Happy Mothers Day!

I would like to wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!  New moms and experienced moms; young moms and seasoned moms; moms-to-be and moms-in-waiting, may you all enjoy this day and relish in the moment you became a mother.

For me, it was a typical chilly February day in Chicago just over two years ago.  I was two weeks overdue.  After struggling for many years to conceive, I was ready for my daughter to make her entrance into the world.  I had started having mild contractions the night before.  After calling the doctor in the middle of the night, my husband and I decided to go into the hospital the following morning, since I was still having contractions.  He sent us home though, since I was still in very early labor.  I had my weekly doctor’s appointment that afternoon and he would see how I was progressing then. 

In the meantime, I was to go home and labor at home.  To help my labor progress, I walked the treadmill, rolled on my stability ball and walked on the treadmill some more.  My efforts were futile though.  At the appointment, my labor was still progressing slowly so, the doctor performed a “procedure” to speed it up.  That evening I went back to the hospital and was admitted.  My labor was finally progressing, slowly but surely.     

After four years of waiting, nine months gestation, two weeks for good measure and 36 hours of labor, February 8th 2008 my daughter was born.  The frist time I held her in my arms was everything I expected it to be.  As someone, who also struggled with infertilty explained it once, it was like that first sip of ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day, refreshing and quenching.  All my joys, dreams, wants and needs were encapsulated in that moment.  That was the day I became a mother.  That is the day my daughter came into the world.  That is my Mother’s Day.