The perfect storm

Miss Dub is weaning me.

Despite my intentions to nurse her until her first birthday, she is now using crying, head-shaking and biting to let me know that 9 months will have to do.

So it was with that fullness of … um … heart that I spent Monday night trying to sleep. Adding to my fitful sleep was the fact that I ran out of a certain medication on the same day and had to switch brands since the kind for nursing mothers was no longer adequate. Oh, and due to my procrastination, I had to take two pills in one day, which resulted in some serious nausea. Like, serious.

To deal with the weaning pain, I had placed some cold cabbage leaves over my … um … heart. The smell of cabbage, however, didn’t bode well with the nausea.

And then a storm of epic proportions hit our town around 3 a.m. It looked like a scene from a Neil Diamond concert with all the flashing lights.

I would like to take a moment to remind you that there are two types of people in this world: those who love Neil Diamond and those who don’t. I love him. Those who don’t are living empty lives.

The lightning was striking fast, furious and very close to our home. The thunder was shaking our house like an earthquake. The rain was bucketing down. I went into Miss Dub’s room and found her jumping up and down in her crib, pointing gleefully to the bright window. All three of us went into the other room and watched the storm behind closed blinds because it was too bright to open them.

About an hour later, the storm had quieted down. I sent Mr. Dub to bed. I sang a song to Miss Dub and gave her “softs” – our name for gentle touches. Then I headed to bed. But the smell of cabbage, the dizzying nausea and heaviness of my … um … heart prevented me from sleeping.

So I headed to the other room to consume massive amounts of Triscuits and attempt to calm my queasiness with various bodily contortions. Alas, it didn’t work. Soon morning came, the storm finally passed and Miss Dub woke for her morning glass of water.

Because she won’t drink formula.

She won’t drink whole milk.

She doesn’t really like juice.

She just wants water.

And my heart is really heavy because I don’t know what to do – is she OK at nine months to subsist on water and other dairy products like cheese and yogurt? Or does she need some form of milk?

Then again, my … um … heart is heavy for other reasons. And I’d really like to know how long this heaviness will last.

Although I will say the cabbage came in handy when making shrimp tacos last night.

I promise they were fresh leaves.