Professor mommy
Fantastic news all around - we had an excellent and productive trip to the Amazon, I got the promotion to tenure track (still in the negotiation phase, but the offer is official - YAAAAAAY!), and my masters student successfully defended. It took a couple weeks, but Maya has completely forgiven us for our long absence (she was pretty mad about it), and I've headstarted two whole flats of seeds for my garden this year, including a bunch of aji amarillo peppers so that I can make the Peruvian delicacy huancaina upon harvest :) Life in our household is happy and vibrant! However, there are two things that weigh on my mind: 1) the insane increase in productivity/efficiency that I'll need to shoot for if I'm to get tenure here, and 2) the decision about whether or not to have another child. Make no mistake, the first child didn't seem like a choice (in a good way). If I couldn't both be a professor and have one child, then I didn't want to be a professor. A s
I love it! Penelope had a ton of hair too, but it was mainly on the top and sides-- sort of a 'hassidic jew' look! haha. Thanks for sharing the birth story. It sounds very similar to what happened with me, with Penelope-- from the screaming for meds at 3cm, to the 'progressing nicely' all the way to 10cm, to the hours of pushing, to the c-sectioning out a very stuck posterior baby. I had the same self-doubts about my decisions and attitude (what did *I* do to lead my labor experience to go so far awry?), but in the end, can't it just be a case of a narrow pelvis and an unfortunately-positioned baby?? Does it have to be about poor decisions/fear/gullibility/other character flaws of the mother?? I guess the "childbirth empowerment" ladies would have us think so! So anyway, it was a bit of a validating moment for me that Eli ALSO go stuck, even though he wasn't posterior and I didn't have an epidural. That opening is just not wide enough, period. Furthermore, I'd have to say not to bother being jealous of vaginal. It's hard not to feel like you missed out (based on the empowerment ladies' testimonials), but I thought both labor experiences were painful and overall unpleasant. It's more like, just because you got hit by a bus, that's no reason to be jealous of the person who only stepped in dog shit. You know? P.s. How is Maya SOOOO cute??? Bring on more pics!
ReplyDeleteThank you (so much!) for commenting with such great words of support :) Actually, your first labor experience (and Heather's first, which was another posterior baby that came *this close* to a c-section) featured heavily in my mind directly afterwards - and brought me a lot of comfort! We all did the very best we could, and I believe you that it pretty much sucks no matter what :) We are all warriors!
ReplyDeleteAlthough ironically - my hips spread sooooo much that I can't even dream of wearing pre-preg pants (probably ever again) and it STILL wasn't enough to get a baby out! The injustice!!!