Being a Mother

This Sunday May 8th is Mother's Day and so I thought of writing a blog post on being a mother. I have already written two blog posts on this topic....'A Mother and A Daughter' and 'Mamma Mia'....so for this post I thought of stopping, turning around and taking a look back at the last seven and a half years that I have been a Mother myself. And the following are my observations on my own journey as a Mother:

1. Nothing in this world can prepare you for labor and delivery. Seriously, nothing. There is a reason it is termed 'LABOR'....it is a lot of hard work.

2. Labor pains and the discomfort of delivery is possibly the best example of short term memory. The minute you lay your eyes on your child, you forget everything related to the pain and discomfort...those memories just vanish into thin air.

3. The first time you hold your child....especially your first born....along with happiness and pride you also experience a sinking feeling of uncertainty and fear as it hits you that you are now responsible for this tiny fragile human being whom you are even afraid to touch lest you hurt him/her. What you don't know is that the minute you laid your eyes on your child....you are already a changed person....you are now a mother whom Nature has equipped very well to deal with motherhood.

4. Every mother remembers every single detail of the day her child was born. And she has recounted the story of her labor and delivery at least once to another mom.....she has more than likely not shared all the details even with her spouse....but she has definitely shared it with another Mom....for the simple reason that only another woman who has gone through it will understand.

5. A mother has an uncanny ability to know when her child needs her. I will sleep through an alarm clock ringing right next to my ears.....but I will wake up in the middle of the night if my child so much as coughs a little in another room. This ability never ceases to surprise me.

6. You understand the term 'sleep deprivation' in the first few months after your child is born. Yet, you do it all and you do it happily. And then years later when you look back...you wonder how it was humanly possible to function with such little sleep.

7. Mothers really do have eyes at the back of their head. My mother used to always surprise my sister and me by knowing what we were upto without even turning around. Now, I am the same.....always surprising my son who asks me with awe-struck eyes....Mamma, how did you know??...And my answer is the same that my Mother gave me.....Mummy knows everything.

8. A mother will criticize, discipline and scold her children. But she cannot bear somebody else saying anything negative about her kids. The instinct to nurture and protect her children is just too strong to allow that.

9. To a mother, her child will always be a child no matter how old the child gets. And she will always worry about her child.....just the reasons for worrying keep changing. This may be highly annoying to the children....I myself have told my Mom many times...stop worrying, I am not a baby anymore.....but now I know....just like her, to me my children will always be my babies and I will always worry about them.

10. A mother is a source of great comfort to her children. My son says...I love talking to you, Mamma and my daughter wants me to kiss her and wipe her tears when she is hurt. As for me, when I am sick, I pick up the phone and call my Mom....just listening to her voice makes me feel better.

11. At least once (if not more times) in your journey of motherhood, you turn into your own Mom. You find yourself repeating those exact words to your kids that you yourself found highly annoying when they came from your mother to you. It surprises you and in that instant you realize....she was right all along.

12. Of all the names that I am called today 'Mamma' or 'Mummy' is to me the sweetest one and even though there are days when the constant Mammas/Mummys get to me.....it is also the name that gives me the most happiness.

13. Until I became a mother, I did not know that it was humanly possible for me to love another human being to such an extent. A mother's love is pure, unconditional and a mother will pretty much forgive her child anything.

14. Being a mother myself has helped me understand and appreciate two other women in my life.....my own mother and my mother-in-law.

So, the journey has been one of all kinds of emotions....tears, frustrations, doubts, worries, smiles, laughter, giggles.......but mostly it has been one of infinite happiness. And I strongly believe that every 'Mother knows best' when it comes to raising her own children. To your own child YOU are the perfect Mom and nobody else can take your place.

Signing off wishing 'A Very Happy Mother's Day' to all you terrific, fabulous Moms out there and this quote by Margaret Culkin Banning

'She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along'