When I was pregnant a good friend that I work with came up with a nickname for me: PL. It stood for pregnant-Lisa. So it wasn't the most clever of nicknames but she used it to describe those times when I deviated from my normal personality, which seemed to happen quite often during my pregnancy. I found that I had less patience for people, and tolerated less b.s. when I was pregnant. I was also more opinionated, and more vocal about it. My friend loved it when PL came out, and told me frequently she hoped that PL would stick around after Aliza's birth.
I'm thinking she has....
The other day at lunch I was having a conversation with this same friend. She was asking me about Aliza and how she was doing taking the bottle. I made some offhand comment about how we went with the expensive bottles, and had to switch up to something cheaper and shaped "more like mom". Another colleague overheard and chimed in with "Gross."
This annoyed the crap out of me.
First of all, why is she butting into a conversation that doesn't even involve her.....
Secondly, there is nothing gross at all about nursing, about having a baby who nurses. It is beautiful and amazing and a gift that I am blessed to share with my daughter. There is nothing like it as far as I'm concerned.
Of course, because I'm me, I thought of several clever retorts. About an hour after this interaction. It's a good thing too, because PL was definitely showing her face again in any of the responses I came up with. We'll see if she makes another appearance, but I have to say, I'm not so sure I'll mind it if she does.....
3 comments:
You're going to run into a lot of people like that as you continue nursing. Makes no sense, but what can you do? Just enjoy the experience of nursing and being so close to Aliza. I wanted to add that a terrific way to reconnect with her at the end of the day is to nurse with her. I don't know if you can do it at the daycare (Julia was never interested in nursing there), but it was a such a wonderful way to reconnect with her and relax once we all got home. Good luck with your first full week back at work!
I don't know why people - strangers, acquaintences - feel like this is something they have the right and duty to spout off about. When else can a woman be approached in public and have someone give their two cents' worth about how they're feeding their child! It's outrageous.
You're quicker than I am; it usually takes me at least 24 hours to come up with a pitch-perfect clever retort.
I kind of like PL, too. :-)
PS never went away. She is here to stay I fear. My staff hate her. My friends find her mildly amusing. I am still trying to figure her out.
When you are a mom, you don't have time to get cught up in the B.S. that others seem to care about. that is actually drawing me a way from my old "regular" local friends. Some of that makes me sad, but then I have discovered that being around those I HAVE been around the last couple of months instead makes me happy...so there you have it.
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