Is It Baby Season?!?!?!

Is it just me, or are you experiencing a ‘baby boom’ in your neck of the woods too?! Everywhere I turn, there is a little bundle wrapped in blue or pink! It’s bittersweet for me because I miscarried months ago, and this would have been my time of joy too. I do get that tug on my heart, but I’m enjoying the view :-)

 

I get excited when I see new life in the neighborhood, and I think of all the legacies that are strengthened when a little one comes along. Two very close friends of mine are expecting, and I had the opportunity to tag along with one on their clinic visit.  I felt so honored! 

The opportunity also helped me realize that I was feeling so much better about what I went through and was healing beautifully. I got to see the little munchkin and I think I was more excited than mummy! To see her strong heartbeat (yes, we think it’s a girl…lol) was amazing! I think it put so much in perspective for me, and I was able to celebrate genuinely with her.

Since it’s baby season here, I figured I should share a few 

of our Old Wives’ Tales with you …Should I insert a disclaimer here?

The Hiccup Cure  - When a baby gets the hiccups (especially when they are really too young for water) we unceremoniously tear a piece of a brown paper bag (between the size of a dime or a quarter) and attach it to the baby’s forehead with saliva or water (whichever is accessible at the time…lol). I have been told that it simply distracts the baby, but I LIVED by it when I helped raise my little cousins - you couldn’t tell me that it didn’t work! But now that I think about it, the hiccups had to go away eventually, right? 

Nose Shaping (Pinching)  - We have this belief that we can alter the shape of a baby’s nose by pinching the bridge area at least once per day…now I think this one really works because I remember my aunt doing this to my baby cousin.  I would not advise it, because you have to be really careful with a baby’s delicate bone structure…but we were so impressed that I walked around daily with a clothespin on my nose to do what my mother failed to…LOL! (What?!?! I was young…and impressionable!) 

Protection from evil spirits – I don’t know when this started in our culture, but there is a belief that when a baby has restless sleep, or awakens from sleep crying (and sometimes screaming) it means that evil spirits are tormenting them.  We pray for them, but we also tie a black cord around their wrist to keep the evil spirit away.  I read somewhere that another culture does the same, but they use a red cord instead. I don’t know the significance of the band, but in more than one instance I have experienced peaceful sleep times when the cord has been affixed to their wrist.

Talking advancement – There were times when I talked so much, that my grandmother (I grew up with my maternal grandparents) would put her hand to her head and lament: “My God, I don’t recall wiping your mouth with a dish cloth!” The whole ‘dish cloth wiping ‘ reference came from a belief that if you used the same towel you washed the dishes with to clean your baby’s mouth, then the baby would talk quicker than their required milestone time (but it is usually done when the baby hasn’t talked by the required time) – the downside to that would be that your baby would not stop talking! What makes this one funny, and near believable for me was the fact that when I visited my mother on holiday she said: “D*mn. I shouldn’t have wiped that spaghetti off your mouth with the dishcloth!” You better believe that was the VERY FIRST THING I told my grandmother when I returned ;-) 

There are so many more tales…too many for one blog entry!  It’s amazing that we survived!!! My life has revolved around myths, homemade cures, bush teas and medicines, and that could probably explain why we are among the best storytellers in the world!

Hands up in thanksgiving, heart full of anticipation,

xoxo  Jenna