It's now been over 13 weeks since Veronica was born. It seems like these 13 weeks have simultaneously lasted forever and flown by. So much has happened. So much has changed.
As I reflect upon my pregnancy and the past three months, the one thing I'm grateful for has been support. Support from my husband, from my family, from friends, and from my students. It is now clear to me that bringing life into this world is quite a group effort. Sure, I could have done it without the support, but it would have been downright miserable.
I don't see how a woman could do this truly alone. Those first weeks with Veronica I was so grateful that my mother-in-law lived so close and my husband was there at 3am to take her for an hour so I could get some sleep. I was thankful for the many people who contacted me via facebook. Friends whom I haven't seen in years sent me private messages offering advice and sympathy. There were messages asking me how I was doing, asking how breastfeeding was going, and reminding me to leave the house. People stopped by with dinner. Friends emailed asking if they could come over (sometimes they couldn't).
Some of the most supportive were from friends who had also had children. They'd lived through it too, and I'm so very appreciative that they reached out to me.
(Facebook made it so much easier- a special thank you to Mark Zuckerberg.)
I never really understood before and therefore, probably wasn't as good a friend as I could've been to others who had babies. So, to all of my friends who may have felt I was distant or not supportive- I'm sorry. I was just ignorant.
The message everyone reiterated was that it really would get better. The baby would sleep more and regularly. She wouldn't need to eat every 2 hours. I would leave the house. I would no longer be stuck on the couch at the mercy of whatever crap was on tv at 2am (Holly's World and some Kardashian Krap if you're interested) Those thankfully few weeks of "why the heck is she crying so much?" would end.
And despite shingles and chicken pox, it has gotten much better. Maybe it's because I'm getting more than 3 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period and maybe it's because I can eat a meal? It could also be because I wake to find a little girl smiling and cooing at the ceiling fan and she now hugs me a little bit when we go to change a diaper early in the morning and she talks to the purple hippo hanging from her bouncy chair.
For whatever reason, I'm so glad everyone was right.
