Oh how we judge each other.
Is it better to breastfeed or bottle feed? Do you feed your child all organic
foods? Stay at home or work? The list goes on and on and on and on and
frankly it gets very tiring.
I didn’t really take any offense to the Time magazine
cover. I mean, I don’t have the desire
to be breastfeeding an older child but who gives a crap if someone else
does. It isn’t up to us to decide. As mothers, we should never ever feel guilty
about our choices with our kids as long as those choices are what works for
your family.
I was a bottle feeder.
I had total intentions of breastfeeding my first born child but then I was
put to sleep for a c-section and didn’t get to see her for the first time until
over 12 hours later. Then I was pretty
sure that c-section was going to kill me so the very last thing I felt like I
could do was breathe much less feed my baby.
I know what you are saying….what a wimp.
Then a wimp I am! It was my very
first ever time being a patient and in a hospital. There was no time in my situation for a
spinal so when I awoke from my surgery, I felt every single nerve that had been
sliced through to get to my baby girl safely.
When my son came along I totally entertained the idea yet again of
breastfeeding but he landed in the NICU for 5 days. Even still I was being pressured by his NICU
Dr. to pump for him but you know what, I didn’t want to. I had just suffered through a horrific two
year process that started with trying for 6 months to get pregnant, being
pregnant, birthing and burying that sweet boy, healing, getting pregnant again,
being pregnant and on bed rest for 17 weeks and it had all ended with yet
another c-section with a baby in the NICU.
So excuse me if I know my body, my emotions and my parenting skills and made the best choice for me and my family
not based on what some Dr. that has never birthed or breastfed a baby told
me.
Extreme parenting is in ALL OF US!!! No matter what you say, we all have our own
version of extreme. I bottle-fed, didn’t
make my own baby food, only co-slept when I thought I was going to die from
sleep exhaustion, I used store bought diapers and I don’t regret one single bit
of it. But my extreme comes out in other
ways. My kids had to stay on a schedule
and Lord help your soul if you (my husband) caused my schedule to get off
course. I insisted that even though my babies
didn’t leave the house most days, they had to (and still do) take a bath every
single night. The most extreme (my
entire family would agree) parenting that I had was my sudden fear of germs. Don’t touch my kid or me and all will be
right in my world. Well I should say
that my little boy who can’t keep his hands off of stuff has broke me of this
to some extent but that germ sickness is still deep down inside of me.
So Time magazine, Yes I am Mom enough. I was mom enough to go through three pregnancies. I was mom enough to birth them. I was mom enough to survive the death of a
precious boy that I still try to mother even from very far away. I was mom enough for my kids to survive their
first year of life. I have been mom
enough to get one child to 9 ½ and the other to 4 1/2 and guess what….so far
they still like me. I don’t think my
kids have suffered in anyway b/c they wore store bought diapers or sleep in
their own beds. But for those of you
that do any form of extreme parenting (which is every single one of us in some
way or another) you are awesome. Every
parent that takes care of their own child, teaches them, loves them, clothes
them, feeds them and raises them…..No matter how you do it, you are AWESOME and
don’t let any Dr., friend, judgmental woman, Time magazine or mother-in-law
tell you any different!!!
