Wednesday, October 01, 2008

OH BABY!

I met my two dear friends for dinner the other night to celebrate my birthday. It was a lovely time. Nice restaurant and good conversation.

My friend Lala just had a baby 7 weeks ago.....this was her first outing with the baby. Lala also has a three year old and is just recently learning that all the things she had control of before, are no longer. As I watched Lala, I realized the stress that a new baby can bring. Babies certainly bring joy and peaceful feelings, but they can also bring about so many complications that you can forget about.

Observing Lala's baby reminded me a lot of Izzy when he was small. Izzy was never a content baby. He cried and was colicky. He wanted to be held constantly and nursed every two hours around the clock until he was 11 months old. Lala's baby was very sweet but wanted constant walking, holding and nursing.

I found this picture of me at the hospital with Izzy. He was in the NICU for 12 days. I see a woman that is so tired and trying to hold it together because really, she had no choice but to go forward. She had four other children at home, a baby in the hospital and she hadn't slept in god knows how long. The look on my face tells everything. My heart went out to Lala. Her face looked similar. Having a difficult baby is, well....difficult and not getting the rest that you need to be able to care for two young children makes it all the more stressful.

Mother's of the young....take time out for yourself. Let the baby cry in another room while you take a nice hot shower. Hire someone or ask a friend or relative to watch your child for an hour or two while you grocery shop (or take a nap!). These small things can make a big difference in how you feel about yourself and your baby.



2 comments:

john said...

I'll watch the kids (or any kids, for that matter) whenever you want a free night. You just have to get them all the way to the east coast... (hmm?)

;)

Thanks for sharing that story and those sentiments.

Jennboree said...

What a sweet, though exhausted, Momma face you have.

Babies suck the life right out of you, especially when coupled with a sibling or 4. I don't think I found time for myself until Ava was one. Now that she's two and Bella's 4, I'm finding ME again.

Moms sacrifice so much that it often pushes us to the brink of no return to sanity. Then that tiny, screaming, human piglet will do something incredibly amazing...like sleep peacefully in our arms. That's heaven and worth all the other crap!