My daughter is having a baby this week. She hopes. There is nothing like making it at long last to the end of nine months, waiting for the Big Day and not knowing which day is the big day. Is it today? Tomorrow? Five days from today? When? Will I ever get to see my toes again or bend over to put on my shoes? Will it ever end?
I find it fascinating how the aspects of being pregnant prepare a woman to be a mother. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. They happen without even being conscious of them. Patience is being taught. Here are three quick examples of what I mean.
1) Take walking, for instance. At the beginning you walk at your normal energetic pace. By the end of nine months your pace has slowed considerably. You are learning to slow down. You will need this adjustment. The baby is going to interrupt your hurry, time and again. This is a good thing. Slowing gives you a chance to enjoy and appreciate your surroundings.
2) Sleep. You go from living a healthy, robust, “burning the candle at both ends” lifestyle to sleep on demand. In the first few months you fall asleep at your desk at work, in the car, on a bus, in a movie, in conversation. Your need for sleep is gigantic. You can sleep anywhere, everywhere. And then, you can’t. The last 4 weeks your sleep is interrupted by your baby’s activity and pressure. Finding a comfortable position and sleeping for more than 3 hour intervals are real challenges. Call them preparation. You are in training: learning to sleep less, or sleep in spurts. These are necessary skills with a wee one.
3) Space. While you are happily creating space in your lives and in your home for your child, your body is creating space as well. Your psyche and your emotions are giving way to this new little intruder. By the end of nine months he’s crowding you nearly out of yourself! This is also a good thing. You’re going to need the patience to be selfless. It’s what’s so amazing about mothers. Trust me, you’re ready now. You will do well.
I am hoping you had a spectacular Thanksgiving surrounded by friends and family. If you hosted it you have leftovers! The best part of the day after Thanksgiving is the leftovers. If you were the guest, perhaps you were lucky enough to be sent home with some turkey and dressing in an aluminum foil packet. What that means is……today you don’t have to cook! Hooray! In fact, today you should just flat out take the day off.
In case you don’t know how to do that, it means, do nothing. Rest on the couch. Read to the children. Sit at the park. Relax. Do a puzzle. Take a nap. Watch a movie. Visit with your friends or family. Leave all thought of housework or work alone. This is the day to refresh and recover. And tomorrow, too if you can get away with it. You earned it. Enjoy it.
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season. The next 4 weeks will fly by in a blur of holiday activities, shopping, parties, and maybe even travel. This may be the only unscheduled day in your calendar. So, just for today, take the day off.
Is the weather getting colder where you live? It is here. I live in Northern Wyoming and every day has been a mystery. One day it’s 54 degrees, the next it’s 38. Frankly, I never know what to expect. So I take a jacket. Everywhere. It makes it so much easier to be prepared for the worst. I went to a friend’s house last Thursday at 10 a.m. It was–I admit–a bit cloudy. By 3:30 p.m. it was snowing. I didn’t expect it. But I have learned.
When I lived in California I never just took a jacket with me out of habit. I assessed. I went outside and estimated the chance of needing one. I’ll look ridiculous, I thought, lugging a jacket around. And what will Ido with it? I surely won’t need it. Then, out of the blue, it would rain. (That’s funny–it can’t really rain out of the blue. You do, after all, need clouds.) But that’s how it felt, and as a metaphor it does convey my surprise. And the next thing I knew I was sick. Oh, they say, you don’t get sick–you can’t catch a cold or a virus–from the weather. But that’s not what my Mother said. She told me without a jacket “you’ll catch your death of cold.”
So, just to be on the safe side, do what your Mother told you and take your jacket.
