Saturday, May 2, 2009

Breastfeeding in Public and a "Yard Sail"

So N, BBZ and I went to the Microfest today at a gorgeous local park. One of our friend's and his son went too. This is where many small local brewers come together for a big festival where you pay an entry fee and get to taste all the yummy beers. I am a pretty cheap date right now, and also a great DD, but they wanted to charge $10 for the DDs to have unlimited brewed soda! What the heck?! Luckily I brought my water bottle. So anyway, I have been breastfeeding BBZ since the day he was born, and while I have 7 months under my belt, I still get nervous when I am out and about. Well today I decided I am just going to do it. He needs to eat, I need to feed him, it is a natural part of parenting, and my right to do it anywhere I want. There were A LOT of families there with babies and strollers and I was so happy to see it! I wandered over to where some benches are and saw a lady bottle feeding a tiny baby. I changed BBZ's diaper and we started talking about cloth diapers. Her little girl was 5 weeks old and so cute! I finished changing his diaper and knew it was time to feed him, and I suddenly got really nervous! I usually use a nursing cover, but I don't want to have to use it anymore. BBZ has become good at nursing and pretty much covers up everything, so there is no reason to hide. The lady's husband had wandered over and we were talking about the neighborhoods we live in and other stuff. I then thought maybe BBZ could just wait (I was trying to talk myself out of feeding him I think) and when I went to put him back in his stroller he started yelling at me. He knew it was time for him to eat, I knew it was time for him to eat. So I got him back out and fed him on the bench. My awkwardness must have been screaming out of my pores because the couple stopped talking with me and a few minutes later awkwardly walked off and the woman waved bye to me. I don't think they were bothered, I really think they could just tell how uncomfortable I was. So after they walked away I sat there, in the middle of this beautiful park, on this concrete bench sitting with my legs folded, breastfeeding my beautiful baby. A sudden feeling of peace swept over me. I rocked him and watched those around me walk by and barely even notice I was there, let alone what I was doing. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and there we were, soaking it all in doing something human women have been doing since the beginning of time. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I think breastfeeding in public will be different for us from now on. Someone told me when BBZ was first born that by the time I become comfortable nursing in public people will be telling me the baby is too old to be nursing. I took from her comment that no matter what, some people will probably pass judgements, but who cares? I have to mention that I was gone for quite a while when this was going on, and while I was becoming more comfortable feeding in public, N, his friend and his friend's son were walking around the festival together. They walked up to me when we finally found each other and N was pushing the friend's stroller while he was holding his son. N asked me if I thought they looked gay. And they certainly did! My husby is a cutie, and his friend is definitely a pretty boy and they totally passed as lovers! Funny stuff. On our way home from this park, we were driving down a not-so-good part of one of America's Top 10 Streets in America (according to the American Planning Association) and saw one of the funniest signs I have ever seen. There was an abandoned child care center that N and I were jokingly saying we would send BBZ to instead of his that was attached to a church whose name is flaking off of the side of the building that was having a BBQ. They had a pretty large sign made out of a cardboard box that said something about the BBQ, and in the middle said... "Yard Sail in rear" I asked N if he thought they were joking when they made the sign and he said no. He also said that the funny part isn't so much the way it was spelled (although I thought it was) but that the parking lot was full of people and no one corrected the sign! I still hold that they did it on purpose. Either way, it got some serious laughs out of us. Kind of like the faux pa by The Washington Natinals. More funny stuff!