When a baby's gotta eat, a baby's gotta eat!

So today my boob's made their debut on the local evening news. Well, sort of.

In response to some ignorant idiot flight attendant kicking a nursing mom off of a Delta flight last week in Vermont, women across the country sat down at Delta ticket counters from coast to coast and whipped out their boobs in solidarity. And I was there. Yeah, sister!

I wasn't going to go. I wanted to. But I was torn--10 am is right smack in the middle of Ethan's nap time. Generally I'd chew off my own arm rather than keep Ethan from napping because when he misses a nap, he is a bear. A bonafide cranky infant bear. It's not pretty. So I was going to say a lot of "gee, I wish I could go, but...."'s and call it a day.

But by 10:15, it became apparent that napping was not on the agenda, in spite of the eye-rubbies and the whining (oh, how mommy loves the whining!) So I bundled him up and headed off to Reagan National Airport.

There were about 25 women there and a ton of babies and toddlers, as well as the press. Ethan made a big show of spitting up on me, which was lovely, but he also managed to get a few minutes of nursing in here and there as well. It was basically just a big old love fest with a bunch of moms and their kids. It was great!

Of course, with the way the Delta ticket counter is set up, we weren't right in front of them; we were at a bank of seats off to the side and we didn't see one representative from Delta at all. Cowards. But we did see the press. Every local DC news outlet was there, filming, shooting stills and interviewing moms.

And lo and behold, as I watched the 6pm news, there I was---all unflattering and shit, but nursing my little boy and apparently carrying on a very animated conversation with the woman next to me at the same time. I could tell by watching it (again and again--we have DVR) that they caught a moment during which Ethan wasn't really eating--he was just sort of hanging out (he may have actually been talking to my boob at the time; when he's not eating, he often mistakes my breast for a microphone or his best friend and he has quite the conversation.)

When they say the camera adds 10 pounds--yikes! I felt like that line from Friends when Monica says of fat-self in a home movie, "The camera adds 10 pounds!" and Chandler responds with, "How many cameras were on you?!" Yeah, I think I had about 5-6 cameras on me to add all that weight. It wasn't pretty.

But it was important. And I'm glad I went. I'm glad I was able to show my support for a baby's right to eat, even if the container from which their food comes makes some people, who should be smarter and better than that, uncomfortable. Imagine telling a mother that she can't feed or comfort her hungry and scared child because of a boob. By the way, the entire time I was there and in the entire new segment--I didn't see one nipple. Not one. Well, I did see my own. But it didn't offend me. :-)