Friday, May 1, 2009
It's All Temporary - Words a New Mom Should Live By
By Tracy S, Charlotte Smarty Pants
It’s a Tuesday morning just before Ryanne’s one month birthday and I am sitting in the pediatrician’s office for an apparent rash that is covering her body. As I am waiting for the doctor to come in, Ryanne decides to break into one of her screaming fits – 20 minutes long where NOTHING will console her. This comes at the time where I think all new moms hit their wall … almost a month of sleep deprivation, non-stop feeding and barely a minute to yourself. And for three weeks now, it seemed that if Ryanne wasn’t sleeping, she was crying. Not just a whimper kind of cry either – it was the screamin’ mad, red-in-the-face where you just want to make everything better kind of cry.
Well at that moment in the doctor’s office I hit my wall and I hit it hard. By the time the doctor finally comes in (she had been tied up with a new mom of twins and lots of questions), Ryanne has cried herself to sleep and I am in a fit of tears myself. I want to hand the baby off and RUN – run as fast and far away as I can. Instead, I sniffle through a steady stream of questions, an exam of the baby, a feeding and weight check to see if she’s getting enough to eat, and a few more questions. Dr. Patt was WONDERFUL – she took all the time I needed (I could no longer be mad at her for spending so much time with the mom of twins prior to coming in to see me) and was determined to give me something to walk away with. Finally, we concluded that Ryanne was getting enough to eat and all else looked healthy. She then muttered the words “colic” and “might just be her temperament” – words no mother wants to hear! She gave me lots of advice and things to try and assured me that all this was normal and temporary. Still not what I wanted to hear. Oh – and the rash that we originally went in for – a really bad case of baby acne!
Fast forward a week and we are back in Dr. Patt’s office for our official one month check up and to see how things are going. Good news is, some of her advice was paying off and the fussiness was a little more manageable. The doctor was happy with our progress and jokingly said “you know … the months and years seem to fly by, but the hours and minutes seem like an eternity!” Her words really struck a cord with me – here I was practically wishing away these newborn months to get past all the crying, the sleepless nights and that awful baby acne. When really, I needed to take a deep breath and soak it all in! We knew these first few months would be hard, but I don’t think we were prepared for just how hard. But knowing this is our last baby, I don’t want to look back and feel like the true baby months went by too fast. So now, in the wee hours of the morning after I’ve just gotten done feeding her and want nothing more than to crawl back into my warm, cozy bed … I take a few extra minutes and breath in that wonderful lavender sent from her bath earlier in the evening, feel her soft hair against my cheek and the warmth of her body in the crook of my neck, and most importantly thank God for a healthy baby! And remind myself once again that all that hard stuff … is all temporary!
I'm sure many of you have had similar experiences. Please share your thoughts and comments below for other new mommies!
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4 comments:
This is such a sweet story and a great reminder that it IS all temporary.
It really is temporary - you won't even remember half of it for baby #2! :) It really goes so fast and suddenly your preemie (in my case) is 4 1/2 years old. Savor every whimper, snuggle, smile, and even dirty diaper...b/c it doesn't last forever.
What a special story, I know it will resonate with mom's everywhere. Thanks for sharing this and reminding me what a gift my little one is, even when she's fussy and I haven't the foggiest idea how to help her, in some ways the best thing I can do is just love her in those moments!
This is a wonderful reminder for mothers of toddlers also as I wind down from a day of battle with my two year old. I will try not to wish away the terrible twos but rather find the joy in loving my little monster :).
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