F is for Friends. F is for Family. F is for Food. F is for Functioning Again. The first three Fs lead to the fourth one.
New babies bring an outpouring of love from others. People bring food, clothes, laundry detergent, and toys. People mail gifts. People show up and cook. My father cleaned out the litterbox. Love expressed as help and gifts from friends and family gave us time to bond with our son, get used to the lack of sleep, and enjoy the new life. They helped get us what we needed and didn't know we needed--extra changing pads, lasagna, sheets--and allowed us to get going again.
I could not have gotten through the emotional and physical changes of bringing my son into this world without the help of my friends and family. And their food, as I keep telling my son, if I don't eat, neither does he. Thank you, everyone.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Pregnancy: A is for Anticipation
A is for Anticipation ... not just the mother's anticipation, but everyone's anticipation. It seems like everyone is curious about the new baby, from the father, the grandparents, the future aunts/uncles, friends, coworkers, people in the street, store clerks, and the doctors and nurses.
Family is easy to understand. There's a new member, it will be young, in time, it will be cute. They will enjoy watching it grow and can't wait to start planning things for he/she. My cousin had a girl in January. Even before she was born my aunt was talking about taking our two kids to Disney World and wondering what my child would be so she would know how many rooms to get. Alas, I am having a boy so that means more rooms.
Coworkers I also understand their anticipation, it's more about them, their job, their workload. They have questions like "Will she take maternity leave? How long? How will that affect my workload? Will she come back? She looks bad. Could she be having contractions?"
As for random people on the street, I think some people just had so much joy with their own kids that they are excited for other people.
For me, in my pregnancy, the biggest moment I could not wait for was to find out the gender. At Christmas, my mother and grandmother stared at me and told me I was not sick enough for it to be a girl. They missed seeing me get sick three times on the way home. Still, I was unsure. Until we knew the gender, I could not make any decisions about names or furniture (my husband wisely stood back).
Now that he's almost here, we're playing the waiting game. When will my water break? What time of day? Will it be an easy labor? Will there be problems? Will he be early or late?
Ah, the never-ending anticipation!
Family is easy to understand. There's a new member, it will be young, in time, it will be cute. They will enjoy watching it grow and can't wait to start planning things for he/she. My cousin had a girl in January. Even before she was born my aunt was talking about taking our two kids to Disney World and wondering what my child would be so she would know how many rooms to get. Alas, I am having a boy so that means more rooms.
Coworkers I also understand their anticipation, it's more about them, their job, their workload. They have questions like "Will she take maternity leave? How long? How will that affect my workload? Will she come back? She looks bad. Could she be having contractions?"
As for random people on the street, I think some people just had so much joy with their own kids that they are excited for other people.
For me, in my pregnancy, the biggest moment I could not wait for was to find out the gender. At Christmas, my mother and grandmother stared at me and told me I was not sick enough for it to be a girl. They missed seeing me get sick three times on the way home. Still, I was unsure. Until we knew the gender, I could not make any decisions about names or furniture (my husband wisely stood back).
Now that he's almost here, we're playing the waiting game. When will my water break? What time of day? Will it be an easy labor? Will there be problems? Will he be early or late?
Ah, the never-ending anticipation!
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