A “happy” mom’s confession: I’m not so nice at home
Every so often there’s a parenting article that totally shakes me — not because they’re always something I relate to, but because they’re so honest. This piece by Mindy Berry Walker is one such case. In it Mindy talks about the two sides of herself — the happy, energetic mom in in public, and the worn-down, bitter mom at home.
How do you handle having two or more kids?
I was the girl that was never going to have children, but after a year of marriage my thoughts on that changed. I’m now the proud, happy mama of a nine-month-old. Now the question looming on the horizon is: do we have another?
I found beauty in the premature delivery of our daughter
I knew I was pregnant with Toga before I should have known I was pregnant. I hadn’t missed a period — in fact it had only been a week since conception. Life with a military man had its perks when it came to knowing the exact date of conception — but I KNEW. I dreamed about her, my beautiful blonde haired baby.
How my son’s teething reminds me of his birth
The poor little guy was in agony and couldn’t quite figure out what in the world was happening inside his mouth. My heart broke a little as his eyes pleaded with me to fix it Mama. So I scooped him up in my arms and spent much of the day rocking him and stroking his head. As I rocked him I thought back to the day he was born — it was the greatest and scariest day of my life.
Whoa: we had a surprise twin double-breech roadside vaginal birth after Cesarean
I was measuring consistently ahead in fundal height early on and just before the mid-point of my pregnancy my midwife referred me to an obstetrician to have an ultrasound (we’d not planned on having any) to rule out twins, fibroids, excess amniotic fluid, or any other complications. At the ultrasound, we were told there was one baby, no fibroids, and no excess fluid — the doctor said I simply had “a large uterus.” So we went with that as confirmation.
Did you leave your job and awesome health insurance when you got pregnant?
My husband and I are in our early 30s and we really want to start a family. We got pregnant last August, but sadly had a miscarriage in October. Before becoming pregnant we decided that after the baby’s birth I would quit my job so I could finish my master’s and move on to a doctoral degree. I hate my current job (and I don’t use the word hate lightly!)… but it’s in the same universe as what I want to do, has really great pay, and awesome health insurance. On paper it’s an amazing job, but I find it wholly unsatisfying.
We share our one-bedroom apartment with our baby and we like it this way
My husband and I were usually met with three or four questions after we announced that I was pregnant. From the benign “When are you due?” and “What are you having?” to the rude “Was it planned?” and a fourth question was posed: “When are you moving?”
What my son’s unexpected Cesarean birth taught me about being a human
It was this realization that my sweet little fresh baby was going to be an old man someday that really did it. I felt like I saw his whole life flash in front of my eyes. That moment was fleeting, but it was possibly the most human I’ve ever felt. Since then I’ve looked at Kai differently than I did in the beginning; he’s no longer “the baby” or “that thing I grew.” He’s our new human, and he’s ours for only a brief period. It is not easy, but I am doing my best to cherish this time.