Monday, June 25, 2007

Six long, hard, bitter weeks of parental bliss


One of my father's favorite go-to jokes is to say on his and my mother's anniversary (the 39th of which occurred this week) that it's been X long, hard, bitter years of marital bliss. I have appropriated that construct for the title of this post.

Six weeks ago, right at this same time, we were pulling into the hospital parking garage (or "ramp," as they say around here) and walking into Labor & Delivery. It's hard to believe. Time has passed very slowly in some ways, very quickly in others. I'm relieved we've made it to this milestone, where things are a little easier and you at least get some gummy baby smiles in return. When So.ren smiles at me, I don't know how I could feel any happier. I hope you have all experienced this or get to experience it in the not-too-distant future.

It's too bad that you can't know these things in advance, like that your third IVF will work or that your baby will start smiling at five weeks or that breastfeeding won't go that well for you. Knowing those things would be rather useful for one's decision-making and morale. Alas, that isn't the way things work.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wouldn't that make things so much easier? It's the uncertainty and unmet expectations that are so frustrating. Disappointment, I can deal with and move on.

Anonymous said...

He is just so cute!!