What’s Different with Two
Well, everything.
The Earth shattering panic is much, much less.
Don’t get me wrong, you will still put your finger under your newborn’s nose to make sure they are breathing, but this time it is questionable whether or not your hands are Purell fresh.
You recognize just how capable you are.
I decided to “bounce back” as quickly as I could this go around which meant we left the hospital 12 hours after Madeleine was born and I did my first 3 mile walk when she was 20 days old. I take my “recovery time” while eating lunch/nursing/standing up in the kitchen. I realize now that I threw my own pity party for far too long with Charlotte, silently mourning the loss of my childless freedom. While I don’t drive a minivan or wear “Mom jeans”, I am fully committed to Mommyhood this go-around.
Your love doesn’t split, it grows.
Everyone said I would get it when Madeleine was born and I hoped they’d be right, but I feared maybe they’d be wrong since no one could possibly understand just how much I love my first born. Turns out, I now have three loves of my life (and no I'm not pregnant again).
This too shall pass.
I am generally a glass half full type of person and I have tried my best to carry this mantra into motherhood, but when people would say “it’s just a phase” I wanted shove a BPA free pacifier in their mouth to get them to stop talking. But now I have living proof in my first born that babies eventually sleep through the night. So when I’m up anywhere from five to seven times a night, I know the newborn phase is fleeting.
The questions are different.
With the exception of my veterinarian who was terribly concerned with how our dogs were coping with our new human addition, everyone wants to know how Charlotte is handling the change. Instead of asking how you are sleeping, people (the ones you should keep around) hand you coffee and baked goods.
What would be considered an emergency of poo-pocalypse proportions with one, is now a Tuesday with two. It is easy to get overwhelmed, cry, and want to throw in the burp cloth, but instead I find comedy in the chaos and bliss in the bedlam.
