Posts
When your baby has a poop blowout, and you go into the bathroom at the coffee shop and find that there is no changing table, and it is beyond freezing outside so changing him in the car is out of the question, what do you do?
Do you...
(a) Let him sit in his poopy diaper for the next couple of hours until you go home?
(b) March out and change him on top of one of the tables in the coffee shop?
(c) Cry?
(d) Sit on the toilet, balancing your baby on your lap, holding him with one hand, while trying to wrestle the messy dirty diaper with the other hand, wiping him, butt-pasting him and getting a diaper on him, all while trying to make sure he doesn't slide off your lap onto his head?
Please share. Advice is welcome.
*****************
Today was our first day flying solo without Josh or my mom, and I'm happy to report that we survived. I had hoped to shower, eat, straighten up the living room and run a load of laundry, all in addition to taking care of Gabe. I managed to shower once I discovered that Gabe sits in awed silence while the bathroom fan and shower water runs. I even managed to eat one-handed over his head while he ate, but straightening up the house or doing laundry flew out the window. Gabriel decided to stay awake for most of the day, so we read a book together and changed lots of diapers and he ate a lot, but didn't get anything else done.
I still consider it a success, and I guess we'll get better at everything else with time.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
twitter
Starring: one halloweenlover/attorney/mom, one husband/consultant/dad, two crazy toddlers And all the nonsense in the middle.
cast of characters
- halloweenlover
- Mom to Gabriel (born in December 2006), Josephine/Josie (born in December 2008) and Sebastian (born in May 2012), attorney (but staying at home for now), wife to a consultant (Josh), and lover of Halloween, living in a suburb of Boston and enjoying the nutty world of blogging.
talking about
birthday madness
(5)
bloggy business
(11)
bootylicious
(2)
buddha belly
(31)
catching burps
(1)
chubba-hubba
(13)
first week
(1)
gabrielicious
(127)
growing pains
(64)
hablando espanol
(1)
halloween and pumpkins and candy oh my
(9)
happiness
(32)
hubris is a terrible thing
(7)
Josie Josie Josephine
(51)
lawyer life
(1)
learning stuff
(3)
letters to embarrass him when he is 16
(6)
marriage
(2)
mom tricks
(13)
moving on up (or at least out)
(10)
no naps
(1)
products
(9)
puppilicious
(10)
real estate is a bitch
(7)
ridiculosity
(34)
the glamourous side of motherhood
(69)
to work or not to work
(5)
travel
(25)
yum yum yum
(6)
27 comments:
I'll take D. I have done that sooooo many times.
I would count that as a very successful day! You even got a shower!
Isn't it all the best thing ever?
Yeah, I'd take D too. But what a pain.
You did well getting the shower and eating, the rest comes with time.
I'd try variation E, which only works if you have a changing pad that his entire body fits on: lay down changing pad on bathroom floor, put baby on pad, squat down and change diaper as usual. When you return home, bleach the changing pad to within an inch of its life. Not fun whichever option you choose, though.
And the others are right -- you're doing great!
Note: this message is from a real person. Not spam!
Like mc, I choose option E. Very important to carry a changing pad in your diaper bag, because even if there is one of those Koala things... ew. Who knows what's been done on those changing tables. Carry a changing pad, and that way you can use the floor if needed.
It's been ages since I was in that (crouching on floor, wipe in hand) position, but back in the day I was very fond of my $10 California Baby changing pad, the one with the pockets for wipe box and extra diaper. Claimed to be anti-microbial, but in any case was cleaner than the average restroom changing table.
That is absolutely the longest piece of spam I have ever seen in my life.
I have no advice. He's sure cute though.
Um, I was in EXACTLY this same situation with Lady when she was roughly Gabe's age. I put her changing pad on the floor of the bathroom and just changed her there, and threw the changing pad in the wash the minute I got home. It is what it is, and she seems to have survived.
And let me ask you- even if you could have straightened up the house, why not just pretend you could't have, and then guilt Josh into doing it tomorrow? ;)
I've changed my kids on the floor, using a changing pad or coat jacket or whatever was handy, in about a million places. I am too much of a klutz to try anything like my lap -- or maybe my kids were too squirmy. At least a baby cannot fall when he's on the floor: he's safe. And soon he'll be crawling around on the floor putting anything and everything in his mouth anyway.
uh, I'd take the crying option. But then I became a parent a few days after you. Good for you for even thinking of the other options! I guess the floor wins. I'm going to get a lot of those blue and white sheets they use at the obstetrician's at my 6 week check for precisely this occasion.
i think i'd do D or E.
congratulations on getting a shower in!! that's a huge accomplishment! :)
seriously though, don't try to do too much too fast. it will all come with time. :)
It would depend for me on how crowded the coffee shop was. I might lay the baby across a chair and partially on my lap. And I definitely would say something to the management.
I couldn't have put the baby on the bathroom floor.
I have spread my coat out on the floor of bathrooms and laid a baby on it for a change, and then thrown the coat in the wash at home.
Any day that you get a shower when you have a newborn is a successful day!
They make some disposable diaper pads that we always take when we travel. They're water-proof on the side that contacts whatever questionable surface, and then you can toss it. Not eco-friendly, but good in a pinch.
Our first real outing with Neighbor Girl was to a nearby mall, and she had a poopy explosion just as we returned to the car. We decided to change her on the seat, but forgot to take into account the fact that the seat has a slight angle to it. When the poop starting running off her diaper and toward the seatbelts, we knew we had miscalculated!
Good luck! It gets easier quickly!
:)
Neighbor Lady
I definitely would use a disposable changing pad or one that comes with the diaper bag that you can wipe down later with an antibacterial wipe and change him on the floor. I've done it with both of my kids in the past.
Sounds like you are doing great! I love the pictures you've posted.
This is why I try to have my changing pad with me, but in a pinch I have plopped on the floor with a blanket, coat, or anything that will prevent me from putting the baby on the dirty floor.
I have done D but just sitting on the floor is so much easier; especially once they get bigger.
This is why I try to have my changing pad with me, but in a pinch I have plopped on the floor with a blanket, coat, or anything that will prevent me from putting the baby on the dirty floor.
I have done D but just sitting on the floor is so much easier; especially once they get bigger.
I believe my answer would have been first "C" then figure something out, even if it means washing things at home later. No fun either way. Lord love that baby for enjoying the bathroom fan!
I would have done D, and then I would have asked to speak to a manager and ripped him/her a new one about not having change tables in their bathrooms.
Well, I probably would have just started crying and left. But it's nice to pretend.
I would choose E while fantasizing about choosing F which involves ripping the mgr a new one, whipping out a changing pad and changing the baby on a table, telling the whole world why I'm doing so.
I vote for E, too. Always carry a large changing pad, and when a situation like this on arises, just change him on the bathroom floor.
Those blowouts always come at the most unexpected and inconvenient times. This is the reason I got an SUV when we had kids. I'd always have a blanket, a supply of diaper changing items and an extra outfit (or two) in the back area. The back was big enough so that I could sit while my kids would lay comfortably on the blanket while I really cleaned them up.
Too long ago to recall. But never B. Eeew.
And that boy needs to start helping around the house. Or he'll be like my 13-year-old boy. Yesterday "he ate a lot, but didn't get anything else done."
HL, I've been a terrible blogger of late but wanted to come by and say how much I have enjoyed catching up here and basking in all of the adorable pictures.
I choose E or possibly the F option.
I would also agree that you had a very successful day. Sounds like you're a natural mom (and it helps that you've got an amazing baby!)
Deluking again :). Sad to say but I have done A, B, C, & D. The worst is when you find yourself on a crowded airplane with no changing table and not a seat to spare and you have to balance your baby on top of the little toilet seat!
Showered with a month old baby in your world? Brava!
Baby on the ground. Plain and simple :)
I've changed babies on my lap, on a chair, on a restaurant pew, and on a changing pad on the floor. In the part of Mexico we visited last year, there were no changing tables anywhere in restaurants, etc. so I did a lot of lap/chair changes.
Post a Comment