Here we were, a month before Emma was born, taking a how to
prepare for baby class. They went over lots of major things, like how to
properly feed the baby, change a diaper, cloth, swaddle, nurture, and other new
parent need to knows. BUT as I’m sure you have now discovered, there are many
things you cannot prepare yourself for until you find yourself in that
situation with a baby. Here are a few gems I will share about what I have learned
along the way in hopes to be able to enlighten others.
There will be a time when you get sick AND have to take care
of the baby.
I inevitably caught one of Emma’s colds and her daddy had
exhausted his leave from work after she had been sick, before, so here I was
with an energetic baby who just got over a cold and I was pretty much out of
commission. I was able to nap with her in bed and did my best to keep her entertained
until daddy got home but needless to say no one ever prepared me for how to
take care of a child when you are sick. I was so surprised, the idea had never
crossed my mind. No one I had had bothered to mention to me during my 9 months
of pregnancy or ever during my life, that when you are a mother there is no
sick day. There is no time off for you to rest in bed to get better. That only
exists in the land of your pre-baby bliss days.
There will be a time that you are alone with the baby and
have to go to the bathroom.
After her four month appointment with the pediatrician, I
really had to go to the bathroom and I knew I would not be able to hold it in
Friday afternoon rush hour traffic (side note: do NOT schedule a doctor’s
appointment on a Friday afternoon if you know rush hour is bad in your area,
yeah I wasn’t thinking at the time) so I had her in the car seat, with my
purse, and diaper bag flung over my shoulder and marched off to the bathroom in
the office building. To my shock and amazement in a medical building, the
bathroom DID NOT have a handicap stall and to top it off, all of the stalls
were very narrow! Here I am with a car seat and the afore mentioned baggage and
I could not fit any of it in the stall with me. I could barely fit my
postpardum hips inside the narrow opening. I had no choice but to plop Emma
down in front of the stall with the diaper bag, during which time I used the
facility hoping no one would walk in on a very discombobulated mom with the
stall door open and her child in a car seat on the middle of the bathroom floor.
I mean really what bathroom does not have a handicap stall?
You will find yourself in very odd circumstances.
As if the bathroom story is not enough, about a week after
that we went to the mall on a Saturday while daddy was at work. When I got out
of the car in the parking lot I noticed something under my tire that looked
like it splattered. I shrugged it off thinking it had been there for a couple
of days, put the baby in her stroller, and proceeded to enjoy our girls only
shopping trip. All thoughts of the car left my mind. Upon our return to the car
I realized quickly what had happened. I had run over a piece of rotten fruit
and a swarm of yellow jackets had engulfed my car. My mommy protection devises
went into over drive trying to figure out how to safely get my child in the car
among a swarm of rotten fruit loving bees. My first thought was to move the
car, but being on my own I could not leave the baby in the stroller in the mall
parking lot. I finally calculated a resolution in my head. I unlocked the car
from a safe distance and threw a blanket over the car seat (we have a stroller
car seat combo) I cradled the car seat as much under my body as I could and
sacrificing self for child I ran to the car as soon as I saw a break in the
bees. I somehow was able to miraculously secure the seat and retreat without
getting stung or having any bees get into the car. I can only imagine what any
onlookers seeing me running to the car with a car seat oddly placed under my
upper body, while quickly slamming the door must have thought. Probably that I
had gone off my mommy rocker. I smile at this thought now, but at the time it
was a really stressful situation to say the least. SO if you ever find that you
have driven over a piece of rotten fruit and come face to face with a swarm of
yellow jackets, there is my recommendation on how to handle the situation.
Do you have any crazy mommy stories while it was only you
and the baby?
Oh man, the mental picture of you running with the car seat and the yellow jackets is hysterical. Absolutely horrifying, but hysterical. Unfortunately motherhood is full of those little odd ungraceful moments. I'll never forget one of the first times I was alone at the grocery store with Doug. I was pushing the cart with him on my shoulder. I'd just fed him and he had horrible reflux, so of course he horked. He managed to miss me entirely and spit up all over the floor. I didn't have any burp clothes or anything so I just had to leave it there, lol.
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