A Step Back in Time

I did get lots done yesterday, and I did some exploring, too. I went back to the house we almost bought and discovered that, as expected, the owners had taken it off the market. Then I came home and got to work on Janelle's room. I got all the boxes unpacked, but did not get it all organized. My goodness, how does one little girl end up with so much STUFF! Today I'm going back in armed with garbage bags! I will finish before noon!

Last night I had an interesting experience. I went to a breastfeeding class with my friend, Jocelyn (my only friend in London), who is expecting her first baby next month. Her husband really didn't want to go, and I was happy to get out of the house and be her support person. It was fascinating to sit in a room full of pregnant women, most for the first time, and see them learning all they can about this mysterious art. It was hard, too. Because I LOVED breastfeeding, and I miss it! It is one of the things I miss most about having a baby. We watched a movie full of precious newborns learning to feed, and it took me back in time. Yes, it was painful at first, but it was soooooo worth it! What a precious bonding experience! I just wanted to stand up and shout to all these expectant mothers "You are so blessed! You are about to experience the most beautiful thing you can imagine! Treasure it because it WILL NOT LAST!" Time with our new babies is so fleeting.

It was hard keeping my mouth closed. There were so many things I wanted to remind the instructors to say: Tell them they may not feel their milk come in. Tell them not to give up for at least two weeks, because no matter how hard it is, it will get better and it is the best feeling in the world. Tell them what thrush is, and how to recognize it, and not to let it ruin their nursing experience. I found myself nodding along with them most of the time, and sometimes finding that things I did on a regular basis are frowned upon nowadays.
I kind of wish I had taken a breastfeeding class before I had my babies. Oh, we did the prenatal classes, of course. And I read everything about nursing that I could get my hands on. And I had many experienced friends who were full of advice. But there is something about learning with others in the same situation that make those silly questions in the back of your mind seem not so silly. Maybe I would have known that Connor's bright orange bowel movements when he was four days old were not something to worry about. Maybe I wouldn't have let Janelle's thrush steal some of my joy from her first precious weeks. There is something to be said about being prepared.

Still, when it comes to anything about motherhood, I don't think we can be 100% prepared. We learn far more from experience than anything we could have learned from a class. I felt like I could have stood up and taught most of that class last night, but I wouldn't have shared anything that I learned from a book. It would have all come from what Connor and Janelle have taught me. The answers to so many of the questions the women had last night were "It depends on your baby". And now that my babies are 10 and 6, it still very often depends on them.

So where do I sign up for the class on surviving the teenage years?