The trials of that ‘bundle of joy’

My daughter Louise and husband Nick welcomed their second child into the world on March 4. A boy, he’s named Bruce, after Nick’s late father.
On the outside he looked perfect, 10 toes and fingers, nose properly positioned, etc. The birthing process, however, was tough on the tyke and he developed a lung infection. After a week of antibiotics things cleared up and the family was released.
That’s reason No. 1 to have a baby in a hospital and not “Out in the Wild,” which is a reality TV show about scatter-brained women choosing to have their babies out in the sticks. Literally.
No dummy, Louise took advantage of the hospital’s services and its cadre of professionals. When I told her in my mother’s day a week’s stay after birth was the norm, she could easily see why. Nurses brought heat compresses when her milk came in. Hot meals were delivered to her bedside. She could rest while Bruce was attended to in the nursery. Ah, the good ole days.
Then reality hit.
“I’m so tired I hurt,” she cried into the phone Thursday.
Seems at only eight days old little Bruce dictates the pace while the others try to keep up, including Olive who at 3½ changed overnight from being a little girl to a big sister.

NEW YORK City’s sanitation crews are blaming baby wipes for clogging up the city’s sewer system. Turns out they are indestructible, and unlike regular tissues do not dissolve yet they can’t be laundered as with cloth.
If officials think U.S. consumers are going to forego this luxury, they should pick an easier battle, like asking us to do without cell phones or cars. Diaper wipes are as critical a defense weapon for young parents as any armaments, medicines or methods of diplomacy for a country.
I’m of no real help. Sure, a few meals and a swipe at the floors are nice, but can’t touch what they need most — the fortitude of a good night’s sleep. For that they’ll just have to wait until little Brucie gets his days and nights switched around and can get a belly full of milk to last him.
Looking back on my own experience as a young mother I find it amazing how we are designed with a sieve-like memory that lets the aches and pains of childbirth and new parenthood fade fast into the background while the miracle of birth is always within reach. It was just yesterday Louise was in my arms.