Category Archives: Not Green

All my bags are packed

I first heard about the new flight service between St. Louis and my hometown at my sister’s baby shower last December, when I was just barely pregnant.  My first  thought was, “Ugh, what a carbon-intensive way to make what is a pretty easy 4-hour car trip.”  Not to be a judgmental enviro-snob or anything 😉

I was quite certain that I would never avail myself of the service, super cheap flights ($30 each way — thank you government subsidies) or no.  Fast forward several months, and we were contemplating a trip to visit my family with Grumpleskiltskin Gabriel in tow.

Now, Little G is not particularly fond of the car, which in general is fine with me — I’m not particularly fond of the car, either.  (Even if he loved it and fell asleep instantly,  I would refuse to use it as a sleep aid.  Babies certainly require green compromises, but I have to draw the line somewhere.)  Anyway, the prospect of 4 hours in the car with a screaming baby, plus the additional trip time for stopping to feed him, change his diaper, etc., lacked appeal, but we did want to visit, so the Wednesday before Labor Day found us at the airport.

Eight seater

The trip went very smoothly, i.e., I did not vomit, and it also ended up being a pretty good way to travel with the little one.  He slept almost the whole way there, and on the return flight he was pretty chill once I provided his in-flight beverage.

The dude in flight

Had Matthew not really wanted the experience of flying on this little plane, I might have spoken up against it more.  I also realized as we drove to the airport that, given our sleep-deprived state these days, flying was probably MUCH safer than either of us being behind the wheel for four hours.  Benefits aside, though I won’t say that we for sure won’t make the trip by plane again, I definitely don’t intend to make a habit of it, given the environmental cost of air travel.  If we can’t make the trip by car, we may just stick close to home for awhile.

Radio silence

We’re still alive here, despite Gabriel’s best efforts.  Turns out that taking care of a baby is HARD work.  We naively thought that our weeks of maternity/paternity leave together would be a lovely little vacation, some nice family bonding time for the three of us.  Ha!

Now we know what all those cryptic, “Your life will never be the same,” comments were about.  We reacted with annoyance and denial at the time, but perhaps it was unwarranted.

On the green front, we switched over to cloth diapers about four days after we got home, which was when the disposables from the hospital ran out.  I’m very glad I took all the disposable diapers that were in our hospital room, despite the nagging green voice in my head saying, “Oh, just leave them for the next person, you have all those cloth diapers at home.”   Anyway, more about the diapers in another post.

The continuing heat wave means A/C 24/7 (not green), and I’m so thankful we have it, not gonna lie.  We’re keeping it set right around 80° F, which means our little guy is pretty happy just in a diaper, or a diaper with a light swaddle for sleeping.  I’m a bit scared to see our electric bill, since we normally benefit from cranking the thermostat up to 90° F or so when we’re at work during the day.

Matthew’s been getting in some garden time, and we continue to eat extraordinarily well (though sometimes finding the TIME to eat is tricky).  I’ll try to post more regularly, but that’s definitely not taking precedence right now.  They say it gets easier . . . .

Bicycle dreams

So, during the whole “your baby has some deadly infection,” NICU debacle, we were facing the possibility of Gabriel having a 14-21 day stay in the NICU (if he did indeed have an infection) for continuing IV antibiotic treatment.

As I was lying in my hospital bed, drifting in and out of sleep, thinking about running back and forth from home to the hospital to feed my baby, it crossed my mind that perhaps I could make some of the trips by bicycle (the hospital we chose is within 4-5 miles of our apartment).  Sure, it’s been really hot, but it would be nice to cut down on the car time, and I was really looking forward to being back on the bicycle.

I continued processing the idea, and a few moments later, reality cut through the sleep-deprivation and Percocet-induced haze, and I thought to myself, “Self, you just had major abdominal surgery three days ago, I don’t really think you’ll be riding your bicycle anytime soon.”

The sad truth is that it will be at least a few more weeks before I am reunited with Bub or Baby Jake.  Right now, doing the stairs a few times a day and very slow, very short walks are about the extent of my physical activity.  Well, that and lifting my 10+ pounder 🙂

Meanwhile, the search for a trailer continues, and I certainly hope to be back on my bicycle sooner rather than later.

Ungreening Green Drinks

It had been a few months since we made it to a St. Louis Green Drinks event, so last night’s gathering was a priority.  They had a great panel of speakers on the topic of Urban Farming — apparently quite popular, because it was standing room only.

The usual meeting location, Schlafly Bottleworks, is easily bikeable for us, but last night our trusty steeds did not grace the bike racks.  Although I’ve been feeling pretty good for the past week, I have had a few relapses into not so good, and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s as much my body giving signals that I’ve been overdoing things as it is related to what I’m eating.  So I’m trying to be good and take it easy, at least until Friday.

Despite having some justification for riding in a car to get there, I felt a bit guilty all night, especially given the nature of the event (but hey, at least the topic wasn’t green transportation).

Not all was lost, as I had some great discussions after the panel, including the chance to bring up Cycling Savvy.  Speaking of, if you live in the St. Louis area, don’t miss the July series of Cycling Savvy courses.  I won’t be teaching, but depending on baby’s arrival, Matthew will be teaching both of the on-bike course segments (“Train Your Bike” and “Tour of St. Louis”).

Aw, hail!

So, we turned the A/C on yesterday.  It’s only May — ugh!  As usual, we’re keeping our thermostat set pretty conservatively (around 80° F), but still!  May.

In other confessions/not-green news, we walked at the Botanical Garden this morning, but we drove there 😦  I felt pretty tired and blah, and a little light-headed, not really up to the biking, so I conceded to using the car.  It was that or not going, and I am glad we went, if disgusted at the use of a car for an easy 2 mile or less trip.

Finally, a huge chunk of ice to help you think cool thoughts during the hot weather: this baby, which fell at our apartment during the storms last Wednesday, was almost 4 inches in diameter:

Matthew saved a few of these in our freezer, and I’ll be using them for practice contractions this week.  (For our childbirth prep homework, we do practice contractions, squeezing ice in our hands to simulate pain.)