Mom for Four

This next Friday, my baby girl will be turning four. I don’t know how the time has flown by so fast. It feels like just yesterday I was getting her room ready, nesting away, and dreaming about her arrival. Now, I’m living the full MommifiedLife, with my husband, and two amazing kids.

Thinking back on her arrival, I remember how lost I was throughout it all. This was a brand new experience, since she was my first baby, and all the books, blogs, and mom-themed pins could not prepare me for what was waiting for me!

I was not fully prepared for labor, despite taking the classes, and reading the books and blogs, and thought it was completely ridiculous when the nurse asked, “Well, does it feel like you have to push?” because I had no idea what that would feel like--maybe I’m alone here, but that’s where I was (and I will say, it made COMPLETE sense the second go-round with number 2 last August)! Because my response was, “I have no idea! What does THAT feel like?” they had to lay me back down and check to see if I was dilated to 10--sure enough, I was.

From there, things moved very quickly. The nurses said I was lucky because I had a fairly easy labor and extremely smooth delivery--one specifically said I was made for having babies because of how quickly my girl was born once I started pushing and the minimal damage to my body. But overall, the experience was a blur. I have a hard time with the details--the pounds, length, and time born. But the moment I will never forget?

That would be the moment they placed her on my chest and introduced me to my little girl. My husband saw her first, and I had to wait because she had swallowed the meconium and they had to make sure she was ok. I strained my neck to see her but couldn’t. I could hear her, but it wasn’t enough.

But when they laid her on my chest, and I saw her screaming face, I knew that everything I had been waiting for was here. In that moment, my world was complete. I had my husband at my side, my daughter on my chest, and the rest of our lives ahead of us.

I recovered quickly and even walked to the recovery room from the delivery room on my own. We began our breastfeeding journey a bit of trouble but a lot of encouragement. We were quickly innudated with visitors galore--my whole family, my best friend, my grandparents, my husband’s best friend and his mom. And then the night hit.

She cried. Somehow, my husband slept through it. So she and I bonded in those wee hours of her first night alive. I held her and let her sleep in my arms. I sang to her and told her I’d alway be there for her.

And those moments have continued.

She’s almost four, but she still cries; maybe more than she should, but I love that about her. She’s a tiny ball of emotion. She has big feelings and she shows them in big ways. She always has. I pray she always will.

The basics of what I needed to know about my daughter, the little one who made me “momma,” I learned that first night:

- She needs to be held when she cries

- She needs to be sung to and singing always calms her down

- She needs to know what is going to happen next

- She needs to be allowed to feel things in a big way

- She needs her momma to hold her close

These things, they have not changed. This little girl, my precious T--she is perfect and I am so glad that I’ve gotten these four years to know her and I pray that I get many more to see her grow.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Baby T!