It is that moment. The moment you first stare at the positive result on the home pregnancy test in your hand. That moment when your emotions are a little crazy. You don’t know whether you are going to laugh, or cry. Maybe you have been trying for this moment for a long time, or maybe you just are not ready. Maybe you never expected to be at this moment till many years down the road. Wherever you are, the reality of the moment is staring you in the face and you know nothing will ever be the same again.
During the next nine months, your body changes. You have no control over what is happening. Everything you eat goes to support the life growing inside of you. Everything that you do effects that little life. Then the day comes for you to deliver this life into the world. You experience an amazing phenomenon called labor. Again, you have no control over what your body is doing. You have to prepare, sit back, and try to endure the ride.
Finally, you are holding this little bundle of screaming joy in your arms. In that moment, you are forced to become very selfless. Your entire life now seems to revolve around this baby. When it cries, you go to it and supply whatever it needs. It seems to cry continuously and sometimes for no reason at all. You are the main supplier to this little life. You are the source of comfort and nutrition. You are Mommy.
Several months pass and you feel like you are slowly getting into some sort of odd groove. You now have a toddler. That toddler begins to learn the word, “Mommy.” You begin to hear one thing over and over throughout each day and each night. “Mommy!” “Mommy?” “Mommy.” The little voice can be soft and sweet, or so consistent you feel like you want another name! Other times that single word is said in a way that makes you feel like the most important person in all the world. Amazing how a little creature can cause such different emotions using just one single word!
There are some out there who end up going through the entire process yet again, from positive pregnancy test to another screaming little life about this time. There you are, with newborn baby screaming in one arm and a needy, toddler in the other continually saying the only word they seem to know at the moment. It is at that point that you really have to fight to be a selfless mom.
Everything inside of you screams to be teleported to a deserted island far away from the little needy people in your life. You might bring your husband (if you have one) or your best girlfriend, but really, it is the joy of solitude that you seek. Just you, and the peaceful sounds of the waves crashing on the shore and the gulls calling overhead. Maybe you have in your hand your favorite drink and are slowly sipping on its satisfying sweetness. Maybe you are lying on a massage table and all of your worries and cares are melting away by the masseuses steady hands. Whatever it is you imagine up, one thing is for sure, you want some peace!
Motherhood is a wonderful time of life. For every tough moment, there are at least ten moments that make it all worth while. The struggle is keeping ourselves balanced as mothers. Finding that time away from our children for a couple of hours during the week is hard. It may require a babysitter, or it may require the help of a friend or family member. As a mother, you need to seek out this time for yourself. It is not only important for your sanity, but for your children as well.
What about those moments when we wish we could take back our harsh tones or our frustration when our kids are just being kids? We have all been there. That is our selfishness coming through. We need to guard ourselves from that. It is not easy. It is a constant fight. It is why those quiet mommy moments alone are so important. Seek out help if you do not have help readily available. Recruit your husband on a weekend to watch the kids for you for just an hour. If he doesn’t understand why you need the time alone, he will after watching the kids for an hour!
Most importantly, be a mom to your kids. Love them when they are frustrating. Enjoy them during the tough moments of exhausted crying for no reason at all or the overuse of your title. You are Mommy. Not superwoman, but Mommy! So, put down the cell phone’s and text messaging devices. Turn off the computers and lay aside that novel till later when you can have those "you" moments. Mother your children now while you have the chance, because before you know it the years will have passed and the kids will be gone and you will long for just one more day to be Mommy.
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