May I Make One Thing Clear About Motherhood?

After reading back over what I posted yesterday, I think my message came across, "Motherhood is so very easy! I am in love with every single minute of it! I don't understand why so many mothers seem so frazzled!"

Please let me explain myself a little better. Motherhood is HARD. Very hard. It's emotional, exhausting, and trying. I have found myself breaking down into tears just because Wes is screaming in my ear, and there is nothing I can do to make him stop. It. Is. Tough.

Like I said yesterday, I love being a mom. It is the best feeling in the world to have this little child love you so much just as you are. However, Wes and I have gone through our bad times together, and I'm sure there are a lot more bad times to come. My poor, little guy has had a tough time with a few things -- gas and eczema being the worst. Mylicon is my bff.

I nursed exclusively for two weeks. Wes then started eating so much that I was literally nursing around the clock. Some days he would nurse for one hour or one and a half hours straight, take a 30 minute break, then want to nurse again. Yes, he nursed for that long, and he was actually nursing the whole time, not falling to sleep. Some days, I just walked around in my bra all day at home, because it was pointless putting a shirt on. That around-the-clock feeding was really tough for me, and I finally caved. I was literally so tired that I felt like my body was shutting down. I had to have a break, so in came the formula. I remember the first time Wesley was able to feed him. It was like I was able to breath again. However, in the beginning we had some gas issues when he was on Similac. Gassy baby=fussy baby. We eventually found a formula he agrees with (Gerber Good Start Gentle), and that makes him and me happy.

About three weeks ago, Wes started breaking out in horrible, red patches, and he was trying to scratch them constantly. He pretty much cried constantly. You could easily tell that he couldn't get comfortable, which meant he didn't nap well at all. So we had an uncomfortable baby, a tired baby, and an ill baby. It was hell. The doctor confirmed it was eczema and gave us two creams. Well, you can only put the creams on once a day. We are constantly having to slather him in lotion throughout the entire day, we are having to make sure everything that comes in contact with his skin is 100% cotton, we are washing everything in Dreft, we are keeping cloths on our arms when we hold him so our warm, sweaty skin doesn't irritate his sensitive skin, etc. It's so bad.

Last week we thought it would be a great idea to switch his formula to a soy formula, because eczema can be caused by a reaction with milk-based formulas. Bad idea. A couple days later, he was so constipated that I thought it was gonna hurt himself straining. This went on for a couple days. I think he was in more pain because of the constipation than we was from the eczema. Needless to say, we are back on his Gerber formula. The eczema seems to be getting better, and he is starting to calm back down.

Oh, and then there are the little, everyday things that are tougher now. For instance, yesterday was my husband's 30th birthday, and I wanted to take him dinner to the fire station. I picked him up dinner from his favorite little place, which meant I had to park, get Wes out of the car (which that is a chore in itself because he is almost 20 lbs!), pray he doesn't scream while inside the restaurant picking up the food, load him and the food into the car, all in 100 degree Georgia heat. It is tiring!

All that to say, motherhood is no walk in the park, but it's amazing, and I do love it. I really don't see how stay at home moms do it. I cannot imagine having to do every single thing throughout the day, every single day of the week, with a baby (or two, or three, or more...) attached to you 24/7. At least during the work week, I have a break. I can run errands alone on my lunch break, I can talk to other adults about things not having to do with babies, and I can go to lunch with a coworker. I have so much respect for stay at home moms that I can't even put it all into words.

I just really felt the need to say all of those things. I wanted to be perfectly clear that I do not think motherhood is glorious 100% of the time, but it is worth it 100% of the time, and I wouldn't change anything for the world (well, you know...except for the eczema).