Here are Jamie's answers:
1. One ugly truth about motherhood. I think that the ugliest truth about motherhood would have to be how hard it really is. Most people would say that they believe being a mother is hard (dads included) but no one really knows except a mother. It starts when you find out you’re pregnant, you start worrying about everything: what you eat and breath in, how you move and lift things and everyone has heard the horror stories of childbirth and lots of them are true but it gets harder from there. My first was shipped off to the NICU two hours away from our home just hours after her birth. She had surgery the night she was born, the night that I should have been with her, cuddling and bonding. She was there for ten weeks and I had a hard time not being resentful and missing the time that we should have had but also feeling so lucky that it wasn’t worse. And when she came home, there was more worrying about every little thing and that was about all there was time for. It was so hard to try to function on the amount of sleep I was getting when my girls were babies, it is hard being so tired all the time and still trying to take care of the people in your life. And now that my girls are 4 and 2 motherhood is harder in different ways. It is hard to take care of two very active children; it is hard trying to teach them to be a “big kid” while wishing that they would just stay little for a little longer, it is so hard watching them grow up and not need “mommy” like they used (like I used to complain about and now wish I had that time back). And I’m pretty sure it is going to keep getting harder.
2. What does motherhood mean to you? From the previous question, you would think I hate motherhood but nothing could be farther from the truth. I am home with my girls most of the time. They are my job and my life. So to me motherhood means being there all the time for them no matter what else is going on, what kind of mood I am in, how they are behaving. They will always be my babies and no matter what they do or say, I am their Mommy.
3. How has motherhood empowered you? I still tell people at almost 30 years old that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. J I never found anything that I really wanted to do career wise but I am realizing that motherhood has empowered me to have a career that I love. I know that a lot of people don’t consider that a legitimate career and there is not pay, no benefits but there should be. What more important job could there be than taking care of your children. And like Stephanie, I feel that if I can make it through the things I do as a mother, I can handle anything.
Thank you Jamie for being so candid with your answers. Your girls are very lucky to have you. I bet they are going to be the best dressed girls because you can sew up cute outfits for them whenever they want!
Project Empowering Motherhood is an ongoing series in celebration and honor of Cati's 6 months. For my responses to the questions and more about the series, go HERE. To read Jenn, Melisa, Esther, Andrea, Jenny, Jen, and Mollie's answers, go HERE. If you are interested in participating and being featured on the blog send your answers to the three questions to steppystar@aol.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment