girl in greenwood

I spent the whole day yesterday with my friend J* and her new son who we will just call Fish for the purpose of this blog. That's not his name or even anything close to his name, so there, potential Internet stalkers! She asked me to come over because her partner had to go into work one day this week, and I was available yesterday before the final exam in my class, but then busy for the next 6 workdays with clinicals. I wasn't sure why J* wanted me there, but when I asked her that after I arrived, she said it was just for reassurance, in case Fish screamed his head off or she needed a nap or whatever.

I had halfway expected to go over there and spend the day with them and come home thinking, "MUST HAVE BABY NOW!" but that's not really how it went. I was actually surprised by my mixed reaction - most of the day I thought "Aw, how sweet, I want to cuddle him, I could totally have one of these for myself...." but I also had this strange realization while J* was nursing him for the third time after I arrived, that Fish is barely anything other than a parasite at this point in his life and being the parent of a tiny infant is completely unrewarding, in the sense that they need your attention and care and boobs 24 hours a day, but you really don't get anything back from them at this point. They're not very interactive at all. Also, Fish peed on J* during a diaper change for the first time while I watched. :)

I hope I don't sound too negative, though, because I *really* enjoyed being there. I love that J* was completely open with me about how she was feeling and what birth was like, and let me watch her breast feed without any modesty whatsoever. It was a very good woman-bonding time! And I held Fish and let him sleep on my chest for an hour, which was the sweetest thinng ever. Being an auntie is like the best of both worlds!