A year ago today, my husband I were picking at our Valentine’s dinner and talking about how we both felt off. About an hour later the off feeling turned into contractions, and a few hours after that, we were at the hospital, getting ready to meet our daughter. I can’t believe it has been a whole year. Although I feel like Gia has been with me forever, it also feels like just yesterday that she was sleeping on my chest in the creaky hospital bed curled in a tiny ball. Breastfeeding her has been wonderful from the first minute we started. My whole experience of parenting her, in fact, has felt so effortless and joyful. Certainly for me, but probably for every parent, having a second child is an entirely different and much more relaxed and enjoyable process than your first. Of course. The first time around you learn - the hard way. With your second child, the shock of parenthood has worn off and you are accustomed to being exhausted and selfless. For me, that took several months of adjustment, and after a relatively harrowing last few months of pregnancy and a long and intense childbirth it is understandable. They say the first three months are the “fourth trimester”, but I believe the whole first year is an extended postpartum period in which mother and child are still very much intertwined, especially when they are breastfeeding. Because I still nurse my daughter during the night, I still feel very physically connected to her and I cherish that bond. It feels like something we both need that feeds us both. Happy happy birthday to you, my beautiful sweet daughter. My mom says having a girl is different, and she is right. I love you with all my heart.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl
