I have this funny little spot of envy for first time parents, I really loved being pregnant, having newborns and yep even the labour. I was one of those really lucky women that aside from some uncomplicated low iron blood tests and the odd bout of nausea, which was usually fixed with a feed; pregnancy was easy for me, I just LOVED it, even despite the flu I caught with my first & second (flu shot for the third!) and the hideously swollen ankles near the end of the pregnancy with #1. My biggest complaint was the anterior placement of the placenta for baby #2 and 3… I felt so ripped off not to feel all those early butterfly movements and gentle early kicks that started at just 16 weeks with baby #1, I was well into the mid 20weeks before I got to indulge in those with my subsequent babies!
All three of my labour and births were uncomplicated and I can seriously say that I actually enjoyed them and the little hospital stays where you can just sit and stare at your most marvellous acheivement. Each of my labours started off at 6 in the morning, naturally and with out intervention or complication, all were born with 4-6 hours of active labour and each with a funny “typically us” story to go right along with them. My babies were healthy and good enough sleepers for me, a “good baby” as people often query. Of course I still got woken in the night and spent many days on the couch with a baby that wouldn’t sleep in her own basinette during daylight hours BUT I loved it, every little milestone made me happy and a little sad at the same time… up a nappy size or out of them all together, each size up of a Wondersuit and then the graduation to “real pyjamas”, my babies all have grown too fast. (oh and that still happens… end of another school year, a new shoe size, the end of a cute mispronunciation era)
Everyone says enjoy them while they are this small, it doesn’t last long… and we replied we are! Truth is, the day is slow but the weeks go screaming past and while you are certainly enjoying “them being small” you just can’t enjoy it enough to make the time slow down. I waited most of my life to have the babies I’d forever known I wanted and then just like that, the baby years are gone, well almost, I still refer to Ryder as a baby but he is two next month… sigh. So that brings me to my envious feeling… every time I see a pregnant lady or especially first time parents of a brand new baby it makes me feel a little sad that thats not the stage Steven and I are at anymore. Even if we were to decide to go for #4 (and no need to read anything into that 馃槈 ) it would be wonderful but still not the same as the first time around, where it’s all new and you can devote all of your time to that one tiny little person. Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely happy with my little family, it doesn’t escape me how lucky we are and I wouldn’t trade them for anything… I’d just love to be able to go back a bit and do it all again, wouldn’t change anything… just go again, if you happen to have a time machine tucked in a back room let me know haha!
So while you might not be loving your tiny bladder right now, or your swollen ankles just think, you don’t have to share that baby with anyone else right now, or if the 7 feeds last night and the whole day of getting nothing done remember it will be gone in a flash and there are lots of people totally jealous of you… me included 馃檪 Enjoy it, because you WILL miss it x
And pllllleease if you are in Perth I would love to photograph your belly and your brand new baby… I will get my little fix of baby cuddles and you will have some beautiful portraits to treasure and reminisce over when they pop up in your Facebook “on this day” memory feed in another year or two!
Here are a just few of my favourites from our new family journey and my own Facebook “naw look at them” Memory Feed…
