the end of an era
Probably too much information ahead, feel free to skip this post…
Well, today I went and had a consultation with a doctor and next week I’m having an IUD inserted. That means that I’ll have birth control covered (with a 99.9% effectiveness rate) for the next 12 years. If David and I change our minds then I can have it removed, but otherwise I won’t have to worry about (or even think about!) birth control till I’m 41 years old! David has been very sure for the last couple of years that he doesn’t want more children… and I’m starting to enjoy moving on to the next stage of our family life. Now that both kids are out of diapers, both kids have weaned, and they even occasionally sleep through the night, I have to admit it is kind of nice! I think that especially those who practice attachment parenting can find parenting exhausting… It may sound dramatic, but I gave myself up completely to mothering, in many ways. My kids never had bottles and were exclusively breastfed so when they were babies I was litterally never away from either of them for more than 2-3 hours until after they were well over a year old. I nursed for almost five years straight, tandem nursing half of that time. It wasn’t this this spring that we ever had a night away from the kids, not until last week that we ever spent a weekend away from them. I had two in diapers for over a year, and did cloth diapering for both at different times. I quit my job a few weeks before Killian was born and am not planning to return to working full-time till the kids are both in public school (if then, I like the freedom of working part-time because I can be more involved in their schooling and such). I have put my kids needs ahead of mine since I became a mother – that’s not going to change, but as they get older their needs diminish somewhat. I have been the primary caregiver to my children every day of their lives… its been a big job! Do I regret any of that? NO! Do I want to start the cycle all over again? I’m not positive, but probably not. (David would say definitely not!) I still miss being pregnant, nursing a newborn, holding and smelling a sweet little baby… and I’m darn good at mothering babies – probably not as great at mothering toddlers, though! I’ve always felt like my main purpose in life is to be a mother, and I love my job. I’m enjoying mothering older kids more than I thought I would, though! Its fun to play boardgames, have discussions about things other than trains and Baby Einstein, to build things together, to work on school subjects like math and reading together. Its nice to have kids who are old enough and rational enough (most of the time) that they don’t have a 30 minute crying jag if I cut their sandwhich the wrong way.
So, it seems that this is the end of the baby-stage of my mothering life. Onward!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Welcome to the club! I wish you were in town- if you were we would have an “I’m done (for several years at least)” MNO. You must have gone with the copper IUD. I’m enjoying Mirena and recommend it (IUDs) to eveyone but next time I am going to try copper instead. This week I started giving away all my baby stuff. I’m only keeping my nice wooden bassinet I bought for Maylee, my breast pump and one tub of clothing that I absolutely love. I actually get flutters thinking about my life without babies. I found your next post a bit humorous.