Friday, May 28, 2010

Article #102 Birthing

Of course, in those days, the father-to-be was left in the hospital waiting room while the doctor, nurses and mother-to-be performed this intense dance of birth called delivery. When it was all over, the father was notified and able to meet the little one before the newborn was off to the nursery to sleep. Staying in the hospital for a few days to recuperate was the norm for the exhausted new mother, but in pioneer days the new mom was prescribed two weeks bed rest after a home delivery. Sounds good to me.(Photo-4 generations of Franks.)

Many modern day moms, give birth and return home sometimes the same or next day to get back to their busy lives. Any career that a new mother ever had fades in comparison to her new 24/7 career as caretaker to a newborn that wakes up at all hours demanding feeding and changing. Your life as newlyweds is over and everything is focused on keeping the baby satisfied and not crying. If the baby has colic, which causes stomach pains then, you rock or walk the baby till he falls asleep before you can rest or live a “normal life,” which by the way-will never return again.

I taught dance until the night before my baby was born and then returned within two weeks to teaching part time as my husband was still a graduate student. The only problem was now I had this dependent little creature that I was trying to nurse day and night. After two weeks of my firstborn waking every two hours for nourishment, my doctor suggested I start feeding him cereal. That’s probably why my son is 6 ft 5 inches today.

No one can prepare you for the shock of on call duty as a mother when all you want to do is sleep but instead you get up in the middle of the night, change the baby’s diaper, try to feed him and rock him back to sleep. Unfortunately, our first son was very colicky so the nighttime hours were as busy as the daytime hours. After a few months of trying to be a fulltime mother and a part time dance teacher, I knew something had to give. So I gave notice at my job and became a full time mother, although I tried to keep my hand in dancing by teaching children’s dance in the basement of our rental apartment.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, there must have been something powerful in that cereal. 6'5", you say?

    Chuckled at the sentence "rock or walk the baby till he falls asleep before you can rest or live a 'normal life', which by the way,will never return again."

    It's true, it's a new normal!

    I sure do enjoy your postings!

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  2. I remember those days. My first born was colicky too. But I didn't even attempt to work then. We lived frugally on my husband's teacher salary. I started Jill on rice cereal early to keep her satisfied. She's 5'10".

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  3. We did the cereal early on too due to colic etc. Oh you brought back some memories!!

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  4. When I delivered my first child I was a child myself (15 yrs.old...(I know...it was crazy). Well after my son was born my grandmother who was about 70 yrs old told me I had to take care of myself and gain my strength back, so for 40 days she made me homemade chicken soup from the chickens she killed & cleaned herself....and she would have me drink every night a cup of freshly made hot chocolat with yellow cheddar cheese inside it. She always said those were her great ancestors ways of caring for all the birth mothers. Also I was not allowed to get rained on or go out under the night sky because she said I would get bell's palsy after giving birth if I did. Unfortunately I didn't follow that last statement and after I gave birth to my second child I got a facil paralysis which i srtill have to this day.

    Those people back then knew how to care for themelves without drugs...just good old tender care and wisdom. Those were the good old days.

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  5. You bring back many memories for me, Lin. Those early days are exhausting but wonderful. Your son is quite a cutie in that picture.

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  6. Nice memories for me too..Love the story of your life. Can't believe you taught dance until you had the baby. You must have been feeling well....

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  7. I guess you made us all remember those first days of motherhood. It was a challenge, but I do remember those days fondly.

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