On the subject of poo...

Yes, that's right, I'm going to blog about poo. And any mom out there will know that in the world of having a new baby, poo is very important. It's something you never dreamed you would be so interested in. What brought on this post about bodily functions? Well, as I was feeding Eli his first dose of prunes this morning (he thought they were fabulous) I started thinking about how poo-obsessed we moms can be. Examples:
-It starts early, in the hospital I am continually getting called into rooms to examine diapers and answer questions like, Is it supposed to be that black? and in one case, Can you look at my baby's scrotum (she didn't use that word), there is something weird on it (she thought it was a growth or something). Turns out it was just dried poo.
-The obsession continues when you bring your new baby home- my niece Eva didn't poop for a large number of days when Cammie brought her home, we thought, something must be wrong! But the nurse assured us that breastfed babies can go quite sometime. Still, we were all relieved when she finally started back up again!
-In the early months it wasn't uncommon for my sister or I to be changing a diaper (either or own kid's butts or the other's) and call the other over to check out the damage. Gross? Maybe, but for some reason we didn't even question that the other might want to see it.
-My sister has a video on her phone of Eva's 'poop face'. This is the look she contorts her face into when she is going poop, there are sounds as well and on vacation we got endless enjoyment out of watching Eva as she pooped. We are, needless to say, easily entertained!
-At six months, the babies have been diving into new foods and that brings new poo as well. Talk about exciting! It can be green, orange or in Eli's case, hard. Which brings me to why we had prunes this morning...

Perhaps the reason we are so obsessed is because we subconsciously know that poo is a great way to gauge health and well-being and if something were wrong in our little people's bodies poo would be a place to start looking for clues. Or maybe it's just a fascinating realization that something so rank can come out of something so cute. Who knows why we are so obsessed, but I for one don't think there is anything wrong about it, so don't hesitate to call me over to check out one of yours diapers, I'll be there in an instant to appreciate to mass, color, consistency! It's just a mom thing!

PS- My sister and I have two adoring mothers-in-law who both have a funny way of dealing with baby poop that I have to share. My sweet mother-in-law always refers to Eli's business as stool, such as "I think he has to stool" or "He had a small stool while you were gone" and Cammie's mother-in-law refers to it as "Doing good work" which I find hilarious and use on a daily basis now. In fact, Eli is doing good work in his exersaucer right now, one of his best places to have a stool. :)