Becoming Mother

Doug asked me to take Felicity to get bread at Trader Joe’s today.

That was the question.

That was what sent me into tears.

Because I don’t want to do anything today.

Because I don’t want to be around my daughter for the fifth day in a row.

And why does her daycare have to be closed this week?

And that makes me a terrible mother.

And soon I’m going to have two small human beings that need me.

And I just had to buy the next size up in maternity pants.

And the next size up in underwear.

And I woke up every hour on the hour last night. To either pee or switch positions.

And I don’t want to be pregnant anymore.

But I’m not ready to have another baby.

And after the miscarriage last year, I swore to myself that I’d never complain about being pregnant again.

And I am.

And I woke up to an email from a friend who just had her baby this morning and she was just so beautiful and life is so full of goodness.

And I’m so grateful that my body was able to do this without complication just one more time.

And I know a small fraction of the things that could have gone wrong so far.

And my legs don’t look like my legs anymore.

And I had to send out a family Christmas picture in which my daughter looks like an angel and I look like a puffed-up version of myself.

And everyone tells me that I’m really not carrying much extra weight.

And I’m tired of thinking about whether I’m eating enough protein or vegetables or calcium or omega-3s.

And I just really want to have a Guinness.

And I don’t want to think about how much weight I’ll have to lose this time.

And all I really, really want to do is lie in my bed with my Snoogle wrapped around me and pull the covers up to my face and sleep and sleep and sleep like I won’t sleep for another year.

Because once this baby escapes, that’s pretty much the truth.