Monday, November 23, 2009

Motherhood 101: Stepping down from my 4-inch heels

There is no glamour in motherhood.

Seriously.

No matter how much effort and grace you put into it, the baby will vomit and pee on you... wherever, whenever. She will poop into her bath water during bath time. She will cry and scream during the most inopportune moments.

I have often wondered about moms whose lives revolve around their babies. They talk of nothing else and they don't have time for anything else. I find it annoying but I think I am beginning to understand. During the first few weeks and months after birth, that's all you have. Day in and day out, it's just you and your baby. You can't go out, you cease to have personal time and sleep becomes a myth. Your life becomes a neverending cycle of changing diapers, feeding, and giving baths to squirming little people (good thing they actually look cute whatever they do). There is no room for 4-inch heels when you have a baby on one arm and doing everything else with the other.

I am also beginning to understand postpartum depression. How can you not be depressed? You can't go out, you cease to have personal time and sleep becomes a myth. You have strech marks, you need to lose weight, and most of your clothes and shoes don't fit anymore (and you get this nagging feeling they probably never will again... ever!).
What I don't understand is how some women don't go through it. They probably don't have much of a life to begin with (kidding! Forgive me, I'm cranky, I haven't had any sleep yet).

Last October, this became my life.