How I Became a Mother: A Thank You Story

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This post is part 6 of 6 in the series How I Became a Mother.

May is the month to celebrate mothers. I have written before about that day I found out I was to become a mother, and maybe it was quite different from your story. Or maybe my story wasn’t all that different from your story and you, too, were surprised by a little bundle of joy! You and I are kindred spirits then, like Anne of Green Gables would say. I like that — to think that me telling you how I felt on that day would align us in that way.

Today’s story is new though. This is one that I recently told for the first time as I embarked on a new adventure in my career and took a new job as a nurse in the NICU. I’ve been a nurse for a while, but this was a new path for me. It is hard to leave an old, familiar path, isn’t it? And this fellow nurse I was talking to was asking, “Why here? Why moms and babies? Why are you a nurse?” My answer brought me to this story.

The day that I entered the hospital to have my first child, I was young. I was in college. So was he. We were on state insurance. He worked in the meat market and I worked at a hotel front desk and was a nanny after class. I gained a bazillion pounds with this pregnancy. I’m sure we weren’t the most impressive pair.

I was induced one day after my due date so I could hurry up and return to classes in a few days. I was the typical two-day long, first baby kind of labor. I couldn’t push worth a hoot when it was time. It was nearing three hours of pushing. It wasn’t looking good. Blood vessels were breaking around my eyes. But you, sweet nurses, said I could do it, and you told me just how to try differently, and then she was born. I cried.

Here is our first photo op straight from a 12-year-old baby book. Eek.

How I Became a Mother: A Thank You Story

Shortly after I saw her, I saw you, nurses. I thought, Whoa. What other job in the world would offer me such privilege? To be there on someone’s best or worst day of their lives? To be there for them when they needed it most? So as my new baby cried in my arms and we celebrated her birth, I was reborn, too. I was a mom. And soon, I would become a nurse like you.

In the postpartum days that followed her birth, I had a lot of college friends come to visit to see the baby. She was well-loved! Pretty sure I didn’t do many things right. Pretty sure I drank Mountain Dew in my immediate postpartum hours. But if you judged me, I didn’t feel it. Instead, you taught me how to breastfeed, swaddle like a champ, and care for her just right. You treated me with respect, made me feel like I could do it — like I could be a good mom to her, like maybe I already was. Looking back, that meant something to me. It meant everything.

Back then, I wasn’t very good at sending out thank you notes. I don’t know why. I’d write them and they’d sit on my table and I’d never get them sent. A big old stack, written, in envelopes. There they’d sit. I told the nurse this recently as I answered her question, telling her this story of how I came to be a nurse. I told her I wished I would have thanked them for all they had done for me then. I wish I would have thanked them for sending me on this path to becoming a nurse and a mother who would help other mothers when they needed it most. She nodded and said, “Send it now. It’s never too late.”

So I will.

For May, the month of celebrating mothers, we should celebrate how mothers are born, too. A birthday is a celebration not only of the birth of a child into this world, but of a mother, too.

Thanks to all the mothers who love their babies and build up one another in the world. Sisterhood. Thank you to my mother who taught me how to be a great mom to my kids like she was to us. Thank you to all the women who make each other feel like we can do it, even when the odds are against us. Thank you, nurses, for making me feel like I was a real mother, a real person, and someone who could make a difference — age aside, looks aside, stereotypes aside. Thank you. You treated me like I made a difference. Because of you, I planned on doing just that.

How I Became a Mother: A Thank You Story

Who has been a positive influence to you along your path as a mother?

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Read more from our How I Became a Mother series, sponsored by UnityPoint Health – Des Moines:

How I Became a Mother: A Birth Stories Series

About Our Series Sponsor

At UnityPoint Health – Des Moines we offer a wide range of Maternity, Pregnancy, and Parenting Services to help guide you through this exciting time. At each of our three Maternity Centers – Iowa Methodist, Iowa Lutheran, and Methodist West – you will find experienced staff and personalized care to help you welcome the newest member of your family. Becoming a parent is a new journey for many, so we offer a wide variety of services, including certified lactation consultants, childbirth education and preparedness classes, perinatal services, and patient care facilitators.

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