Weary Mother, this too shall pass
I am a blessed mother of 5 children. In fact, I just had my 5th baby this January 2017. She is a blessing that we treasure! But if I could be very honest with you, it has been challenging. Acid reflux, lip tie, tongue tie, sore and damaged nipples, crying…no, relentless screaming in the first 6 weeks. After we got some help from the chiropractor, I was finally able to think clearly again. I asked myself “Wow, was it ALAWYS this hard?”
As I started to recall all my past experiences with my older children who were once fragile, crying babies like this little one, I DO remember…
it was ALWAYS hard!
The sleep deprivation. Neglecting your need to shower or eat because you are constantly carrying or feeding. The worrying. The heartache when the pediatrician scolds you to give your baby formula. The cracked nipples. The crying (your baby and YOU). The dirty diapers, or lack thereof. I could go on and on.
I don’t want to leave out the beautiful things. Holding my baby skin to skin. Inhaling the scent of my baby. The many congratulations I would get from family and friends. The meals that loved ones would bring over to us. The baby chubs, as he/she gets older.
I appreciate the ability to forget about the difficult times I’ve had with my babies. They are blessings, and I want to treat them as that. But, isn’t that interesting and uplifting? We tend to remember it all when we have to go through it all over again. It made me think back to my 2 years being a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor/Lactation counselor with WIC. I personally felt like I was being encouraging by giving advice, by loving on these moms, by being a shoulder to cry on. But if I could do it all over again, I would try my best to REMEMBER so that I could be more COMPASSIONATE. So when these women were crying I could cry with them instead of staring blankly at them. So that when I expected a client with a newborn to visit the clinic, I could have a granola bar or something to give her to eat because she probably didn’t have much time to feed herself. So when a mom with a rowdy toddler in tow would visit, I could have little books and toys to keep him busy and give this poor mom a break!
Do you know someone who just gave birth? Bless her with a word of encouragement, volunteer to hold her baby while she takes a shower, ask if she could use help with her other children, make her a simple meal for her whole family. Bless her children with some new stickers or coloring books to keep them busy. Remember that by blessing her children, you bless her as well. Buy the family some bulky item staples like a Costco Size bundle of toilet paper. My friend’s favorite post-partum gifts are paper goods, like paper plates, bowls, plastic cups and spoons. She is expecting her 8th child as I write this and this is exactly what I’m planning to buy her along with a meal for her family.
Are you a Mother of many or a mother of one? The newborn stage is always hard. But I want you to know that you have the most important job in the world. I want you to know that all the soiled diapers, the sharp csection postpartum pains, the sleepless nights, and the painful nursing sessions are undoubtedly worth it. One day your child will grow into an adult and bless you in your old age! So take a deep breath, latch on your baby and remember…this is temporary and one day you will reap what you’ve sown.
2 Corinthians 4: 17-18 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
