The Spit-Up Chair
I know. Not an appealing title. But that’s what we called it.
The poem in a previous post brought back memories of a chair I sat in for about six years. Okay, I did get up out of the chair now and then, but some days I felt like I never left that chair. It was the chair where I nursed and held and rocked and read to my three babies.
I must have looked like this picture much of the time….. tired. On second thought, I look pretty good in this picture. It looks like I had bathed. And had on makeup.
Our first baby spit up a lot. When I shared my worry with the pediatrician, he suggested we keep her upright for thirty minutes after a feeding. Putting her in the infant seat didn’t help, so I would sit in the chair, holding her upright for an additional thirty minutes after she nursed. Sometimes even that didn’t work. It seemed like I was always changing my clothes and wiping down the chair. It went on for months. We chose to sacrifice one chair in order to protect the rest of our furniture. Hence the name.
Sitting in the chair, I daydreamed. I solved the problems of the world. I made business plans that would allow me to stay at home and earn money. I nodded off. I smelled sweet baby smells. I smelled spit up. I felt baby heart beats. I perfected my burping technique. I sang lullabies. I watched TV – sometimes watching history unfold.
Challenger Space Shuttle - Picture courtesy the NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC)
The most memorable for me was January 28, 1986, when the Challenger Space shuttle broke apart after lift off. All day and all night the footage repeated on the television as I nursed, held, and rocked my two-month-old baby. The coverage was non-stop. Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to venture into space…. her students and family and friends watching proudly and with great excitement and anticipation. It was a sad day to be sitting in the spit-up chair.
Kids and Grandparents and the Spit-up Chair
We kept the chair for several years after spit-up ceased being a daily occurrence. The chair remained important for rocking, reading, soothing booboos and hurt feelings, singing, watching TV, and posing for pictures.
We no longer have the spit-up chair. But we still have the memories.
What memories this post brings back! I was watching television while my 6-month old daughter played on the floor when the news broke about the Challenger disaster. Such a tragic event! Interesting that we can remember where we were and what we were doing when these kinds of terrible events happen.
I think this particular day is so prominent in my memory because my daughter was so young and I was more or less confined to the house and up all hours and sleep deprived. There are a few other events that I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing… 9/11 and the assassination of President Kennedy come to mind.
I remember that day very well also. I was home on maternity leave since Sean was only 6 weeks old. It’s too bad we didn’t know each other back then, especially since we lived so close to each other.
Yes it is too bad! I needed a friend. I worked until the day Angela was born and I didn’t know anybody in the neighborhood. I’d pack her up and push her stroller around the mall to get out of the house. They really are close in age.