Sunday, May 5, 2013

Just You Wait

Every mom has had someone say to them at least once "just you wait."  When you're pregnant and you say you're going to try for a med-free birth inevitably someone will say "just you wait until you're in labor, you'll be begging for an epidural."  Or,  you might be saying how wonderful a sleeper your baby is and get in response "just you wait until she starts teething."  Maybe you mention how fun it is to see you child start to pull up on the furniture and then you get "just you wait until they start walking and you have to chase them around."  It's like some women are just hell bent on putting a damper on everything you are excited about.  And, at the same time, they have a point.

There are some women who think they know exactly what motherhood will be like and so they get tired of being told to "just wait."  Then, they become mothers and they live the nitty-gritty of it.  They experience the highs and the lows.  They love their baby but when they find themselves up for the tenth time in one night they long for sleep.  When they are changing not just diapers but entire outfits for the fifth time in five hours because of massive diaper blowouts they find themselves crabby and worn out.  Their baby gets a fever and they worry and then worry some more.  They never realized they were capable of so much love and so much worry all at the same time.  The next day they wash bottles for what feels like the millionth time and they are bored, so very, very bored, with the mundane tasks that come along with having a baby.  Their baby starts to grow up and toddler-hood hits hard.  Sweetness turns into attitude, it's not just the terrible twos, it's the terrible twos, threes and fours.  And then it happens.  One day they find themselves chatting with a pregnant woman who is acting as if she knows exactly what motherhood will be like and they say "just you wait."

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