Overdid It
Well, Pesach is great, and cleaning is therapeutic, but apparently pregnant women shouldn't lift furniture, even to vacuum up chametz. ;)
I've managed to pull/tweak/wig out something in my hip/pelvis and now it hurts to walk, so I'm planning to stretch, take some baths, and start a yoga class next week. My midwife assures me this is all normal and not to worry.
On the good side, the baby seems to be enjoying matzah granola as much as I do - about half an hour after I eat it, he wakes up and starts swimming around, which is really fun. And yes, it is a "he" - we know for sure after last week's ultrasound. How weird; he really seems more like a person, now.
Of course this means having to plan a bris. Since I'm such an info-holic this means lots and lots of research into different techniques, complication rates, ceremonies, practitioners, etc. One of the most fascinating things I found was an article in the British Medical Journal, No 6993, Volume 310, 1995. Basically, they found that sugar water (sucrose) seems to be an effective pain-prevention or pain-reducing substance in infants. Compared to babies given plain water, those given sugar water cried less and heartbeats returned to normal sooner when doing a painful foot-pricking jaundice test. This makes sense to me, given how sweet breastmilk is, and how it seems to comfort babies. I guess the mohels know what they're doing with the Manishevitz!
posted by Tzipporah at 6:32 PM
2 Comments:
Don't forget the pidyon haben-- redeeming of the first born... it's in the readings for pesach this week. I went to a bris here in Bend last month-- forty people from the community came out to bring the youngster into the comunity, it was awesome. Can we be present with your family and uplift ya'll openly? We can lay him on a tallis on the torah and energize him! So, so holy.
Blessings to you Tzipporah, refuah shlemah.
Pidyon ha-ben is VERY confusing in our case: hubby is a Kohen. But he married me, a convert. So, technically, he can't DO any kohen things anymore - but probably couldn't have anyway for being left-handed, walking in cemeteries, etc.
So, what is baby boy? Levite? non-functional Kohen? And what does that mean for pidyon ha-ben, especially in a community that has so strongly rejected many traditional rules (ie., kohen gets first aliyah, egal men and women, etc.)?
And, yes, it will be a BIG event - you are definitely invited, once we figure out what's happening.
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