Sunday 1 February 2009

doctor/woman/mother



I've taken a long time to get around to this post, and I'm still not quite sure what to say. Everything sounds like such a cliche. On 29th November 2008 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy after 53 hours of contractions and 17 hours of established labour. I didn't realise just how exhausting, painful and draining it would be. Classically though, as soon as I heard his cry and knew he was OK, everything else was forgotten in the wonder of meeting our surprisingly clean, deliciously warm baby boy with his huge dark blue eyes. I think I shall here call him baby blue, as that's one of my many nicknames for him. He has changed our lives forever, of course, as babies do. We are both head over heels in love with him and can spend hours just watching his face. He can get me up four times in the night (as he did last night), leaving me totally exhausted and grumpy in the morning, but one big smile as I get him dressed melts my heart completely.

Some things have been (and still are) so hard, including the slow torture of sleep deprivation, both me and baby blue getting the hang of breastfeeding, getting used to the changes in my body, the sheer insane wash of emotions that swept over me in the first couple of weeks... I found the huge shift in my identity and thought processes a bit of a shock, as I got accustomed to being a life support machine and being tied so closely to this tiny dependent demanding little person. At the moment being a doctor seems so far away, and even remembering to be a woman requires a little focus and time to myself. Mostly I'm just a new mum - worrying about doing everything just right, fighting to get myself enough rest and down time, overcome by this new love, and convinced that this little boy is the most perfect in the world. I am desperate to just have a bit more predictability to my life, and to be able to leave him for a few hours, and simultaneously aware that I should savour every second of this time, which will never come again. So forgive me if I don't post very often, but I'll try to keep you a little bit updated. But mostly I'll be wrapped up in my son for a while...

5 comments:

Amy said...

Sounds fair enough to me :) Congrats; baby blue looks and sounds beautiful x

Mad Medea said...

Good to hear from you sweetheart.... but damn you... this post has set the broodiness off again!

Jocelynmaryestelle said...

Hello, I came across you blog while googling woman doctor. So... I found out I was accepted into medical school (in America - I live in Tennessee) about two weeks ago. I'm a Christian and I like quite a few of the same books as you do. Suffice to say I like your blog and bless you for you musings...

hope this isn't too weird

jocelyn mary-estelle

Amy said...

I just had to comment again because whilst reading your comments I noticed that my word verification would be "recipea" and you'd mentioned baking on facebook...so it seemed apt!
Hope all's going well :) x

AdventuringJen said...

hello :) I was so sure I'd commented on this...but I haven't...and I remember why now because I was going to send you an email instead of a comment...but I didn't do that either :(
But lovely post, lovely boy, lovely you!
xxxx