Yes, You Can Do It
I’ll never forget the moment when I was absolutely sure that I just couldn’t keep going as a mom. My two year old was having a fitful sleep and kept waking me up with her yelps from the nightmares she was having. My newborn was sleeping in the bed with me because it was the only way we could get him to sleep. My husband was asleep downstairs because he couldn’t handle getting woken up several times an hour, so I was left to deal with it all on my own.
My son woke up crying, so I woke up and discovered that his diaper had leaked all over us, so both him and I were covered with pee. The bed was soaked but I didn’t have the gumption to get up and get new sheets because I was exhausted. It then hit me that I was completely willing to sleep in a puddle of pee because I didn’t have the energy to go get new sheets, so I started crying right along with my son. I held him and cried, and figured that if there was a breaking point for moms then it probably looked a little something like this: a sobbing mom sitting in a puddle of pee with a crying newborn.
Ah, memories.
If you’re a new parent then you can expect to have moments like this. You might not wind up in the exact same situation – I really hope you don’t, by the way – but it could be any number of things. I had one friend who absolutely lost it on her father-in-law when he ate the last banana in the house that was supposed to be for her baby’s breakfast. I had another friend who called me sobbing in a panic because she just couldn’t stand looking at the walls in her house anymore, yet couldn’t fathom gathering her twin boys into the car to leave. A few years later, all of us are competent moms who only break down sobbing once in a great while, and usually because our kids do something so moving that we cry from good emotions.
The point is that you can get through the really tough times with your baby. Yes, there will be times when you are so exhausted and so emotional that you feel like you simply can’t do anything other than stay in bed and cry, but try to keep it all in perspective. You’re tired, you’re hormonal, and chances are you’re a little overwhelmed by the thought of being responsible for another life. It’s no wonder we all crack once in a while.
You can do it. Trust me.
Read More
Teresa says...
Excellent post! We’ve all been there — well, maybe not in the pee bed
— but similar situations, and it does, eventually, get easier.
brit says...
I have so been there. I remember loosing it when my son was a few months old, he was so overtired and crying but just wouldn’t nap and i was so desperately in need of a nap myself and i put him in his crib and went in the other bedroom and screamed at the walls. I think we all have moments like these – thank you for sharing. And yeah, I do seem to be doing it, despite the crazy moments! We can do it, mamas
smart baby says...
It’s nice post. I also never felt how tired caring for a newborn. But for me, it was a very valuable experience. Doing everything with happy, then you will easily do