To All The Mamas: It Gets Better

I remember so well bringing that first babe home from the hospital.  The adjustments that followed, finding our way from two free adults to one family unit.  With your first baby, the changes loom large, a huge mountain of new realities with precious little time with which to adapt to it all.  Not only does this squirmy, sobbing, non-verbal new person seem to make little sense, but you yourself change so much - physically, mentally, emotionally.  You don't sleep.  3 AM sees all the lights on in the house, baby squalling and you near tears, begging the child to latch on, or burp, or do something to settle down.

After an initiation like that, its no wonder that welcoming another (or more!) can make many Mamas shake in their boots.  The first time is hard.

But I'm here with a little on in my lap to tell you all - It Gets Better.

For me, it took having more than one child to truly be able to enjoy having a newborn.  The first time is such a whirlwind and so incredibly exhausting, each day can quickly become just something to get through.  You don't go back to square one with each baby, uncertain and unsure.  You bring your bag of tricks with you.  And something magical happens:  You realize that you are capable.  That you know how to fix the problems your newborn throws at you.  You have your "Mom of Many" repetoire and you seamlessly slip your new addition into those well rehearsed rhythms.  You are sold out to motherhood, used to how your body and emotions morph and change during these different seasons.

It gets so much better.  I can't even describe it.  Having a newborn is, for me, pure pleasure.  It wasn't always that way, and it wouldn't be that way now if I hadn't slogged through those hard and long early days.  The lights stay off at night.  I get good chunks of sleep.  The diapers and laundry just aren't that big of a deal any more.  And I can look in a mirror and think I look just fine for having 5 babies.

The secret is accepting what is, refusing to resist that this is what life is right now - post partum belly, baby spit up and all.  Once you can fully embrace the beauty of right now, you can truly enjoy every moment of it.  If you are wondering if you could possibly handle another, I'm telling you that yes, you can.  You just have to dive in.

Right now, I am.