weeks of pain, weeks of ponies

When you're pregnant and preparing for this thing called motherhood, one of the bits of advice you're given about childrearing is to 'take each day as it comes'. THIS IS A REALLY GOOD PIECE OF ADVICE. The week before last, this mantra saved my sanity, as did my doula's words: "whenever you're having a bad time think to yourself: today is one of those hard days, so I'll just focus on getting through it and tomorrow will be different."

The week before last was a neat seven days of hell. Conrad started screaming on the Monday night, stopped grizzling exactly on the next Monday night, and followed none of his usual feeding or sleeping patterns in between. It was also the week when I had minor surgery (two moles removed from my forehead), when I had several stressful driving lessons, when I got embroiled in governmental maternity payment bureaucracy, and when my wrist injury flared up savagely again. Meanwhile, it rained, and rained, and rained, and I went berko from cabin fever. 

Each day I told myself, "A developmental spurt - tomorrow he'll be back to normal." Well, thank fuck I WAS taking each day as it came, because if I'd known I had a whole week of crying to look forward to, I might have blown my savings on a nanny (for Conrad) and an impromptu trip to Bali (for me). 

And then that week ended, and along came last week, and oh what a blissful, sparkling ray of sunshine was my baby boy. He went to bed at 6pm, he fed at regular intervals, he smiled, he chortled, he made cooing noises, he sat quietly and contemplated the world, and he charmed the socks off all he met. 

Outside, the sun emerged to make a mockery of what we call 'winter' in Sydney, and every day I took Conrad for sunny strolls in 19 degree weather. On the Wednesday night I went out BY MYSELF (joy!) for dinner with a group of friends then on to the Pulp concert, and yesterday Conrad and I lolled with friends on the grass at Addison Road markets, eating cake in the blazing sun while children took pony rides past us. 

Today is Monday so we shall see which way this week's pendulum will swing; but, whatever happens, I will be taking each day as it comes.