Dear New Mom,
You are not an assembly-line worker. You are a mother.
Though you may swear you can hear the echoes of rhythmic machines, chug-chugging, whir-whirring and clank-clanking as you work through a routine of feeding, rocking, soothing, diapering, laundering, washing, retrieving and so on, and you wait with baited breath for the sound of the work-day whistle, something you long for but never hear – you are not an assembly-line worker.
You are a mother.
As the mother of premature triplets, you will find there is little gratification in the early months of parenting. Newborn snuggles are like no other, but the impending doom of another round of laundry, another diaper change, another load of dishes – it will all seem to stare at you from respective corners of the house, warning you of how you’ll never catch the tail you constantly chase.
Those tiny moments of gratification will give joyous moments of relief and purpose, and they keep you moving forward.
The constant care, the constant work, the constant changing of puked-on shirts (both yours and your baby’s) – these are not constants in the life of an assembly-line grunt. They are the rookie hazing you and your child face together in your new lives with one another.
What they say is true – the days are long, and the weeks are short. The never-ending list of tasks is daunting, and you may face your child, someone who seems more like the dictator ruling your every breath, and say, “GIVE ME A BREAK, KID,” and they will.
Without expecting it, that whistle marking the day’s end will blow, and that tiny dictator will intentionally turn toward you, dressed in cozy pajamas and decked out in sleepy eyes and yawns. He or she will seek your arms and rest a tired head on your shoulder. You’re the person to whom they’ve trusted their every need, which you’ve obligingly fulfilled. They have been watching, learning and remembering the love and care with which you’ve worked.
Without realizing it, your unending work will slip into the background of the day, pushed from your attention by giggles and squeals. It won’t be check marks on a to-do list that steer you through a day, it will be hugs and kisses, games and laughter.
You’ll no longer question what on earth you signed up for.
You are not an assembly-line worker. You are a mother.
- Jenny
Jenny is a stay-at-home mother of triplets. Once a journalist, Jenny now writes in between loads of laundry and games of Chase The Babies. You can find more of her writing at What the Blog?
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