After visiting my new great niece Shoshana yesterday, I remembered how different I was as a new Mom, and not necessarily in a good way. Ponder this:
1) My niece Miriam had a long hard labor without any drugs. I insisted on..and got..not one but TWO epidurals after dialating only one centimeter. I don't think CentraState Hospital had ever had a laboring mom like me before..or has had one since, which is why the obstetrics staff remain happily employed over these last twenty years.
2) Miriam lives in a small two bedroom apartment and has to scale a flight of steep steps(well, normal people would call them average steps) and has taken the baby out a lot, even 'though she's not even quite a month old. My poor son stayed trapped in his playpen for what seemed like ten years, because I am neurotic, and I worse case scenarioed a lot, which explained why he never got bitten by a tarantula, but may also explain why he's not all that comfortable going outside the box.
3) My nephew and his wife's apartment is small but cozy and neat. My house was peppered with baby paraphernalia and toys when Evan was just a twinkle in his Dad's eye. I had diaper genies and changing tables in every room. Laziness: not a great trait when diving into the parenting pool.
4) Scott and Miriam cuddle Shoshana non-stop, and shower her with affection and compliments.
I tried. I tried, but when you cradle a newborn like he's a football made of porcelain, you may not get the desired effects you had hoped for.
5) My nephew and has wife have seemingly flawless parenting instincts. Miriam comes from a large family so she had a lot of practice with nieces and nephews, but the only thing I practiced with my nephew is teaching him the dirty words for every day things. And yet, he turned out to be a great father to Shoshana anyway.
o'Kay. That's FIVE
