Category Archives: in the beginning

Life without sleep

I always knew what I feared most about parenthood: sleep deprivation. No question. During pregnancy, when strangers and even dear friends insisted on peppering me with advice on all things baby, I always steered them to the topic that interested me most: How much were they sleeping? How much did their baby sleep? How could they LIVE like that? I was truly terrified, and it seemed like no amount of preparation could save me from the inevitable fog of exhaustion […]

Making space for me again

I will never forget the way it felt to finally let a little me back into my life. It took almost a year from the time my first baby was born.

Quinn was an all-consuming baby, from newborn colic and nursing struggles to restless nights and teething drama. I was bone tired and had been in survival mode for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t making deliberate choices so much as putting one foot in front of the other.

Some days that […]

Waiting for a late, late baby

I never thought I’d be an expert on overdue babies.

I was born three weeks before my due date. My sister also came well before her due date. It never occurred to me that I would be pregnant weeks after my due date.

But I did it– twice.

With my first daughter, I started maternity leave two weeks before she was due. I was that sure of her early arrival.

Of course I had heard that the average first baby is eight […]

Bye, bye, baby…

 “I kiss you and kiss you, with arms round my own,

Ah, how shall I miss you, when, dear, you have grown”

–William Butler Yeats

I lay in bed the other day, nurse-dreaming as Ruby suckled away at the breast. My hand cupped her head. As they often do, my thoughts rested on Ruby, too.

I remember the exact feel of her as she lay on my chest just after being born, her sweet healthy gurgle (she was born partway in her sac still), […]

Want some parenting advice?

When you have a baby, everyone who has “been there” (and plenty of people who haven’t) feel obligated to overload you with advice. These are mostly well-meaning attempts to make your life easier, or at least make the bearer feel they have done their part to pass on all the knowledge they accrued.

The only problem with that knowledge is it tends to fall into the following categories: Super obvious, super crazy or super unlikely.

Some super obvious advice that most parents get is […]