Being a mother

When I came to know that I was pregnant last year in the month of July, I never gave a thought to how fit I was for motherhood. I mean almost all women go through this stage in their lifetime. They conceive, carry their babies for 9 months, go through labour and delivery stage, and raise their kids. How hard can it be? Well, I was wrong. Raising a kid is no easy task. So if you are planning to have a baby soon then you need to read below. 

If you are breast feeding your baby then every morsel of food that goes into your mouth is carefully watched over by an overzealous mom/mom-in-law. And you are not allowed to go anywhere for more than an hour for the fear of a hungry baby crying endlessly. And expressing milk is reserved only as a last resort like when resuming work not when you want to go shopping or for a movie. God forbid if the baby catches a cold or has a stomach upset then all eyes stare at you accusingly. Err, maybe people forget that even breast feeding mommies have cravings too. It’s best to eat to your hearts fill during your pregnancy. You will be crammed with only nutritious (*boring*) food after delivery. 

Anyway this hasn’t deterred me and I keep slipping all junk foods into my mouth when no one is looking. Come on; don’t give me that look now. Too much of a good thing is always bad. :)

I have now come to the conclusion that God has embedded a secret patience chip in every woman that gets activated only after she becomes a mother. Take me for example, before having a kid I was this lazy, lethargic person with a perpetual ‘chalta hai’ attitude in life. Patience was not my best virtue. And that’s an understatement. But everything has changed after my daughter was born. Every crying bout of hers brings tears to my eyes. Out of desperation. I have to guess the reason for her incessant crying before she brings the entire neighborhood to my house. Hungry? Sleepy? Colic? Ear ache? Wet nappy? Or just plain bored? And I need to come to a conclusion within five minutes which is my endurance time for her crying fits. After which my bawls gets louder than hers. And it’s absolutely necessary for everyone in the house to stuff cotton balls in their ears before her bath time. I seriously wonder how such a small and delicate body can produce such ear-shattering shrieks that are decibels beyond human endurance.

And people say that raising children at this age is easy. I wonder what awaits me when she grows older.*shudder*

I don’t even want to talk about sleeping hours. If you are thinking of having a baby and you are like me who needs her eight hours of unperturbed beauty sleep then my best advice to you would be to sleep. Now. Yes stop reading and have your nap. Because sleep becomes a far away dream with a baby who becomes hyper active and wants to play just when you are drifting away to dreamland. I read somewhere that parents lose around 400 hours of sleep in the first year of having a kid. Duh! Where was this article when I was feeling all rosy during my pregnancy? I would have spent my nine months in bed snoring away to glory.

So basically I am cranky, moody, grouchy, sleep deprived, eternally craving junk food and house arrested. The joys of motherhood.

And just when I think that I can’t take it anymore and ready to call it quits, my daughter starts cooing and acting all cute. Awww, the little devil. No wonder babies can get away with anything, even murder if they were capable of it. And if you are reading and still want to have a baby, I salute your spirit of valor.