the hospital. On the second night they took her away for some kind of test and came back to inform me that she had lost 11 percent of her body weight. Since the hospital’s limit was 10 percent, I would have to start giving her formula or—and this is a direct quote—“She might not be able to go home with you.
The data-driven part of me thought, “Wait a minute. Aren’t 11 percent and 10 percent basically the same?” The hormone-crazed postpartum mom part thought, “I will do anything under the sun to take my baby home.” And so I found myself taping together some kind of elaborate tubing system so Penelope would think she was nursing but really be getting formula.
I remember thinking to myself, “I really should research this weight-loss issue.” But then they did let me take her home, and I completely forgot about the issue until months later a friend told me that she experienced the same thing. It seems to be a pretty common situation—another friend was told to save all the diapers her kid produced to weigh them. So what’s the deal?
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