Postpartum Memories

My sister-in-law, *Andrea, and I were talking at our family Thanksgiving.   We were talking about the phase of parenting I'm in right now and how my kids are at a challenging age.  Not that each age doesn't come with it's own unique set of challenges, but at this phase my boys are still very needy and the workload is demanding.  I told her I feel like I'm in the trenches. She understood where I was coming from.  She said it's like you work full-time and then come home to another full-time job.  Now don't get me wrong, we weren't complaining (well, I was a little bit).  We love our families more than words can express and wouldn't trade where we're at for anything in the world. We were just having a little heart-to-heart about the struggles of a working mom. 

So, the whole point of this story is to get to what I'm about to share.  She reminded me of one of the funniest things I ever told her regarding raising children.  It was something that happened just after Will was born.  Mark was warned by my doctor and others to watch for signs of postpartum depression.  Before I go any further, let me just say that I believe postpartum depression is a serious form of depression that should be treated professionally (I'm not going all Tom Cruise on ya!).  This story in no way makes light of that very serious condition.

Now, back to the story.  I digress.

I was feeling kind of weepy and down a few days after we came home from the hospital.  My friend *Terri's husband was told to check for postpartum depression signs by asking her, "Do you still love the baby?"  Mark knew that he was supposed to watch for this so he asked me, "Do you still love the baby?"  My answer was, "Yes.  I still love the baby.  I ONLY love the baby."  More or less it meant to Mark, I don't like you right now. Wow!  What can I say about my crazy, out of control, postpartum hormones?  Mix that with some sleep-deprivation and you just aren't yourself.  I'm usually very even keel and in my normal state of mind I would never say something like that to Mark. It's funny how I forgot about saying that.  When she reminded me, I had a good laugh. 

I just had to share that funny story before I forgot again. 

This photo was taken just after Will was born.  It's on my facebook page.  The caption under it says "It's all bliss and peaceful at this point.  The sleep-deprivation hadn't set it in."  It could also read "Dazed and Confused".  Once we were home that's how I felt.  We sure were rookies when it came to parenting!

Speaking of babies and being postpartum, Jared and Jacquelyn welcomed their new baby girl today.  Elin Avery was born at 12:02p.m.  Jacquelyn arrived at the hospital around 11a.m. and the baby was born less than an hour later!  Go Jacquelyn!  The baby was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  Mom and baby are healthy and well.  What a blessing!  If you haven't checked out Jacquelyn's baby shower, then you can read about it here.  We can't wait to meet the newest addition to the family in person.


The names and identities have not been changed to protect their identity and privacy.  Sorry girls!   ;)
Here's a little more info to explain the relationships of the ones I was referring to in the story above.
*Andrea's married to Mark's brother Craig.  Their children (16 yrs old and 11 yrs old) are a lot older than mine and Mark's.  She's able to look back at the phase of child rearing I'm currently in with a been-there-done-that attitude. Andrea, Craig and their kiddos have been some of our biggest fans and supporters in raising our children.  Andrea is a first grade teacher and she'll be making more appearances on the blog in the near future.

*Terri's one of my best friends from college.  She and her husband Benjie have three little ones.  Her oldest son is about 4 months older than Will.  Her middle daughter is about 4 months older than Ben.  And, her youngest daughter is just the youngest.  I wrote about visiting her after she had the newest baby here.  We don't plan to have anymore children so I didn't keep up with her on #3.  It was really neat to have such a good friend going through all of the phases of pregnancy together.  It's also good for sanity when we need to vent about the frustrating things our kids are doing (i.e. potty training, discipline, sibling rivalry).