- BY EESHA PATWARDHAN
A year earlier I may have read this quote and scoffed at it not feeling the weight of every single word. Today , two months after being blessed with a baby , these words have a whole new meaning to me.
Motherhood is the least appreciated yet most gratifying job any human could ever have . Motherhood is like the air we breathe, its vital to life yet we take it for granted . We accept it because we have it so readily available and on top of that a mothers love knows no bound so all the more reason for us to take it for granted . But motherhood is no cakewalk for sure. A mother is born the day a baby is born , a woman quickly switches over to the role of a caregiver and nurturer . It is not only physically painful to become a mother but also a very long and difficult mental journey . From being somebody else’s baby , you now suddenly have one to call your own and within seconds of it being born you need to care for it . a.k.a feed it , love it and make it all your own.
When I graduated to becoming a mother , it suddenly hit me that all my life I took my own mother for granted. Fought with her as if she was enemy of the state, back answered her , was mean to her , never empathized with her and never appreciated her for all that she was and all she did for me and most of all what she meant to me . Yet she persevered and continued to nurture me despite my lack of appreciation .It truly is a thankless job. A job with no monetary salary but with rich payments in the form of your baby’s smile , a job with no vacation because even on vacation a moms on duty , a job with no incentives , unless you count the endless giggles and gurgles .
Till just a few weeks ago, my mornings were what most yearned for . I would rise from my sleep and stretch my arms and stare out of the window just a little longer , get up and brew myself a fresh pot of coffee that would fuel me through my morning . I would make some breakfast for my husband and myself and eat it at a leisurely pace while simultaneously skimming through the newspaper and my iPad . On many occasions I would treat myself to coffee in bed while i chomped down delicious cream cheese buns and played loud music . Lets just say LIFE WAS GOOD.
Fast forward a few weeks and ta-da . LIFE GOT EVEN BETTER.
As a new mother on most mornings I don’t wake up to the smell of freshly brewing coffee , rather I’m woken up by the loud , thunderous sounds of my son farting and pooping as he wakes up . On most mornings now I wake up to the sight of the golden goop oozing out from his behind .
Strangely enough this is more satisfying than anything else I have ever done in my life. Maybe it is the feeling that somebody else needs me or depends on me for the tiniest thing or it is just the natural maternal instinct kicking in. Whatever it may be , I LOVE IT!
When I was carrying my baby , I often tried to imagine what my baby would be like, boy or girl ? Big nose or small nose , hairy or not , if it took after the father or me . Various questions raced through my mind. I called the unborn one my alien baby , well solely because he was an alien creature to me . I only knew him through ultrasounds and through the constant tumbling that he did in-utero . It was unreal to me . In fact the day we found out that I was with child was the weirdest day in my life. I call it weird because to me this was something I had hoped and prayed for since a very long time but somehow I could not imagine it happening to me .
Its no wonder that the human gestational period is 9 months 9 days because becoming a mother is a journey . A pink positive line on the test strip doesn’t mean that I’m a mother , it just means that the journey has begun and it only gets better.
As expecting mothers we have all had our shares of ups and downs, sometimes the downs are more. But no mother will admit to it. Thats a testament to the strength of a woman . Every pregnant woman goes through emotional and physical turmoil , endless throwing up , mood swings, acid reflux, pains , uncontrollable flatulence , incontinence , tears ,sweat and even blood. Not to forget the constant worry of the well being of a child yet to be born. Despite all this you will never hear a mom say that all this is bothering her or is not worth it , yes , she may complain but she will suffer through the storm because she is now metamorphosing into another form who we commonly call MOM.
So next time you have the urge to scream at your mom or say something mean to her, think again . She carried you in her womb but still will carry you in her heart till her last breath .