I wonder what FB will make of this....

This morning I woke up before Mira again (WHY OH WHY?) and was using the time to catch up on some of my blog reading. I read this one about Facebook removing breastfeeding artwork, labeling it "obscene". A quote from the article:

“the treatment of my breastfeeding subject matter by facebook is indicative of the very high expectations that society holds for mothers. Mothers are expected to breastfeed, every health organization tells us it’s the best choice, yet images of women breastfeeding are treated with hostility and distain. Women are treated badly when breastfeeding in public. The result is an impossible ideal of motherhood that no mother could possibly meet.”

I've known for some time about FB's appalling policy on breastfeeding photos, and I've honestly considered several times boycotting FB because of it. I was very lucky that breastfeeding came naturally and easily for Mira and me, but so very many women are not so fortunate. For those ladies, breastfeeding is a physical, mental, and emotional struggle full of frustration, self-doubt, and heartache. For many, it's a fight that can not be won. For many more, it's a fight that could be endured with the right support. Part of getting the right support for these women is helping them to feel welcome to feed their babies in public. There is a pervasive and destructive attitude held by some that breastfeeding is something that need be done privately. Perhaps people feel this way because they see breastfeeding as gross or somehow sexual in nature. Whatever their reasoning, the idea is ill-founded and detrimental. But it is an idea that FB is propagating by declaring breastfeeding photos and, now, artworks to be obscene material.

So anyway, the blog post I mentioned earlier got me thinking... The article was about artworks featuring breastfeeding mothers in a fashion similar to the Renaissance portrayals of Mary feeding the baby Jesus. So now I'm wondering if FB would declare images of those historical paintings to be obscene. To test this theory, I've posted a set of images on my FB account:

"The Virgin Mary Nursing her Child" by Hans Memling:

"The Madonna and Child" by Leonardo da Vinci:

"La Madonna del Cuscino Verde" by Andrea Solario:

I guess we'll see what FB decides to make of these. It seems to me like it would be hypocritical of them to have banned the artwork shown in the blog post above but not ban these images. But if FB does ban these images, they might be backing themselves into a corner that they don't want to be in. If there are quite a few of us who are upset that Jane Doe from Iowa can't post her breastfeeding photos, then I imagine that many many more people would be upset about these particular images of the Virgin Mary being labeled "obscene".

I think this particular avenue might just be more personally rewarding than boycotting. ;-) I'll keep you posted on any response taken by FB.

Mira's first dentist visit... necessitated by circumstance

Last night, Mira had an accident in the bathtub and chipped her two front teeth. I didn't see it happen, since Brian was the one bathing her, but my understanding of what happened is this: Brian and Mira were playing some Super Fun Bathtub Game and Mira got so excited that she just had to ram her face into the side of the tub. Seriously. She didn't slip, didn't fall, she wasn't even standing up. So when people ask what happened, I can't even really say "she fell in the tub". Instead I think I'll say "she had a momentary lapse in judgement".

Anyway, back to last night. Brian got her out of the tub and held her while she cried and I immediately got on the phone with a minor emergency clinic to see if they could help me decide whether she needed immediate care. (It was after office hours, so I couldn't reach her pediatrician.) The person I talked to at the clinic said that they wouldn't be able to do anything for her because she was so young and they didn't have the means to anesthetize someone under the age of two. So they recommended I call Dell Children's Hospital, which I did, and holy cow, let me just take a moment to say that the nurse I talked to there was In. Creh. Di. Bul. She took my info quickly and then went straight to trying to diagnose the severity of the injury. Her questions were direct and clear and very much in the interest of determining the best course of action for Mira. If any of the moms reading this ever has an after hours problem, I highly recommend calling Dell Children's Hospital.

For anyone who might want this information, when your child chips a tooth, here's what you should check for: Bleeding is an indication of trauma to the lips or gums. A red dot in the middle of the broken area of the tooth indicates that the break went all the way through the enamel, down to the pulp, which would cause shooting pain. If the tooth is loose or misaligned in the gum, then it could fall out if not taken care of right away. Also, if more than half the tooth is broken off, the piece that came off should be kept, as it may be able to be reattached. In any of those cases, care should be sought immediately.

But Mira had none of those conditions and she seemed to calm down and stop crying pretty quickly, so with the help of the nurse at Dell Children's Hospital, we were able to determine that she didn't need immediate care and that the best course of action would probably be to get her in to a pediatric dentist the following morning. The portion of the teeth that broke off was not that big, but a checkup by a dentist would make sure that everything was ok.

So this morning we were able to find a pediatric dentist who could get her in on short notice. I explained to Mira that we were going to see a doctor who would look at her teeth. She at least understood the "teeth" part because right after I said that she pointed to her mouth. The doctor was very nice and smiled a lot. Mira did well through checking in, through the dental assistant and the doctor both coming in and taking a glance at her teeth, through sitting in my lap in the dentist chair, through raising the chair up and reclining, through the dentist opening her mouth with his fingers and feeling around. She did great through all of that. But the minute he picked up that little mirror and put that into her mouth... well that was where she drew the line. She let us know that that was enough looking at her teeth now, thank you very much. Luckily, the doctor had seen all he needed to see.

He told us exactly what I was hoping to hear, that the only damage was cosmetic. No intervention is necessary at this point. The sharp edges created by the break should dull with normal wear, but if they're still really sharp in a few weeks, then we could bring her back in to get them ground down a little bit if we want to. The only thing we need to watch for is discoloration to the teeth. If either of the teeth gets discolored over the next two months, then we need to bring her back in for reevaluation.

So a very good prognosis for my little snaggle-tooth. But it is kinda sad that her little smile will never be the same.

Little piece of FB genius

I had an interaction on Facebook that I found highly amusing. Enjoy.

Mommy friend's status (paraphrased): So glad we have a playdate this morning.

Friend's comment (paraphrased): Baby gets to go crazy while mommy sits down for a while... sounds good to me!

My comment: Except it never works out like that. Mommy is always chasing baby around: "Don't take so-and-so's toy", "Let's play over here instead of climbing the bookshelf", etc. And then one mommy says "I smell something" and then every mom has to check every little diaper. And then, invariably, one baby gets hungry, and you better believe that as soon as snackies become visible, every baby in the vicinity is STARVING because they've NEVER been fed. EVER. And then it's "Let's eat our own snack instead of grabbing so-and-so's" or "It's good to share, but not sippy cups." Really, by the end of the playdate, you just hope to have said two coherent sentences to someone who heard you and then maybe if you're lucky all the excitement will have earned you a good nap from baby.