Wednesday, November 25, 2009

What Kind of Mother Am I?

I've learned many things about myself in the last 14 weeks.

For example, I will put a furry reindeer hat on my child and take him out in public. Even though he looks like a Russian oligarch and in spite of the look you see at the right.

I will physically stop a stranger from touching my child. Hell, I'll even stop a nonstranger from touching my child if said nonstranger hasn't washed his/her hands and bathed in Purell.

Babies fascinate me. My own baby. Other people's babies. I had no idea babies were so interesting. I always liked older children...preferably at the age when they could do tricks. But babies have turned out to be fascinating. Who knew?

I could never be a stay at home mom. Too hard. Much harder than boardrooms and corporate intrigue and class actions. I am forever amazed and awed by the power and majesty of the stay at home mom.

On the other hand, I've never been so happy to get home from work and see my boy. That big gummy smile. Those chunky little legs (his, not mine). Those little squinty eyes so similar to my own. Boy oh boy, do I love this child.

It was almost a year ago that I began the IVF that brought us Adam. I went back and read through the posts and was struck through the heart of how immensely lucky we are. So, so very lucky. Lucky that the cycle worked, finally, and lucky that we were in a position to keep trying. And very cognisant that he almost wasn't.

We have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.

9 comments:

luna said...

Love the pic. I need to get much better at telling people not to touch my daughter. What do you say, please don't? Do you give a reason? Not that you need one, jeez, but people think babies are all fair game.

Mermaid said...

here,here, Melanie. I couldn't agree more. What a year to be truly thankful.

Denise said...

You crack me up. Good for you for stopping people from touching your son. I really need to be better about that. A stranger in a McDonald's touched both of my kids faces a couple of weeks ago while we had stopped in a small town on a road trip and I completely froze up, but in my head I was screaming "STOP!!!" It must have shown on my face because she came back about 5 minutes later and apologized for touching my children.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Phoebe said...

Great post and good to hear from you again. Love the reindeer hat. I so agree with you that I'm not the stay at home mom type either. I'm glad to know it can be done!

loribeth said...

LOL. He does look like a little Russian oligarch, right down to the glare at the camera. But much more adorable!

Birdee said...

That is so funny, I have hat just like that one and I swore I'd never put it on his head, but now with the snow and holiday music I'm hearing, I'm itchin to put it on :)
I completely feel the same way about our cycle and treatment a year ago that brought baby to us and how he almost wasn't, I feel so thankful we made that decision to take it one step further.
Love your post<3

Shinejil said...

Ha! Hilarious. I hear you on all counts.

We've been lucky so far: The little dude is usually in a carrier of some sort (like a Bjorn or something) when out and about, and that keeps people from touching. Especially as my hubby likes to carry him around, and he's big, scary, hairy bear of a man.

I'm a sahm, but not by choice. It's a challenge, mostly to keep my restless mind from making me certifiable.

Congrats on the 6 hours!

Paula Keller said...

LOVE the reindeer hat! I'm ALL about dressing babies in anything that might embarass them in the future. :)

Sounds like things are going well.

I'd totally freak out if some stranger touched my child too. People just don't think.

Another Julia said...

Love the facial expression on the czar's face! :)
He's beautiful, as usual, even when he's perturbed.