Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Welcome, Jordan Victoria

 Mom and Baby Jordan - Day Two
It’s been about forty days since Jordan made her dramatic appearance into the world. Welcome, Baby Girl! She was born “in the bag,” which means as you might have guessed, that my water didn’t break until after the birth. The contractions themselves presented her without any pushes on my part in her liquid cocoon to a doctor who with a smirk, popped “the bag” and tugged. Done.

The doctor said this almost never happens. The nurse said it’s a sign she’s a special baby. Well, of course, we already knew that! At 36 weeks, she was 6 pounds 7 ounces. Gratefully, and I mean this so sincerely, also in perfect health.

Take Your Small Miracles
Jordan and Hayden are twenty two months apart. Caring for two children under two is a kind of acid endurance test for the anal parent. I admit it. I have been accused of such before, and now I know it to be true. I’m a hand-sanitizer toting, toy-safety researching, logging-of-every-feeding-and-diaper obnoxious kind of Mom. It turns out, even a nursing mom can know exactly how much her baby eats with the small purchase of a baby scale that measures in grams.

After Hayden was born, an annoyed anonymous family member assured me with a condescending giggle that I would relax all this with my second baby. Alas here we are, and I’m still pedaling out the sanitizer on unsuspecting visitors, asking: “Can I hold her?”

I’m not going to say I’m not exhausted. Who knew anything could be more amazing and more tiring than caring after a newborn, and exponentially so? But, I’m learning the wisdom of a little tenet my cousin, mother of three, told me: One is one and two is ten.

A little advice, for what it’s worth to the brave souls equally comforted by charts and sanitation who will inevitably come after me to join the Two Kids Under Two club. And really, if you’re reading this post because you’ve just learned you’re pregnant and you have a six month old slumbering in the next room, what choice do you have? Take your small miracles. Embrace them. Relish them.

Murphy’s Law Reprised
Murphy was a wise, single man with no children who observed the uncanny ability of the universe to go diabolically wrong. His mother however, was caring for a toddler and a newborn.

She looked around to all the horrifying and seeming unending chaos erupting around her. But, she saw that on occasion and randomly the stars will align and things will go fantastically... right! And this is always a time to celebrate.

Right now, for example, Hayden is having an unfortunate morning battling some jealousy. So, she’s sitting between me and Jordan in her Boppy Chair. Ironically, this means she’d rather me be on my laptop with her attending to Jordan’s binkies and rocking. So, I get fifteen minutes or so to recharge my batteries writing this and playing Greedy Spiders. Yay! Small Miracle.

Another example? Why, certainly! This morning, my new shampoo and conditioner I’ve been excited about arrived in the mail before I tried to take my shower. Yay! Small Miracle.

Get it? Now you try... for your sanity. Take a lesson from Murphy’s mother, and embrace the Small Miracles. Celebrate and don't blink! In five minutes, catastrophe will be on you once again. With that, I’ll need to leave you to go clean up some spit up.

Love,
T.