I've been busy for the last month helping my daughter, Karalyn, become a mother. She lives in North Carolina, so traveling to her during this pandemic was pretty tricky, but we made it work (thank God) with some testing, our masks, some waiting, and a sweet Air BNB to quarantine in. One lovely thing I was able to do while waiting for labor to start was to give her a book I started back when she was 4 years old. It was a journal, of sorts, that my mother filled out, and I filled out, about the details of our lives as little girls, growing up into our teens, and then into our marriages and motherhood. It's such a cool thing to be able to look back on the women who came before us as we move forward to be the women we want to be.
As July rolled on, my daughter's due date came and went. We walked, and walked, and walked. We tried some natural remedies suggested by her midwife. But finally, early one morning, her water broke. It was so exciting. We knew it was "go" time. We labored at home as long as we could, then made our way to the birth center to meet the midwife. I will let her be the one to tell her own birth story, but all I can say is that I was so honored and blessed to be with her as she bravely labored and ultimately birthed her son. The pain and exhaustion she endured was too much for me at times; when your baby is in pain, you are in pain (even if your baby is 28). So many tears. So much elation and relief. It was intense. I am forever in awe of her strength. It was breathtaking to witness her become a mother to little Jesse.
Jesse latched on immediately and hasn't looked back (in my daughter's words, "He eats like it's his job!"). It's almost as if he knew his grandma was a lactation consultant, so he shouldn't even try any funny business. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to have such a good breastfeeder; I knew my vacation time from work was running out and I wasn't going to be able to stay for too many more days. Thankfully, he didn't need my help at all. He didn't even need Karalyn's help. Just put him in the vicinity and he did all the work. Zero pain. I kept asking my daughter if she had any pain but she never did. The relief just kept sweeping over me. It's incredibly rare that a mom doesn't have at least a little discomfort or tenderness in the first few days of nursing. Zilch. Whew. They made up their own comfortable positions and holds that worked for both of them. It was incredible to watch them figure it out. I just sat back in awe of this amazing relationship they were forming.
It's only been 4 weeks, but I can already tell my baby girl is going to be an amazing mother. I couldn't be more proud to watch her make this transition in her life. I only wish I could teleport myself to North Carolina every couple of days to help her out more, and to spend time with my new little grandbaby. It's always been fun to hold other people's grandbabies, but MAN is it super-sweet to have one of my own!
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