From the category archives:

After (the) Birth

Something’s Gotta Give

September 18, 2008

There is a dead fly on my window sill.
I noticed it Saturday, before I answered the phone to hear the pediatrician’s nurse telling me to bundle Shaggy up and get him to the office right now.
I knew the fly was there, even as I packed the diaper bag frantically for the hospital stay. That fly [...]

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A Normal Day

September 16, 2008

We’re home.
The hospital was, as hospital stays go, a positive one. I cannot say enough good words about the women and men who cared for us there this weekend. Their kindnesses, big and small, and their expertise set our minds at ease during a very stressful time.
Shaggy is fine. He has an anatomical abnormality that [...]

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My Non-Guilt Guilt

September 13, 2008

I spent yesterday morning at the coffee shop where I do my writing.
I had three glorious, child-free hours, half of which was spent having coffee with a friend. The babysitter I hired two weeks ago came at 8:30, and I delivered Shaggy into her capable hands, gave her the TV remote and left with The [...]

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Halfway Up

September 8, 2008

Shaggy and I spent an unusually contented two hours alone together Saturday evening, while Mr. C and The Poo went to Mass.
Normally we go to church, as well, but the boy had a string of bad days and even worse nights. He was finally asleep when it was time to leave for Saturday evening vigil, [...]

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Coming Up Short

September 5, 2008

Yesterday was awful.
Even with the perspective that some rest and a new morning bring, yesterday will go down in the annals as perhaps one of my worst mothering days.
This whole week, in fact, can suck it. I lost my temper more times than I care to admit, culminating with a terrible performance where I screamed [...]

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Stuck

August 31, 2008

I want to write, I want to keep the words moving, keep them on the outside. I don’t want these words inside to back up.
I don’t want to choke on them.
When The Poo was born it felt like a slow death by drowning. Drowning in sorrow, in fear, in exhaustion … my memories of her [...]

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The Terrible Reign Of Sir Fussy Von Fusserstien

August 29, 2008

You forget.
Nature’s way, I imagine, of convincing you to procreate again.
You forget just how long the hours between 2 and 6 a.m. can feel. Only four hours – 240 minutes – and yet, the seconds tick by so slowly that you fear you may never see the sunrise again.
But it does come, slowly, each day. [...]

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Yeah That Was A Terrible Idea

August 25, 2008

You know what is a really bad idea?
Watching maudlin movies in the wee hours of the morning.
I’m up these days between 2 and 4 a.m., and it seems to me that cable television conspires to torture the mothers of very small babies during these early hours.
Saturday I was sucked into a viewing of “Steel Magnolias,” [...]

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Road To Recovery

August 23, 2008

My mom left Thursday afternoon, in a rush.
All of a sudden she decided she needed to get home, to attend to her pressing business there. It was a wise decision, but it was a lot like pulling off a bandage all at once.
We said our final goodbyes in my driveway, raindrops falling on our faces, [...]

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Counting My Blessings: No. 34

August 22, 2008

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be counting my blessings great and small, in an effort to remind myself that my life is, indeed, not just good but great. Feel free to share your own blessings in the comments.
***
Large, soft, pink granny panties that don’t pull on my stitches.

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