Bebe

Nothing.

Tuesday I tried reflexology to make the baby come.

Nothing.

Yesterday I tried pineapple core and spicy Indian food.

Nothing.

Ok, the food wasn't that spicy and I heard that doesn't work anyway.

Today I am going to go downstairs and walk on the treadmill for an hour. I might even go hog wild and up the speed past 3.0 miles and hour.  I ate the rest of the pineapple just now as well.

I did end up getting the Bringing Up Bebe book about the American woman living in Paris who writes about French parenting habits. It's actually really interesting and a pretty good book to read as I am getting ready to embark on this journey called motherhood.

The author talks about how French babies "do their nights" (sleep through the night) usually by three months because French parents do "the pause" and wait 5 or 10 minutes before getting them at night. She talks about how this is based on the idea that all people wake up in between sleep cycles but it doesn't necessarily mean they need something. If they learn to connect their sleep cycles and go back to sleep, then they will quickly be able to do their nights at a younger age. I don't really know how that works in relation to breast feeding and keeping up a good supply of milk because she also says French women don't breast feed, but every mother has to figure out what's best for herself and her child. You can really only take parenting books for what they are....it's not gospel.

She also said that French women are very careful about what they eat during pregnancy and typically get their figures back by three months at which time they go back to work because being a stay at home mom isn't common in their culture. This has a lot to do with the government subsidized creche (daycare) that parents have access to. The cost is on a sliding scale depending on family income.

Also, French parents feed their kids four times a day. 8:00, noon, 4:00 and 8:00. Kids don't snack. They eat meals that contain multiple courses including vegetables, different cheeses and desserts consisting of fruit or fruit puree. Therefore, the author observed that French children develop a greater patience, especially when it comes to mealtimes, and therefore can handle themselves better in restaurants because they are not used to instant gratification. She talks a lot about kids' behavior in terms of French kids not having meltdowns and behaving better in public. She attributes this also to the fact that in France parents make sure to continue fulfilling their own needs which means that kids often have to wait for their parents to tend to them rather than always getting what they what right away.

I think I can finish the book today and overall it's been a pretty good read. Like I said before, it's not like this is gospel about parenting, but having lived in Europe it is really interesting to learn about how parenting and child rearing differs culturally. It's really awesome that the only things on my agenda today are to read and get some exercise.

Oh, and to have a baby! Stay tuned....