Becoming Crunchy

Who Pooped on My Head?

I occasionally get overwhelmed with everything it is necessary to research and consider and question and decide upon when it comes to becoming crunchy…today in particular I was reading this post by Kitchen Stewardship over at Simple Organic about 10 Childbirth Norms Parents Can Refuse, and while I’m truly grateful for the information, it can start to make my head spin sometimes (there are dyes in our prenatal vitamins? awesome. :p ).

She also discusses refusing the newborn eye ointment, which I SO wanted to do, but I was told that it is the law here, that if I refused the hospital could actually report me to child services if they so chose, even if I signed a consent form.

It became one of those things that it seemed easier just to give in about…particularly as I find it more difficult than I would wish to contradict a doctor (some of them really have a neat way of making you feel incredibly stupid).

So I decided, enough of the difficult (admittedly very necessary) decision making and research this morning.

I want to talk about poop!

I know that if you are a mother, poop is probably very interesting to you.

I know this because I rarely have a discussion with a fellow parent that doesn’t at some point involve poop. I occasionally talk about poop in front of non parents and it quietly amuses me to see how uncomfortable it makes them. I once met a mom at a baby yoga class and within 5 minutes I was discussing poop with this total stranger.

A lot of people who are repulsed by the idea of cloth diapers seem to mainly have issue with the poop (though any cloth diapering mama can tell you you’re probably gonna have to deal with that no matter what kind of diapers you use!)

And I know for me, one of the reasons poop is so interesting is that it is an important key to what’s going on with baby. I’ve used this visual guide from Babycenter more than once in my 7+ months of being a parent!

But guess what?

Poop is funny!

Hey, I promised more from Ina May Gaskin and here it is – she thinks poop is hilarious!

So there she was, going on with her discussion, talking about serious matters like doctors getting pregnant women into hospitals through fear and the maternal death rate in the US, and then this picture of a little mole with poop on his head flashes up on the screen!

What?

This is the cover of book (I believe her’s was Dutch) that is basically called, Who Pooped on my Head? (though its English translations are more genteel – The Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit, or, The Little Mole Who Knew it was None of His Business).

She went on to explain the story of the little mole whose head had, sadly, been pooped on – and he wanted to know who’s poop it was! She showed pictures from a few pages – a rabbit who’s little pellets obviously weren’t the right culprit and so forth.

Guys, I was dying! It was so, so funny (and I totally want this book lol!)

Ina May then went on to inform us that she likes to carry a little plastic poop in her suitcase…just as a funny surprise for any TSA people who might be going through her luggage. She said, “I have to get my little joys somewhere!”

Have I mentioned before that this woman is awesome??

She’s right on though…imagine how much fear in giving birth could be alleviated if you could laugh at the idea that you might end up pooing on the table instead of being traumatized by it.

Hey, Everyone Poops, right? And poop is really funny, especially to children.

As parents, we actually have an important role in making poop a normal function (rather than something to be disgusted by) for our children. Ina May also told a story of coming across a baby who looked very gray and unhealthy, and she noticed that any time the baby pooped he looked incredibly uncomfortable and unhappy.

She then observed the mother’s look of disgust every time she changed a diaper.

It is really important to train ourselves to be happy about poop! Yes, it is stinky and can be unpleasant, but as this lovely Jewish Prayer states:

Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who formed the human body with skill, creating the body’s many pathways and openings. It is well known before Your throne of glory that if one of them be wrongly opened or closed, it would be impossible to endure and stand before You. Blessed are You, Adonai, who heals all flesh, working wondrously.

(Source: Blog Am)

So let’s all take a moment to give thanks for poop today. It gives moms endless topics for conversation. It lets us know that our babies are healthy. It’s very, very funny. It’s something to be grateful for.

Do you have a favorite poop story?

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