I Suck At Being An Overprotective Parent

I can now see why social networks like Facebook are filled with so many parents posting updates to everyone about their child: they have no life. Well... I have no life. Since my daughter (Briana) was born prematurely on St. Patty's Day, my entire life has revolved around her schedule. Her current schedule is basically eat, sleep, poop... repeat... not necessarily in that order.

I suppose after a few repetitive cycles, I too would want to share with the world my child's pooping pattern just to keep me sane and in touch with the world. Luckily, I'm not like most people. I still refuse to post updates on social networks about what my child is doing at every waking moment... because I still think it's rather arrogant of me to assume people want to hear about my child's pooping schedule.

Unfortunately, one of the things that I do have in common with some parents is being overprotective. Yep, it's true. I suck at being an overprotective parent. Today, however, was a major milestone. Today, Karen and I actually took our daughter out of the house... into a car... and drove somewhere. Granted, we simply went to visit Karen's grandparents that live a few miles away in Hanover, but it was a big step for us nonetheless.

Because Briana was born prematurely at 33 weeks, the doctors recommended that we not go to shopping malls or grocery stores or anywhere where there are a lot of people due to the increased chances of Briana contracting germs or viruses. Premature babies have an extremely tougher time should they get ill. In fact, it could possibly be fatal. Hence... the recommendation to essentially avoid the public for a couple of months.

Naturally, based on that recommendation one can only assume that as an overprotective parent... we would never leave our house for a couple of months. After all, the thought of potentially losing a child... not exactly something I want to relive. Our son (Braden) was also born prematurely and passed away after a week. So the recommendation was definitely something that I did not want to take with a grain of salt.

At the same time, it would be crazy to never leave the house because so many friends and relatives want to share in the joy and happiness of seeing Briana. Thus, Karen and I decided to take some baby steps and leave our house for the first time with Briana to visit her grandparents... after of course, the check up visit from the nurse.

We also visited the local public library too. Since no one really uses public libraries, it was safe. Just kidding. I simply just returned some books for Karen's grandmother. Interestingly enough, Karen and I have been living the rock star lifestyle of late when it comes to Briana.

The only reason why I bring that up is because one of my favorite librarians (Vicki) asked about Karen and the baby while I was dropping off the books. We started chatting about how Briana was prematurely born and all of that. I guess in the secret society of librarians, Karen is on the fast track to being the grand wizard. Just kidding. I guess Karen's volunteer work for the library is not going unnoticed. Of course, it could also be the fact that we are at the library a lot too.

At the hospital, Karen and I were seemingly quite popular too. A lot of the staff had remembered us from before when Braden was born at the hospital and spent his time in the neonatal intensive care unit until his unfortunate demise. That was about a year and half ago. To be still remembered as Braden's parents by most of the staff was... well... incredible in my opinion. (Granted, it was probably easy to remember us from before because my last name is not exactly the most common last name on the south shore.) Nevertheless, it was nice and comforting to be recognized by so many of the members of the hospital staff.

Anyway, leaving the house was not the only major milestone for the day. There were actually other milestones too. Today my mother got to hold Briana for the first time. As well, today was also the first time someone other than Karen or I (or a nurse) changed Briana's diaper. That honor goes to Karen's Lowell-loving cousin (Karlene).

Karlene and her husband (Tommy) came down from Lowell (there's a lot to love about Lowell) for the day to see Briana... and also Karen and I. They were both actually gracious enough to make dinner for us, which was great because Karen and I have been trying to get into a routine with Briana. Like I said before, every little bit helps during this period... especially food. Food is good.

Karlene and Tommy made turkey salad with craisins, nuts, and celery. As well, they brought a salad and ice cream. The entire meal was very delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I must have devoured everything and then some because I was just that hungry. (This is where Briana gets her appetite from.)

Anyway, Karlene also helped with changing Briana's diaper. And by helped... I mean she changed it in a record time of 4 minutes. Karen is pretty good at changing diapers too. Me... not so much. (Like most things, Briana is not too cooperative with me. She knows I will not be wrapped around her little finger...) It also turns out that Tommy has never changed a diaper... ever. So perhaps someday I can convince him to change Briana's. Just kidding.

All in all, it was a great day today. Thank you again Karlene and Tommy!