Thursday, May 20, 2010

Freedom Has a Scent...

...Like the top of a newborn baby's head...

I've always loved this lyric by U2, and its been especially appropriate in our house lately, as you can imagine.  What I never imagined is that our little boy would hang on to his rotting belly button/umbilical cord for 5 weeks and 2 days after his birth!  Like Bono, at first I delighted in my newborn baby's smell.  However, as the umbilical cord stump hung around, so did an unwelcome smell.  It was so bad I began to understand think about when people on TV or the movies (think Law & Order) get sick when they find the rotting body in the old warehouse.  OK, a little dramatic as James' stench was only coming from a 1/2 inch in diameter belly button, but it did concern me (and gross me out). I took Jamesie to the pediatrician last week because I thought it might have been infected, but no, he said its just fine and has a few more weeks on it!  Yikes!  I was starting to get a little disdainful when Bono would croon his newborn love song over our iPod.  One of the redeeming qualities of a new baby after a long night of crying is supposed to be his lovely smell.  Right???  Why did my baby stink!?  Then, at James's last diaper change last night-- blissful relief took over the Groeber home.  FINALLY he parted with that stink machine. 

And today I'm listening to U2 again and delighting in my newborn's smell.  Yea :). 

2 comments:

Angelica Fahy said...

That's so funny... baby John's fell off pretty quickly thanks to some herb thing that our midwife gave us, but then he got a little granuloma that just healed about two days ago. Sheesh.

B-Mama said...

lol Erin! You are a hoot! Did you try drying it up with any rubbing alcohol swabs?? A nurse with T told us to give it a try and it really helps. Remember that for the next kid go 'round! :)