I will be the first to admit that be a first-time mom is NOT easy. They send you home with this little bundle of joy and expect that you somehow know what you are supposed to do with him.
If you are really lucky, he comes home jaundiced and you have to somehow convince him that he wants to lie on a bili-bed, glowing in purple light, surrounded by a rough sheet that closes with velcro, only to be held when it is feeding time. And, if you are really, really lucky, your neighborhood will get hit by a wicked storm that will knock out power for 24 hours when your little guy is just a week old and your husband is out of town. It is an adventure changing a diaper and feeding at 2am -- even more so when you are doing it by the light of a $4 battery-powered lantern and your house is a balmy 85 degrees inside.
Fortunately for me, my parents were in town and staying at our house during this whole escapade (they are my heroes)... and, as the saying goes, "this too shall pass"... Noah is over his jaundice and the evil bili-bed has been sent back to the abyss from which it came, the power is back on and I can once again see when Noah decides that pooping in his diaper is just not as much fun as pooping all over mommy. We can be thankful that our house did not sustain any damage unlike many of the other houses in Webster Groves. And Daddy is back from his volleyball adventures, which makes Mommy REALLY happy.
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2 comments:
Oooh Deb...I totally understand! I don't know if you remember last summer in St. Louis but there was a major storm and parts of St. Louis had no power for weeks. Caleb was about 3 weeks old and Lance and I moved in with the Canfields even though they didn't have power but there was more air circulating in their house over our little apartment. I remember trying to feed Caleb while holding a flashlight and it was 100+ degrees outside! Enough to make you go crazy! I would hangout at the Kirkwood Walgreens during the day b/c it was the only place with air and Walgreens are usually pretty cold...especially near the milk and other refrigerated products. Finally we packed up the car and headed to Arkansas for a week until power was back on! Let's just say it's not what I had pictured "motherhood" to be! Hang in there! Each day gets better! love, Heather
Hi Deb,
If misery loves company, all I can say is that I can relate to what you were going through. Your story vividly brought back a memory of when we were living in Merrimack, NH and had a blizzard that knocked out the power, which means we also had no water because we were using well water that needed an electric pump. Ryan was a newborn and Mark was out-of-town, having just been trasfered to sunny, balmy Jacksonville, FL. Changing diapers by flashlight (being held by a 4-year-old) and having no family within 1000 miles was an adventure that I wouldn't wish on my enemies! We laugh about it now, but 23 years ago all I could say was, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" I'm glad that your parents have arrived. They'll have a ball and you'll get some much-needed support. I've really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing Noah's photos. We can't wait to meet him. Until then --- hang in there! My mom also used to tell me, "This too shall pass." It's just hard to fathom that when you're hot and sleep-deprived. Take care and keep writing! Kathy H.
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