Monday, October 19, 2015

Dear Second-Time Mom Who Feels Like She's Drowning: It's Going to Be Okay

Dear Second-Time Mom,

It's totally overwhelming. You haven't showered in days. You're exhausted and you smell faintly of sour milk and both kids are crying. If they aren't now, they will be soon.

How can one person be expected to handle this?

I love this encouragement for moms struggling with the transition to being a mother of two kids. Learning to manage a baby and a toddler at the same time can feel overwhelming, and I really struggled with how to be a good mom after my second child was born. Luckily, one sweet moment between the new siblings helped me realize that everything was going to be more than okay: it was going to be awesome. #encouragementformoms #siblings #brothers #sisters #children #secondchild #newbaby #momoftwo #baby #toddler #family #unremarkablefiles

You were probably a great mom the first time around. 

You learned on the fly how to manage diaper blowouts in public and what's the fastest way to clean up after the baby spits up in your bra.

You balanced learning time with playtime and took your first to all sorts of places.

You didn't feel like you got it all perfect, but you did your best and felt good enough.

I was that mom, too.

When my first daughter came along I was full of energy and excitement about it. She was my little buddy, going everywhere with me from Day One. It was like I'd been born to do this.

We were just as excited to add to our little family a few years later, when daughter #2 came along. I brought her home from the hospital with no idea what I was getting myself into.

I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you I cried every day for the first 6 months. 

It wasn't at all like it had been the first time around.

When my first baby was born, we spent the better part of the next few weeks swaying back and forth in our cream-colored nursing glider.

I never knew what time it was and didn't really care. I probably spent hours a day just stroking her hair and breathing in that new-baby smell and memorizing the grunts and sounds she made while she nursed (I also remember dusting sandwich crumbs off her head so I must've been eating at the same time.)

Bringing home my second baby couldn't have been more different.

I didn't even have time to glance at her while she nursed, other than to make sure she latched on correctly. I was too busy running around doing everything one-handed: trying to read to my toddler, trying to get my toddler a snack, trying to clean up the crusty dishes from breakfast when I still hadn't eaten lunch yet (no sandwiches for me!)

We rarely sat in the nursing glider except in the dead of night, because there wasn't room for my toddler to squeeze in next to us without elbowing me in the stomach or her sister in the head.

After a week of being home I looked down at my second-born nursing and thought, "Who is this little person?" I felt like I didn't know her at all. I was too busy trying to survive.

And it wasn't just that I felt disconnected from the baby. I was letting my toddler down, too.

Going out was hard because it seemed like both girls were only awake at the same time for a grand total of 20 minutes per day.

While the baby ate and slept, my toddler and I spent most of our waking hours sitting in the apartment killing time. She was getting seriously tired of the game "Do you want to help me get a diaper for your sister?"

I told her "not right now" all the time now, a phrase I'd tried to avoid before unless absolutely necessary.

Only it was always necessary now, because I was forever trying to get the baby to sleep or dealing with a nuclear diaper explosion or give her a bath or any of the other bajillion things a baby needs during the day.

Every time I did something for the baby, I was failing the toddler. Every time I did something with the toddler, I was failing the baby.

In short, I felt like a failure. I had no clue how to continue being the same kind of mom to two kids that I'd been to one. In fact, it was impossible. My time and attention had been sliced in half.

It wasn't until several months later that I happened to watch my oldest plop down nose-to-nose on the baby blanket on the floor next to her baby sister and just lay there, smiling like Princess Ariel had personally come over to sing "Part of Your World" for her. And her sister, too young to smile back, craned her neck to watch her with the most intense concentration I've ever seen.

I knew then that it was going to be okay.

I'd thought I was doing such a terrible job because I wasn't giving either of my girls what I thought a mom should be able to give her child. And to an extent, I was right  I had given up the ability to focus on each one 100% all of the time.

But I'd also given them each other. No matter how awesome a mom I'd been, I never couldn't given either of them that moment by myself.

Dear Second-Time Mom Who Feels Like She's Drowning: It's Going to Be Okay -- I have been there before. You think you're a crappy mom. But it gets better. And sooner or later you'll find out that there's no gift you could give your child quite like the love of a sibling.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}

From there on out, it was still hard, but it got better. 

After a hectic trip to the store the baby sat fussing in her car seat in the living room, and without a word my toddler pulled over her plastic lawn chair and started "reading" to her out of a Miss Spider picture book with words she made up.

The baby grew older and I noticed that she reserved her biggest belly laughs for her sister. My toddler couldn't wait to get her up from naps and play with her, even when the baby was too little to do much of anything besides sit on a blanket and watch her every move.

My toddler thought the baby was the best thing ever, and the baby was equally enamored with her. They were in love.

My two daughters are 9 and 11 now, and the best gift I ever gave them is each other. Of course they bicker and get on each other's nerves like siblings do, but they're best friends for life.

Things won't always be easy, but you'll get better at multi-tasking and trust me: it's going to be more than okay.

Sincerely,
Another Mom

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11 comments:

Jenny said...

Oh the things we think we are going to do before the babies come. I remember feeling a lot of the same things. I felt bad that my oldest wasn't getting enough attention and I felt bad that I didn't read to the baby as much as I did with the my first. Or take pictures or videos as often of her as often either, for that matter. But its so fun to see them take care of each other.

PurpleSlob said...

Yup, true story, my life with my 2 girls. It happens to every single mother in the world, I think.
WE benefit, and they have a friend for life!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post! While not exactly our situation - just found out I'm expecting #3, who will be 16 months younger than my twins - still found reassurance in these words!

Unknown said...

I love this, Jenny! I'm not quite ready to expand my family yet, and one of the very small reasons is because I want to give as much attention to my second child as I did to my first, but never really thought how they will each have each other as well. You saying it out loud--that it's going to be ok with two kids in tow--makes our decision all the more exciting. Because you're absolutely right: we can be the best moms to them, but they're siblings to each other as well. That's another added support, another facet of parenting we can celebrate. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful post!

Jenny Evans said...

Everything is a trade-off, but seeing my kids play together I know it was worth it.

Jenny Evans said...

I can honestly say that watching the kids interact with each other and the friendships between them is one of my favorite parts of being a mom!

Sarah Eliza @ devastateboredom said...

Awwww precious! Following you on twitter now. :)

Unknown said...

eeeee I'm thinking of another next year and I'm scared...very scared! haha. No I can imagine it is a crazy 6 months at the start. I found that with the first and newborns don't really do a lot eh? Sounds like your girls have a lovely relationship. Good read :-) xx #thetruthabout

JOhn Adams said...

Even a father like myself can relate to this (well, bits of it, I've never worn a bra). #thetruthabout

Jenny Evans said...

Well, nobody's perfect. But I'm glad you could relate.

Jenny Evans said...

Now that you've done the newborn thing you'll find that it isn't that hard - it's just entertaining the older one all the time that's hard! If you've got a friend or family member nearby who can take the older one for a few afternoons after you bring the baby home, it makes all the difference.