Everyday Randomness

I read an article tonight that made me sad and angry on so many levels.  I’m sure many of you have already seen the article about the 7 day old baby that was killed by a pit bull while sleeping next to his 16 year old mother.  As soon as I began reading the article I was angered. 

I’m not going to rant about how I feel about pit bulls.  All I’ll say is that I’m one of those people that believes a dog will be what a dog is raised to be.  If the owner doesn’t take the steps to properly raise a dog, no matter what the breed, it has the potential to harm others.

With that said I also promise not to rant about my feelings on teenage motherhood.  I’ll simply state that I personally don’t feel anyone is ready to be a mother at that age, and it’s a shame that our nation has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the industrialized world.

With all that being said what the hell was this girl (because she’s certainly not a woman) thinking leaving her newborn child in the room with any animal while she was sleeping? On top of that how did she not know that her child was being mauled by the dog if the baby was in bed with her like the story reports.  You’ll note the article states:

Police say a pit bull terrier fatally mauled a 7-day-old Florida baby as the child apparently lay next to his sleeping teenage mother.

That makes me think there’s still some question as to whether or not the child was actually sleeping next to the mother. I just honestly don’t get how the mother, no matter what her age, could sleep through a dog attacking her child right next to her! Heck, I wake up if Elliana so much as moves a toe when she’s in bed with me, but even if I were a heavy sleeper I would definitely wake up if a dog was attacking my child right next to me.

The article also states that the mother answered the door when someone knocked on it and woke her up. You want me to believe she slept through a dog attacking her baby, but she was awakened by something as simple as someone knocking on the door? Then she took the time to answer the door before checking on her child? Seriously, what is this world coming to? What kind of person lets something like this happen to an innocent 7 day old baby?

I feel sorry for this poor innocent baby that lost it’s life due to such negligence, and I seriously hope the mother is charged accordingly. The story doesn’t mention anything other than the dog being carted off to animal services.

I could shake my head and ask what is this world coming to if these are the children of our future, but I’m not so sure this case is totally about the age of the mother.  In my opinion it’s about ignorance and negligence, and that’s something you’ll find at any age.

I’m definitely interested in hearing anymore details about this case that may come forward.  I see too many questions left unanswered, and too many facts that don’t seem to add up.

As a breastfeeding mother it took me quite a bit of time to feel comfortable breastfeeding in public.  I’m still not comfortable just whipping my breasts out in public, so depending on the situation I’ll either carry a bottle, cover myself up, or go out to the car to do so privately.  Those are just my personal choices.

I’ve heard horror stories from other moms about people making a fuss over them breastfeeding in a public place, so before my child was born I made sure I knew my rights.  I’ve never had anyone complain to me or anyone else about me breastfeeding my child in any place until tonight.

We left Hubby’s parent’s house a little late tonight, and Elliana was not happy at all.  As soon as we got on the road she immediately started screaming.  She was tired and fighting sleep, so I hoped she would calm down and fall asleep.  It didn’t happen after 5 minutes, and I wasn’t letting her scream nonstop for the 35 minute trip home (which she would have done if I hadn’t stopped it), so we pulled over at a gas station so I could put her to sleep. 

I crawled in the back seat and tried to console her, but she wasn’t having it.  She wanted boobie, and she wanted it right now, so that’s what she got. Before you ask, yes I fed her at the in-laws house, and no she wasn’t wanting anymore when we were leaving. She wanted to comfort suck more than she wanted to eat.

We had pulled over in a corner of the parking lot away from the other patrons because that’s what makes me feel comfortable.  I started breastfeeding her while Hubby ran inside to buy a drink.  When he returned he opened the passenger side door and stood there partly so we could carry on a conversation and partly so he could block the view from the window on the side facing the store.  In the back seat you can’t see through the side windows because of the privacy tint, but I preferred to have the other window blocked as well for my own comfort level.

Elliana wasn’t wanting to go to sleep, but she wouldn’t go back into her car seat without screaming bloody murder again (I tried several times), so we’d been sitting there for about 20 minutes.when the manager came out of the store and started to walk up to the truck.  He immediately told Hubby we had to leave because we were loitering in his parking lot.  Hubby explained to him that our daughter was having a crying spell, needed consoling, and I was breastfeeding her.  The man tried to tell him that I couldn’t do that in his parking lot.  Now I don’t like to argue with people if I don’t have to, but I’m stubborn, and I wasn’t going to let this man tell me I couldn’t breastfeed my child. 

