Baby Boom 2014

It's only the 7th January and already there are four babies due to arrive within my circle of friends! One next month, one sometime in May and two during the summer months! The baby dust was certainly working up a storm in 2013.

It's fantastic news for all concerned. Babies are beautiful bundles of joy who bring hope and laughter to their parents and to a wider network around them. I've been scanning the shelves in Mothercare wondering what to buy. Oooh-ing and aaah-ing over the tiny little baby grows, vests and booties. So cute...

But, are my own ovaries twinging for another one of my own? I had thought so. When the second baby announcement came, before Christmas, I have to admit I was feeling a tad broody. I did love being pregnant with Beth. I wasn't sick in the slightest (except when I ate/drank anything red!), I was perfectly healthy the whole nine months. I did spend the last three weeks of the pregnancy in the hospital but that was due to a lazy little madam lying sideways in the womb. Had I gone into labour at home (20/30 minute drive to the hospital) we may both have lost our lives. So, healthy as an ox, I spent three cabin feverish weeks in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The maternity section there is fantastic, the nurses lovely.

So, yes, I had thought how nice it would be to be pregnant, eat without guilt, feel the movements growing stronger everyday, speculating about the sex, hair colour, eyes, nose, toes... I even imagined holding a new little baby in my arms and feeling the warmth of it's wrinkly skin through a kiss. I thought Beth would be a great big sister, helping me with the little things and giving the baby hugs and kisses.

Eventually, the rose tinted glasses melted and I remembered what having a little baby was like. Up all night crying (both the baby and me), explosive nappies (the ones where the faeces seeps through at the legs and up the back leading to a change for both baby and mama), chained to the house and every trip outside the door needed military preparation. As a single mum, I did the vast majority alone until Beth was 8 months old and I got a job. By that stage, she was a lot easier to handle. The first 6 months were the worst. Once she had her first solid feed and started sleeping through the night, everything became much easier.

No, I don't feel broody anymore. I suppose it might be different second time around but I don't want to go back to that baby stage. I can't wait to meet all the babies due this year, hold them, change them, mind them for an hour or two while their mum takes a little breather but I'm done having babies of my own. Beth is more than enough for me.

And, coincidentally, Beth told me over the weekend she doesn't want a baby brother or sister. I guess she loves being the centre of my universe :-)