A day in the life of a mother

6.30am: I’m debating whether I should get up after a bad night’s sleep. Should I…

a) Try to go back to sleep

b) Eat breakfast while baby R dozes, as I am starving.

My stomach rumbles. I get up, make a half decent breakfast of scrambled eggs, set it down on the table, raise my fork to my mouth… and wham! “Waahhh” says R. Give me food, now!

8.30am: R has been fed, changed, and has finally settled again to sleep. Time to myself! There are so many possibilities - should I cook, clean (nah), make something, write something, stretch out this aching body on my yoga mat? My mind swirls. Sometimes I sit there for a few minutes, at a loss about what to start (and inevitably get halfway through). Wham! The baby monitor grumbles and mutters. Back to settling him again.

1pm: I have an appointment, at the extremely convenient hour of lunchtime. It might be a Plunket appointment, doctor or physio. I start getting R ready about 90 minutes before hand and am either really early or late.

Who knew there were so many ailments and problems to solve, after pregnancy? Swollen hands, sore wrists, stomach problems, a stiff neck from bending, sore arms. And then the referrals from Plunket nurses to other Plunket nurses - lactation consultants, sleep settlers, to dispense contradictory advice. I write it all down though, and often there are one or two bits that I’ll try, and that we stick with.

I didn’t anticipate this mental and physical load on the body that comes with having a baby.

4pm: My husband is almost home from work and I haven’t had a nap yet, oh shit! In the meantime, I change R’s nappy and watch his mouth open wide in a perfect smile. I listen to him cooing, while I tell Spock the cat to grow opposable thumbs so he can share in the baby-minding duties.

6pm: The evening is a flurry of bath-time, cooking dinner, getting the night time bottle ready, getting the nappies into the wash, all while R stares wide-eyed at the world, grumbles, gurgles or cries from the safety of the front pack (or is on round three of settling in the bassinet). My husband and I look at the clock and then at the TV. Do we have time to watch a show?

8pm: I’m feeling content, sitting in bed with my husband while R stares up at me from his bassinet. Still wide-eyed and awake, he doesn’t mind listening to the sound of German voices coming from the tablet as we watch an ENTIRE episode of Dark on Netflix (Stranger Things, here we come!).

I stroke R’s soft, fluffy hair. I know I’ll do anything to protect him, and whatever it takes for his happiness, through all the hardships of life and the unknown days that lie ahead.