30 years ago – October 1989

I’m starting a new monthly post: “30 Years Ago.” It will feature some high points gleaned from my notes and pictures of that time. As I prepared this first post, I realized how vividly some of the memories are…how the notes and pictures provide a level of exactness to when things occurred but not as much detail that my memory holds.

I was just settling into motherhood 30 years ago…still very aware of the learning curve. I marveled that just when I thought breast feeding was becoming easier, my daughter would have a growth spurt and be voraciously hungry – again. It happened at least twice during the month.

My metabolism was still somehow high, and the early part of the month felt hot most of the time. Later in the month it was cooler, and the baby enjoyed a wakeful outing to the back yard with the leaves falling all around. A little while later she slept, and I raked some leaves.

She started making facial expressions during REM sleep before she made them during awake times: smiling and laughing. Being around her enough to notice those developments is something I cherish.

I used the stroller a few times for a short walk around the neighborhood before I had enough confidence to take her Brookside Gardens.

I learned to warm the crib with a heating pad before gently lowering the baby I’d rocked to sleep. She cuddled into the warm place and didn’t startle awake! The heating pad was an old one my husband had for a very long time. It warmed just the right size space…could be easily removed with one hand before I lowered the baby into the crib. We still have that heating pad and it still works…it’s probably over 50 years old.

I read books while I nursed the baby…. sometimes I read them aloud when the baby fidgeted. Hearing my voice often calmed her and she would settle down to her milk meal.

The biggest disaster during the month was when I decided to bathe the baby in the bright sunlight shining in the sliding glass door. With the weather getting cooler, she been chilled during previous baths. The baby bath was very portable, and the sunlight made the area the warmest in the house. The bath proceeded well…but disaster struck when I put her on the towel beside the bath. As I wrapped the towel around her – cat hair – everywhere. I realized that our vacuum cleaner was not adequate for our carpeting. I managed to recover the situation with several towels I had not put on the floor to be ‘ready’ for a wet baby...and I didn’t do her bath there again.

By the end of the month I was still 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I wasn’t dieting except to make sure I was getting enough calcium to support breast feeding.

At the end of the month the fall leaves were swirling and beautiful. I was glad the outside temperatures were getting cooler.