Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

They got me good

Somehow, sometime, somebody entrusted with precious personal information sold my name and address to who knows who, and yesterday, surprise–surprise… we started receiving baby/child product catalogs for the first time ever in this household’s history. Oh, yes! They found us…

A little outraged by the thought of either my doctor (doubtful), the hospital (maybe), or our health insurance company (most probably) selling our info to marketers —who else could?… I did not dignify to look at the two catalogs yesterday. But this morning, while enjoying breakfast, I started aimlessly browsing.

Oh…They got me good!

sleep positioner
wash pod
nursing pillow
baby pouch

Notice how my preference for these products is probably a little influenced by the cuteness of the baby model: The bigger the cheeks, the more I want the product… Starting by that wash pod, OHHH!

This reminded me, once more, that I have not done any shopping for the baby yet. And the stress of that fact, coupled with the knowledge that I only have about seven more weekends to get all the necessities of newborn–at–home life (I want to be ready by week 37, and I still have about two more weekends to finish painting the nursery) is probably the reason why every time I dream about the baby, in the dream, the baby already speaks English and Spanish and knows everything, and looks at me like I’m an idiot, and I feel completely inadequate to be this genius’ mom. I feel unprepared.

I feel so not ready… probably not only because I still don’t have clothes and diapers and toys and books and bottles and a bassinet and the diaper genie and all other necessary crap for my baby, but maybe, just maybe, because my life is about to change dramatically, and although I’m sure I’ll adore my baby from the minute I see him come out of his cave, I will suddenly receive this “appendix” that will have to go with me wherever I go, and I will be completely responsible for him, what he eats, what he learns, what he does, how safe he is, who he becomes… and my friends: That is a lot of pressure for somebody who’s never done this, and up until a few months ago wasn’t even sure she was suited for it.

. . . . .

All photos from the Right Start Fall 2007 catalog. Copyright and property of their respective owners.

4 comments:

  1. On , Petie wrote:

    I had to go back and look at the picture of the bath pod after your email. All these pictures are adorable and they make you feel like you need it all. I have to confess, I sold y’all out – I gave ’em your address. (kidding!) :)

    Yeah, good luck deciding what you want… Luckily, y’all have a huge house, but I felt like we needed a bigger one after both my girlies because you get such an influx of baby “stuff.”

  2. On , Marla wrote:

    two words:

    “baby shower”

    okay 2 more

    “online registry”

    :)

  3. On , Maria wrote:

    Well… As you may suspect, due to my anti-social personality, I have no friends where I live. So, baby shower is not an option.

    Now, one of my friends has been scolding me, telling me to register, so she can organize a cyber-baby-shower. But I just feel funny about that… Asking for gifts… Plus I know that the people who may actually send a gift (Colombian family) will not buy it from a registry. They sent me what they wanted for my wedding ignoring our registry. Don’t see why it would be different with the baby…

  4. On , Marla wrote:

    I’ll add to the scolding, then. Register for your American friends/family. As much as you love to plan, you’ll love it because it creates this great list that has check marks and everything when the items are purchased. We always LOOK at the registry even if we don’t always buy from it!:)