Post # 1 - Clever Title, eh?

Yesterday Tommy was 6 days old. Mommy "caught" (see definitions below) her first pee!

After the catch, Mommy thought it would be good to keep a journal of the "EC" (see definitions below) process with Tommy, since she can remember so little of the way it went with the last two kiddos. Then she thought, "why not do it on-line so that others can learn and be encouraged?"

There are probably other moms doing an EC blog, so what makes Tommy's Mommy (referred to hereinafter as "TM") uniquely qualified to share? Nothing really. But this will be the third ECing baby for TM. Since most American families have only 1.8 children (or something like that) and since very few families choose to use EC, that means there are very, very few moms with as much experience in EC as TM.

Tommy has a big sister who is now over 3 years old and is pretty much completely independent with toileting herself. She needs help wiping every now and then. Tommy has a big brother who is not yet 2, and he is NOT toilet independent, but he doesn't wear diapers and he goes through most days staying pretty dry and clean.

For the uninitiated, Mommy will give a brief explanation of UC, then some vocabulary. After that, the posts will consist of our progress, little vignents of how EC is working for Tommy and Mommy. I hope to include what is sadly missing from TM's former EC experiences, cute photos!

Elimination Communication is a term we use to describe how a person, primarily a mother, learns to communicate with her baby about his elimination (pee and poop), to recognize when he has to go and to train him to go on cue. One of the results is that the baby doesn't spend the first two or three years of his life sitting in his own filth. Even more importanly, he is not taught that his clothing is the appropriate place for elimination for two years, then abruptly forced to change all that he has learned when one day, suddenly, his clothing becomes the absolutely wrongest place for elimination. There is a consistency from birth that says "there are appropriate places to eliminate and, whenever possible, your clothing is NOT one of those places"

Definitions:

EC - Elimination Communication. Also called Elimination Timing, Infant Potty Training, Diaper Free and Trickle Treat. As a verb: "We are ECing"

TM - Tommy's Mommy, blog author

Catch - this is the term used when TM recognizes that Tommy has to eliminate and she is able to hold him over a receptacle where the waste lands. Usually a bowl or the bathroom sink at first, then later, the toilet. Also used for "catching" are potty chairs, grass, cloth diapers, the gutter, etc. As a noun "I had 3 catches today"

Miss - opposite of a "catch" When TM does not notice a signal from Tommy that he has to eliminate, or when she is not available or when she does not take Tommy to the potty in a timely manner. This results in a noun, namely, "We had a miss just then."

Potty - This is a verb meaning to hold the baby over a receptacle for the purpose of catching elimination products. "Time to potty the baby."

Our progress so far for week one has been slower than Mommy had planned. Due to a post partum hemorrhage, TM is feeling pretty weak and is unable to hold Tommy for any length of time over a receptacle. You can read the birth story from Tommy's big sister's perspective over here.

So TM has been observing Tommy as she holds him, trying to recognize his signals for when he is about to pee or poop, as well as announcing to Tommy when he has just eliminated. TM states, rather matter-of-factly, "You pooped" or "You pee-peed."

What Mommy has seen so far is that just prior to pooping (which Tommy does nearly every time he nurses) he squirms, kicking his legs and grunting. This is usually accompanied by the skin on his eyelids and eyebrows getting red. Before urinating he usually cries and squirms as if he was in pain. He tends to pee after nursing and often sortly after having a diaper removed.

His umbilical cord is just hanging by a thread now and seems to cause some discomfort when touched, which would explain the crying at every diaper change. TM predicts the cord will be gone by morning, which will make everything easier as we can start using the cloth diapers and diaper belt.

TM caught one pee-pee yesterday in the big red mixing bowl. Today she caught another pee in the same bowl. After spending 30 minutes moving the bowl around on the bed to keep the toddlers from spilling it, TM managed to tip the bowl and dump the urine right between her own legs, soaking her undies and the bed spread. (TM is on bed rest while her body works to make new blood cells to replace the ones she lost through the hemorrhage. Therefore, the toddlers spend a lot of time up on the bed with Mommy, helping her and keeping her company).