Okay, the title of this blog is paying homage to all the potty talk going on here...haha. Also, I was impressed that Daniel offered to send Dan pictures of weeds- that's a pretty big deal. Congrats Dan!! So I'm sitting here, eating cereal, watching my 3 little ones sleeping- the cat and the baby on one side of the bed, the dog on the other. I love them all so much. And of course, Jarem too. Isn't life great?
So this morning I had a hard time at church. Huh. I love this ward, but I was pretty shocked when some people (old men, I bet) complained about my breastfeeding. See, our ward house is so small, there are no extra rooms, and only two bathrooms, one on each side of the building. One bathroom has an old, creaky rocking chair- filthy too. When I try to nurse in there, Ari has a hard time. He pops off when people pound on the door (needing to go pee probably!), when the rocking chair creaks, when he gets too cold- and it's freezing in there. Gee, look at all the p words in that last sentence. pops, people, pound, pee, probably. Anyway, the biggest problem with the bathroom is there is no piped in sound, so what's the point of going to church if I'm going to be sitting in a bathroom staring at the wall for 3 out of 4 hours? Might as well sit at home for all the spiritual stuff I'll get in the church bano. So I stay in class and sacrament meeting and nurse Ari. No blanket, he won't do that- he throws a fit. And of course, even though I've nursed him all over town- the only people who have a problem with it are at church. Ah, why would I be surprised though? Mormons. I mean, the tiny triangle of skin visible is surely WAY offensive. After the relief society president was sent to talk to me, I cried. Jarem was so sweet, he just hugged me and told me they were being stupid and that he supported me. I called Elizabeth tonight, and after talking to her I feel a lot better too. She offered to stage a breastfeeding sit-in with me. Come on up! That'd be awesome. She is smart about it, and confident. Her sons also don't like blankets over them. Maybe it's an Ogden thing. Or a smart kid thing. :) Would we like to be suffocated while we ate?! Jarem's number one point- this is the way God designed it, and why should we make a big fuss over it? He also said, "sinners are welcome, but not breastfeeding mothers?" Well, I'm glad Elizabeth and Jarem are kind and supportive. It helps. I asked Jarem if I was having a Thomas Marsh moment. He said no, only if we don't go back to church because of it. And that WOULD be a tragedy. So I will continue in my relationship with Christ, and let others go inactive if they are offended by a baby eating. How silly is that?! Honestly, the relief society president agrees with us too. She thought it was strange they objected about breastfeeding. I wish there were more women in charge in the church- this wouldn't happen. Do members purposefully try to push people away? Also, I wish other women breastfed their babies, so that I wouldn't have to pave the way all by myself. None of the women who recently had kids breastfeed exclusively. Most of them do only formula, one other lady does half and half. I'm the only mom whose kid depends entirely on me for his food. Ah, why am I complaining? Wasn't I itching for a fight just the other day in my email? Yeah, I'm going to call the ACLU, and get some lawsuits going, and request another group of 500 mothers to breastfeed in our church! Woohoo!
Monday, April 30, 2007
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Count me in! Just don't forget to ask the ACLU if they can pay for my plane ticket up and back. :) Mom, maybe you could arrange to bring in some of those have-no-shame Guatemalan ladies!
ReplyDeletehaha! no shame Guatemalan ladies? sounds like great fun.
ReplyDeletePump your milk before church and take it in a bottle. As I said before there are young men and older struggling with pornography. Breastfeeding is a trigger for them. They should be able to come to church and be safe. It isn't a tiny piece of skin. You have to expose the whole breast until the baby latches on. Until our culture changes from the breast being a sex symbol to it being a bottle, its exposure arouses the hormones. If you are serious about this stop watching any movies in which the breast is used as a sex symbol. In the meantime, cover up. I did with all four of you and somehow survived church. I took each of you out and sat on a toilet lid in the bathroom to nurse. There was no dirty rocking chair in the bathroom; it wouldn't have fit. Don't hold the whole ward hostage to your beliefs. If it offends people or makes it harder for them to worship, then be compassionate and take Ari out to eat. When in Rome do as the Romans do. It is not part of our LDS culture to nurse openly in public. It's only for a few months. Love Mom
ReplyDeleteI just thought about your idea to get 500 women to come to church breast feeding. Wow! What a missionary tool breast feeding could be. I can't think of any other way you could get 500 family focused non-members to church. Tell them to bring their whole families to demonstrate their support. I'll call the Mission President and have him send a couple zones worth of missionaries to our ward that day!
ReplyDeletehahaha!! that's funny too...we have a funny family here.
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