Babies in June

This is the time of year I fondly remember my two pregnancies and the subsequent births of my sons, both born in June two years apart. My pregnancies were wonderful: Hormone swings disappeared and I enjoyed each one, seeing my body adapt to being a mother, and then feeling the movements of growing child within me. I remember the harder days but they were few and far between for me; my body took to pregnancy like the proverbial duck to water.

I rejoice too in the fact that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and the milk hormones mute the memories of labor and delivery. It was the hardest and most rewarding work I had ever done or will ever do in my life. After the birth of my older son, I wrote a story for the Sunday edition of the newspaper about my use of breathing techniques and advance training during labor and delivery. My doctor told me later he’d never thought about a new mom’s desire to touch and hold with her hands which had been out of reach for 9 months. He said he understood his patient’s needs to hold their newborns better as a result.

Getting to be an at-home mom was a gift my sons’ father gave us both. I loved being with my sons, watching them grow, being with them at each stage, guarding their health and happiness.

The outcomes of our parenting are wonderful. Both my sons celebrate their birthdays this month as godly men, loving their wives as Christ loved the church. My older son fathers his children as he was fathered, with love, humor and practicality, a wonderful reflection of the ways of his dad and other dads he has known including his Heavenly Father.

Motherhood never ends as my own mother has so eloquently told me; you just pray in new ways about new circumstances. I rejoice today in being a mother, knowing it is the most important work I have done and will continue to do.