We Get To Keep It?

Something really funny happens when you have a baby.

You wait 9 months, slowly growing and planning and wondering what this baby inside of you is going to be like.  And then, one day, you wake up and realize you're in labour.  "Oh," you think, "so THAT'S what a contraction feels like."  Good to know.

And you wake up your husband and you call your midwife.  And you hop in the car...and then, after all that labour business, which we will talk about later...you have a baby.

Ta da!  A baby!

So you go to the hospital, and you give birth, and then - and here is the funny part - they just give you a baby!  "Here you go," they say, "this one's yours, you can keep it."

And then, they just send you home!

So now, you have this baby, and you're at home, and sure, you're feeling a little bit like you've been hit by a truck, but you just sit and look at it.  And it is the climax to this really long story you've been telling for the past 9 months, but it feels a little bit like, "....now what?"

Because that's where the "guide books" stop.  Sure people can tell you how to get your new baby to eat, and how to change a diaper, and which lotion might be best to use on that cute little bottom.  But no one can tell you what exactly it is that you DO now.  Do you just go on with your life?  Knowing that it is so much different now?

Margaret Adele West, aka "Meg"
born April 7, 2013
7lbs 9ozs

So we just sit.  And we look at each other.  And it is the only time in your life you can say, "Hello, I love you" without worrying anyone that you're moving too fast.

Hello Meg!  Nice to meet you.  

I love you.