New Motherhood -Guest Post from Keshet of Over The Rainbow

I'm so excited to have Keshet from Over The Rainbow posting here today. Keshet is a new mother to a beautiful baby girl and is sharing a little bit about what those first few weeks are like. Thanks so much for sharing, Keshet! Don't forget to visit her beautiful, inspiring blog!



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I read an article once that sums up how I feel about being a new mother.

I was a great mother, it said. And then I had a baby. Truer words were never spoken. Mind you, I was well aware that my new baby would be a big change. After two years of infertility treatments, “easy” was not the word I associated with parenthood. But as much as I paid lip service to the idea that my entire life was going to shift, deep down I expected it to stay the same—turning as always with me as the axis, plus a cute little well-dressed baby on my hip. Needless to say that’s not quite how it has turned out!




I’ve been a mother for almost eight weeks now, and those weeks have included some of the hardest days of my life. There was the day my daughter vomited, peed, and projectile pooped on me (thankfully, she missed the nearby scrapbook supplies). There were the nights my husband and I spent stumbling through thirty minute shifts, until I awoke at the crack of dawn to find them both asleep in the baby’s room, my husband spread out at the foot of her bouncy seat with a blanket. And not to be outdone, there was the day that will live on infamy, where my daughter started screaming at about 12:30 in the afternoon and didn’t stop until 11:00 that night.

Those moments have tested me, and I don’t always like what I see. The tired, disheveled person who stares back at me from the mirror snaps a little too often, and complains far too much for being someone so lucky. I’ve wondered if I’m really cut out for this, or if this asking too much of what I can handle.

But the other thing I’ve learned about being a mom is that every day begins fresh. Even on little sleep, even after a frustrating night, I wake up each morning knowing that I love her and that I’m going to try my best to make it a great day. And when she falls asleep on me after a feeding, leans her body into mine and parts her tiny lips? That’s just icing on the cake.