My reaction was what I felt was appropriate.  I leaned forward enough for the man to hear me, and I told him if he had a problem with me feeding my child in my car I would gladly move inside the building to one of the tables next to the pizza counter. I would even order food since they were still serving which would give me the right to be in the store.  If he had a problem with that I would be more than happy to call the owner of the store to let him know that it’s against the law to deny me the right to breastfeed my child in any location (public or private) where my child and I have the right to be. 

Thankfully the guy changed his tune and told me to “leave as soon as you’re done.”  If he had decided to argue I may have had to leave with a screaming child.  South Carolina’s law on breastfeeding states:

(A) A woman may breastfeed her child in any location where the mother and her child are authorized to be.

(B) Breastfeeding a child in a location where the mother is authorized to be is not considered indecent exposure.

I’m not exactly sure how to comprehend the part about "where the mother is authorized to be". It’s a vague line that could mean if the owner were to ask me to leave I would no longer be authorized to be there. We’re told as breastfeeding mothers that it’s against the law to deny us the right to breastfeed in any place open to the public, but the laws in so many states don’t actually give you that right or are vague about it so that it leaves you wondering if you actually have any rights at all.

Who decides where I’m authorized to be? The government? The owner? The manager on duty?

Sigh. At least I won the battle tonight. My child was comforted, and she didn’t scream the rest of the way home.  She finally settled down and drifted off to a peaceful sleep allowing us to return her to her car seat without anymore tears.

I used to secretly wish that the time change would magically disappear.  Now I really wish we lived somewhere that doesn’t go through it.  It’s got Elliana’s schedule all messed up.

At least I knew this was coming.  Last week when she finally got on the schedule we liked I told Hubby I feared the time change would screw it all up again.  I was fully prepared for her internal clock to stay on her schedule while the world around us jumped forward an hour.  That’s exactly what happened. 

Last night her 10pm bedtime didn’t happen until 11.  She was on schedule, but I was looking at the clock hoping she’d go to sleep.  Her 9:30-10 Monday morning wakeup happened at 11 this morning.  Her naps are all off by an hour, so I assume bedtime tonight will be as well.  It’ll take a few days, but we’ll get her back in bed at a decent time.

I almost had her down for her noon nap on time today, but my Grandparent’s showed up at the door.  They knocked, Bubba barked, and those little eyes popped open.  I quickly rushed them out the door promised I’ll bring her over sometime this afternoon after he nap.  They begged me to bring her over then saying she could take a nap at their house.  I had to repeat quite a few times that my Dad and my cousin Malese are both coming by this afternoon to see her, and we have to be home for that.

I know they love her to death and want to spend as much time with her as possible, but they’ve got to understand I have things I have to do to, and other people want to spend time with her as well.  Naptimes are my time to clean, take a shower, and get my work done, and I can’t do that at their house.  My house looks like an absolute wreck because we spent so much time at their house last week, and Elliana wasn’t in a mood to let me get anything done this weekend.

I just don’t feel right leaving her with them for an extended period of time, and honestly I can’t tell them how I feel, but I just don’t feel like they can handle her sometimes.  I mean my aunt lives with them so she can care for them and do the things they’re not capable of anymore.

Sigh.  I didn’t mean to turn this post into a mini rant, but ya know sometimes that just happens. 

The bad news is Hubby didn’t get to work yet again today.  I’m so ready for Winter to be over!  We’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul as it is, and if this weather doesn’t let up soon I don’t know what we’ll do. 

What makes it suck even more is when it’s nice and sunny now that the rain has stopped, but 40 minutes away they can’t get to the jobsite for all the snow and ice.  When Spring arrives all will be well because we won’t have to worry about Hubby being snowed out all the time. 

At least while Hubby’s at home I can put him to work.  We’re going to finish some of the projects we’ve started around the house but haven’t had time to finish.  Then we’re going to run to town for some groceries, and I need to pick up something to help with the nodular acne Hubby gets on his cheeks. The normal pimple treatments just aren’t working, and we can’t really afford for him to see the dermatologist right now.

We’d planned to go to Lowe’s to look at some hardwood floors they have on sale for .78/sq ft.  We were going to do half the house with our tax money, but now I don’t see that happening.  I’m going to need to use that money to catch the bills back up.  Oh well.  Maybe we can do that sometime in the future.  We just wanted to replace these super old linoleum floors before Elliana is crawling and walking all over them.