Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Open Letter

To All My Friends Who Had Babies Before Me:

I'm sorry.
I had no idea.
I apologize for not understanding the depth of what you were going through. The emotions, the fatigue, the happiness, the worry, the pain, the daily ups & downs. If I wasn't sensitive or seemed calloused, it wasn't intentional... I just didn't know. Now I do. Now I wish I could offer to come do your laundry or bring you dinner or wash your pets or bring you flowers or run errands for you. Because now I know. You weren't sitting around blissfully enjoying your new motherhood. You were working. You were giving all you had to that new bundle of joy you brought into the world, while trying to keep some semblance of normalcy in the process. Man, I really had no idea. Please forgive me.
Now I know.
Now I'm a mama too.
And I couldn't be happier.

4 comments:

laurac said...

love this Lisa! Faith had stomach surgery and first endoscopy at 6 weeks, "failure to thrive" hospitalization at 11 weeks, throat surgery at 12 weeks (with a 4 day NICU stay), ear tubes at 8 months (after months of infections), eye surgery at 9 months, kidney surgery at 19 months (after months of UTIs), adenoid/tonsil surgery at 3 years....Then Loren was born with same breathing disorder and had been in/out for same surgeries and pneumonia. All of this AND MY own SEVEN surgeries b/c of THREE TEN pound babies... So thank you for the acknowledgement - no one knows until they are THERE....lala

Mike and Kim said...

Isn't it so true???? I love this post. And as I drove back and forth from Medical City NICU for Cole...I looked around and was somewhat dazed by..."Life goes on" even though your world has somewhat halted. Kinda hard when you have two kids at home with homework, projects, etc. Even the teachers didn't "get it" really.

God finds ways to remind us that ALL that really matters is right in our hearts.

Hugs and kisses to the growing little one.

Love you three.

Mrs. Soons said...

Aww...I just cried for a minute there! :) I am so glad to see little man Levi growing like a champ. From this day forward things get easier and they get harder. It's always a trade-off. YOU WILL SLEEP AGAIN..I promise! :) Kiss that sweet boy for me and try to stay as stress free as possible. Keep the pictures coming. xxxoo Beth

pam sepulvado said...

love your post! I think all of us moms feel this way! You can never know this before you have children and even if someone told you how hard, exhausting, exciting, incredible, exhausting, amazing, EXHAUSTING it will all be, you cannot understand until your sweet little baby is born! Who knew you could laugh AND cry in the same moment. Remember you will sleep all the way through the night soon, you will get to take a shower AND dry your hair AND put your make-up on all in one hour, and you will be able to eat dinner with both arms free, but in the mean time realize all you need to do now is take care of yourself and love your new little family. hope to see you guys soon!
Pam