I love my mommy!
It dawned on me on the first birthday I celebrated after my baby was born that I should totally give my mom a present on my birthday.
I have always appreciated and loved my mother very much. She didn’t have the easiest time as a mom. My dad died when I was three and my sister was ten. My mom never remarried or even dated for that matter, and so she took on the role of mom and dad. She worked really hard and we were always loved very much and we really never went without.
During my pregnancy my prenatal yoga instructor would often have us meditate and think about our own mothers. That really made me realize all that I have to be grateful for in my mother. I am proud of her strengths and I take comfort in the thought that she is always there to help me with my baby. I can really appreciate all that my mother has done and continues to do for me.
With the help of this meditation, I really came down to earth about the basics of it all. I started to connect with the fact that women since the beginning of time have been having babies without drugs and medical intervention. My new reply to,”You’re crazy – Why are you planning a natural childbirth?” was, “Just think of all those women who pushed out their babies squatting next to a tree and here I am with my private hospital birthing room should I really be afraid/complain?” My grandmother actually gave birth to my father ALONE. Rumour has it that she even cut her own umbilical cord.
I started to really feel the importance of what I was doing. I was going to have a baby. I was going to be a mom. The best part of all of this, as simple as it sounds – was the realization that my mom was once in the exact position as I was. She probably felt the exact same way that I was feeling during her pregnancies. Knowing that I come from a line of strong women really gave me the strength to remain calm throughout my pregnancy and labour.
Being a mother has not only given me a greater respect for my own mother but for life in general. It has really helped me to relate to all mothers. I have learned to put myself in other women’s shoes, to try to understand what they are going through and to look at my mother and realize that she went through what I am going through right now. We are all so different and although we may all have different experiences with motherhood, at the end of the day, we really are all the same.
When I think of my kids, I don’t just think of them as accessories that I can dress up really cute and take around with me wherever I go. They are individuals. Just like I was at their age and just like my mother was.
Crying during commercials and television shows happens a little more than it should at my house these days; Motherhood has definitely made me a better and more sensitive person. It has made me realize how special my mother is. She is a strong, loving and understanding woman who has the respect of everyone in her social circle and family. Everyone loves my mother but not more than I.
