Friday, November 17, 2006
Just Another Reason why Canada Rocks my World
Mae and I live in Canada and, yes, it can be ridiculously cold... but aside from numb fingers in February, damn, we're lucky. Yesterday we went to our first mom's group, organized by public health. It's a FREE 8 week session run by a nurse, although she barely runs it. Basically, what happened was that public health went to all the trouble to arrange it so that 10 women, all with babies almost exactly Mae's age, all of whom live in our area, got together to drink coffee and talk while the babies wiggled around or slept on gym mats.
It's true! And you don't even have to get on a waitlist or beg to be allowed in. THEY call YOU to arrange it.
It was amazing. We started by going around the circle and talking about our pregnancies and our babies' births. And guess what? Half the women had a C-section like I did! And - like me - none of them felt particularly sad about having "missed out" on a vaginal delivery the way everyone expects you to. Also, lots of them have babies who sleep through the night, and they all felt vaguely guilty about it, too. And, even better, ALL of them hate breastfeeding!! It was like finding a whole room of kindered-spirit momfriends without having to spend a cent on a torturous excercise class or sing The Wheels on the Bus. And I wasn't the only one ready to cry with relief.
A bunch of us went out for more coffee afterwards and, walking with three strollers side-by-side (it was a really wide sidewalk), I blurted out like an idiot "I've always wanted to be one of those moms walking down the street with a stroller... with other moms... with other strollers!!" But instead of nodding and smiling while secretly thinking I was a loser, the other two moms shrieked in unison, "I know! Me too!!"
So, yeah. Woo!! At longlast, It looks like I'm going to have momfriends! Momfriends to spend the rest of my ONE YEAR maternity leave with. Yay, Canada!!!
It's true! And you don't even have to get on a waitlist or beg to be allowed in. THEY call YOU to arrange it.
It was amazing. We started by going around the circle and talking about our pregnancies and our babies' births. And guess what? Half the women had a C-section like I did! And - like me - none of them felt particularly sad about having "missed out" on a vaginal delivery the way everyone expects you to. Also, lots of them have babies who sleep through the night, and they all felt vaguely guilty about it, too. And, even better, ALL of them hate breastfeeding!! It was like finding a whole room of kindered-spirit momfriends without having to spend a cent on a torturous excercise class or sing The Wheels on the Bus. And I wasn't the only one ready to cry with relief.
A bunch of us went out for more coffee afterwards and, walking with three strollers side-by-side (it was a really wide sidewalk), I blurted out like an idiot "I've always wanted to be one of those moms walking down the street with a stroller... with other moms... with other strollers!!" But instead of nodding and smiling while secretly thinking I was a loser, the other two moms shrieked in unison, "I know! Me too!!"
So, yeah. Woo!! At longlast, It looks like I'm going to have momfriends! Momfriends to spend the rest of my ONE YEAR maternity leave with. Yay, Canada!!!
