Mother's Day Thoughts

I was wondering what on earth to write about this week... my muse has winged away yet again (she's most definitely the restless sort, not one to hang around endlessly) and I'm somewhat at a loss. It dawned on me that today is in fact Mother's Day in the US, and since I'm a mother... who works with mothers... and takes care of new mothers... it's at least a place to begin. ;)

We have a small crew today, nurses and mothers. Only one delivery, at 6 o'clock this morning-- a beautiful baby girl with a head full of silky dark hair-- has joined us so far, bringing our census to a whopping seven: three mother/baby couplets and one baby who was supposed to go home today but will stay one more night for observation. There are two nurses on the floor and one in the nursery: decent staffing, for once; we're not running our legs off, which makes for a nice change. There are no particularly galling tales to share of mismanaged birth-- also a nice change. Two moms are recovering from cesareans, but they're both doing well, up and around and caring for their babies. All in all, it's (knock wood) a quiet, peaceful Sunday on the postpartum unit.

The downside to such a day is the interminable lag. The clock slows to a crawl. The silence becomes almost oppressive at times. Phones aren't ringing off the hook; call lights aren't beeping. I hardly know what to do with myself! I do need to go make a bed... on the other hand, that mama wanted a nap...

What's really odd, given the recent storms, the full moon , and the time of year (spring is typically a high-census season for us), is that Labor & Delivery is empty. No one laboring since early this morning, no one scheduled to come in this afternoon or this evening for a Cytotec induction. It's almost... spooky. But it's arguably a good spookiness: if we have another Mother's Day baby here, it will be one who arrives in her own good time, because she was ready to be born and decided today was the day.

I'm tempted to stop there, since I can't think of much else and topics like motherhood steer me dangerously close to maudlin sentiment. I could veer off into reminiscenses about my own experiences as a mother-- my oldest is almost ten years old now, so I think that qualifies me as at least a journeyman, if not a master-- in the craft-- but really, I've found that my children and their antics are far more fascinating to me than to anyone else. Of course I think they're brilliant, amazing, talented, extraordinary-- and I defy anyone to tell me differently-- but it doesn't follow that anyone else would be the least bit interested. (If I had a scanner,it might be different: I could upload some of my six-year-old's drawings and let you judge his genius for yourself!)

I think I'll just close with today's Stone Soup, by Jan Eliot:



I wish all the mothers out there a blessedly and blissfully happy Mother's Day today. Oh, and one last link: check out what my heroine, Erma Bombeck, had to say about the origin of mothers.