So you're going to be a MOM!

We all come to the news that our life is about to change in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine, in a similar and unceremonious fashion, generally.  Regardless of your socioeconomic background, age or location…you may have peed on a stick and are anxiously waiting the results in your bathroom…maybe you got a call from your doctor’s office or adoption agency at 3:00 PM on a Wednesday.  However the news came to you, I feel like there should be a better way….flowers, balloons, a marching band….heck the first of many parental instruction books giftwrapped up with a beautiful bow….something more than just…bam…you’re going to be a MOM! The emotions that follow are pretty standard no matter if this has been something that you’ve been dreaming about your whole life…or a welcome surprise….SHOCK, EXCITEMENT, FEAR….REPEAT and REPEAT again…and a few more times for good measure.  You are baffled by the science and miracle of it all, scared for everything that lies ahead and thrilled at the same time. 

What happens next is an overload of information like you’ve never experienced before….think of your most stressful learning moments….finals, a new job, putting together your first Ikea furniture purchase that happens to have a thousand pieces, take those feelings and multiply that by a million.  And there you go, prep for being a Mother has begun.  How to feel, what to buy, do this, don’t do that, as if you don’t have enough going on.  The advice solicited or not is at an all-time high.  Impossible to process, but yet we try.  We try to do the very best we can, after all….this is a BIG deal….bigger than anything else that we’ve  ever done before and if that's not heavy…I don’t know what is.  But it’s like preparing for a natural disaster.  You can only do so much.  At some point you just need to rely on your instincts, hope for the best and pray.  Yes, I just compared motherhood to a natural disaster.  Deal with it.

Next is the love, a love for someone that you’ve yet to meet.  A love more powerful and dare I say more dangerous then you could ever imagine.  You would do anything for this little person…ANYTHING.  Your mind goes places that you didn’t even know existed.  You’d throw yourself in front of a moving train for your child….check.  Stab someone in the neck with a fork if they harmed your child…check *don’t lie, you’ve thought about it*.  And this love works both ways.  Today is Mother’s Day and my news feed on Facebook is chock-full of nothing but love for Momma’s around the world.  It’s amazing, powerful and lovely and I’d be fibbing if I didn’t admit that the beauty of it all is making me tear up.  There is nothing like it.  Because of this new found, overwhelming emotion you will NEVER be able to watch the news in the same way or look at another child without having it touch your heart in some capacity. There is no putting this toothpaste back in the tube so don't even try.   It is pointless to fight it, the sooner that you embrace this change in yourself, the better.  The momma bear claws come out, they are fierce and not to be messed with.  This realization made me feel like a super hero, before I even gave birth and that’s saying a lot!  

Oh the birthing.  That is a subject which needs its very own blog, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it on Mother’s Day. Easy pregnancy, bed rest for nine months.  Birth plan, no birth plan.  Home birth, C-section.  Pain management, all natural.  Open adoption, closed adoption.  No matter how your child made its way into the world.  It wasn’t easy and it’s a beautiful miracle.  Be proud. 

Be proud Mommas!! You’re doing a GREAT job.  I don’t care if you drank coffee, wine and ate sushi while pregnant or followed every “rule”.  I don’t care if you breastfed or formula fed.  I don’t care if you grow your own organic veggies and make your own baby food or buy the jarred stuff.  I don’t care if you co-sleep or sleep train.  Go to church, don't do to church.  Antibiotics or essential oils, makes no difference to me.  I don’t care if your babies wear designer duds, you sew all of their clothes or if they only wear hand-me-downs. Screen time, no screen time, who cares.  None of this matters one bit.  If you love your little ones with all your heart and do the very best that you can.   You are doing more than enough and your babies are LUCKY to call you Mommy.  Happy Mother’s Day today….and congratulations on the other 364, less celebrated Mother’s Days of the year too! You are PHENOMENAL!  And if you aren't totally being pampered today.   Don't feel bad, don't be sad.  You are APPRECIATED more than you'll ever know.