Mumbai-based financial analyst, Ritika Moniz shares her highs and lows of being a motherhood
From the first time you hear your baby's heartbeat during the initial doctors visits, your mind works in overdrive and an avalanche of questions fill your mind–How will my baby look? How will it feel to hold her? Will I be able to understand her needs when she cries? and the biggest question of all, Will I be a good mom?
When I saw my baby for the first time, I first thanked God for her. The minute I held her I knew I was no longer the master of my emotions. I knew from now on her tears are mine, her fears are my worries and her joy is my happiness. I forgot about caring for myself and put my needs second to hers. But no one remembers that babies are tiny when they are born, so when visitors say “She's so small,” it's a bit upsetting for a new mommy, because you are feeding her and she's still “so small.”
The initial days are stressful; you don't know if you're feeding her enough or if she has slept enough and when she cries, you can never tell what is bothering her. If this isn't enough, there are a million people around with their two-pence advice on how they did things differently, which worked perfectly for them. Their different ideas and suggestions are useful, no doubt, but the contrasting opinions can be overwhelming. You're told to feed the baby every two hours, but no one tells you that you have tickle her and wake her up for her feed, no matter how sound asleep she is. They have small tummies and their food gets digested quickly, which makes it necessary to feed her every two hours. Add to this the doctors dos and don'ts, and I was left very confused and anxious.
Things never work out as planned and they certainly didn't for us; mistakes were made, post-natal troubles appeared in one form or the other and there were times when I felt completely clueless. But in a few weeks, my mommy instincts kicked in and I could decipher her different cries and babble.
And then came Allison's first smile; she looked straight at me, recognised me and gave me this toothless grin that makes all the sleepless nights totally worthwhile. What helps in those difficult times is the people around you, so make sure you surround yourself with all the people who love and care for you and provide you with lots of positivity.
Ritika Moniz, 27, Financial Analyst
Also see: It's Priceless by Noora D'Mello dnai.in/ccMW
Pure Ecstasy by Vaishali Bansilal Kaul dnai.in/cctf
My Best Decision by Praneet Gill dnai.in/ccte
An Emotional Rollercoaster by Harini Aravind dnai.in/cd8y
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