for all the morons, myself included

by photochick~ We had a busy, busy (did I say BUSY?) Memorial weekend working on the baby's room. Saturday was the day in the process where it gets worse before it gets better. It seriously looked like a bomb went off around here. By Monday afternoon things started to come together. The extra bed was picked up, decorations were hung, clothes were folded and put up.

I sat in the rocker this afternoon all by myself and looked around at the only half complete room and still felt complete serenity. There's just something about a baby's newly created room with everything organized and in order that makes the world slow down for a few minutes.

Yesterday I spent some time brainstorming for the "little things" that I may have forgotten. Like a second tube of petroleum jelly for the diaper bag. Paint for a few projects. A couple more gowns since Punkin was apparently rough on his. The list goes on.

Somewhere in this process I remembered that I need to get a clock to go beside the rocker where I will likely spend lots of hours nursing this new baby. If you're a die-hard nursing fan, keep your stones. It's not that I want to time exactly how long the baby is allowed to nurse, but rather keeping up with what time I nursed last and how long he actually did nurse on each side, etc. You know, for when you inevitably have to call the pediatrician in those first few days because you're pretty sure you're starving the kid to death despite the fact that you are walking around looking like a watermelon field.

In that moment, the doctor forgets that you are sleep deprived and have generally lost all sense of time. They somehow think you should remember exactly on what hours and for how long the baby nursed in the past 24-48 hours. Ummm, yeah. That's not happening without some serious effort. With Punkin I spent more than my fair share of time counting up on my fingers (yes, I said on my fingers) hours from feeding to feeding. My mom kept laughing at me, but I really felt like I was incapable of counting to 3 without the assistance of my digits.

All that to say, I was poking around on the computer and thought I'd google to see if there is a "nursing clock" or some such thing that has a timer on it so you don't have to remember to write down the starting and ending time. No such luck.

Then I found THIS CLOCK at Ace Hardware that does have a timer. I figured it would work fine for what I needed, but forgot to stop today and pick one up.

Fast forward to tonight, I'm sitting here poking around the computer with a cash gift from my grandmother burning a hole in my pocket. I check out Target one more time and as if by providence come across this little magical jewel:

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

It has several timers for keeping up with feedings, how long the baby has been awake/asleep, how long since the last medication was given and even a left and right breast indicator so you don't forget which side you nursed on last.

The reviews are mixed citing some issues with the display, but overall most people seem to like it.

One particular negative review is titled "Only a Moron Would Need It" and goes on to say, "If you are nursing a baby and you can't figure out which side you need to use next, then you have no right nursing. What a load of crap."

Well, I happen to fall into that moron category of Summa Cum Laude college graduates (twice, actually) who when sleep deprived can't remember if I ate or peed, much less which side I might have fed a baby on three hours earlier. Apparently I manged by writing it down last time since I nursed for nine months, but I'm a technology lover so this little device might just be perfect for me. That and I like to prove people wrong. I'm just hard headed like that.

So for all of my fellow morons out there, I think I'm going to have to try this one for myself. (I just wish it had a tiny hard drive that kept a record of all those times . . . maybe there's an iphone app for that too?)

Comments

[singerchick]

I'm LOL right now! Count me in on the list of morons. That little piece of technology looks way cool and I would have loved to have it. I never could remember and resorted to the old fashioned solution of a safety pin on the side you nursed last. But even then I would forget to move the safety pin in my sleep deprived hormonal state. Thanks for the laugh this morning and bringing back bitter sweet memories. :-)

[socialchick]

This is very neat and I hope that it works for you but reading this makes a lot of dreadful feelings come back!

[babychick]

I remember counting on my fingers and feeling sooo stupid. This looks very helpful.

[Malyn]

LOL. I too fall into the moron category. =)It was sooo hard for me to keep track of which side was last. I did try to put a hair tie on the wrist of the side I last did, but like Singer I would forget to move that too in my sleep deprived state. I might have to check this fancy gadget out. Thanks for sharing! =)

[plannerchick]

I remember counting back and forth between my breasts to figure out which one I was on. For some reason a particular feeding would stick in my head, and sometimes it had been 2 days earlier, so I would count back up to the current one, lol. The itzbeen looks very handy!

[Jessica W.]

Um...I wouldn't know how handy this tool is so I've come up with a few other uses:
1. to let the your hubby keep track of when the last time he watch sports center
2. to keep track of the latest time you've check seven chicks to see if a new blog has been posted
3. to keep track of the latest time to see if someone has posted a comment on your blog

um...yeah. That's all I have right now. It is a pretty cool looking clock though.

[Pines Lake Redhead]

I had to use the safety pin method too. But then I would freak out because I couldn't remember if I moved the saftey pin at the last feeding.

Trust me, the second baby is easier. I was able to figure it out simply by feel (or weight).

You'll do just fine.

[uncommonblonde]

I got this as a shower gift and thought about returning it but after reading this I'm going to definitely keep it!