Besotted.

[rivka]

Someone seems to have accidentally erased my half-written birth story, so y'all are going to have to wait a while longer to hear all the gory (yes, literally) details.

But I did want to say this: I knew that I would love my baby right away, but I didn't have any idea that I would also feel loved by her right away. I thought that we would mostly have a one-way relationship for a while, in which I met her needs and waited for emotional rewards in the future.

No. She loves me with her whole tiny body. When she whimpers and I pick her up, she gets this blissful "Ohhh, Mom!" expression on her face and relaxes in boneless happy sleep. In bed at night, she hauls herself over to my side of the cosleeper so that she can dangle one hand out and touch me. She knows me. She trusts me.

I just never knew it would be that way this early.

We took a nap together this afternoon in the rocking chair, sweet tiny girl curled up in the fetal position on my chest, both of us relaxed and content. She's sleeping in my lap right now, smacking her lips and opening her mouth as if she's dreaming of nursing.

Oh God, I love my baby.

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful thing, isn't it.

Welcome to motherhood.

[eeyorerin]

Oh, that's beautiful. I'm so happy for you.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Oh, how sweet. It was definitely one-way with Evan and me for quite a while. And then when he did get clingy and show a definite attachment to me, it just made me think of parasites instead of parenting.

I didn't really feel that joyous two-way connection until he started smiling at two months. How lucky you are to already feel that way.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

You're what she knows the best - your voice, your smell, you. She's been getting to know you the last few months, too :-)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

God, I love that feeling!

*happiness* for you.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

*smile* It's beautiful to behold.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Besotted is really the right word for it, isn't it?

And it only gets better!

Babies pretty much do everything with their whole bodies. At nearly 7 months, when he's happy, Alexander still gets happy all over, down to the tips of his toes.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Wow... how utterly warm and sweet, like a cozy fluffy blanket. Lovely. :)

*snif*

[(Anonymous)]

I hereby retract my condemnation of total immersion in NRE. Go, you!

♥
LoRe

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

awww. mutual NRE is so wonderful. i feel heartened about mankind when i see how ailbhe talks about linnea, and now you -- i didn't have a mother like that, but it's marvelous that y'all exist.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

There is nothing more blissful than the expression on a baby who's dreaming of milk.

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful to hear. There is much yayness in the world tonight.

(The Gore-y details can wait until you're ready to start talking about Democratic politics again. :-)

[futabachan.livejournal.com]

That's so wonderful... congratulations!

[lisajulie.livejournal.com]

This made me sniffle from emotional content. Just to let you know....

That's so wonderful, that's so much that way it should be - mother and baby loving and wanting each other reciprocally.

Love and hugs and affection in your (you=plural) direction.

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwwww!

Okay, why do I get the feeling that for the next while I'm going to be grinning like an idiot and gushing over LJ?

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

she hauls herself over to my side of the cosleeper

Whoa. Babies can move on their own that early? I honestly thought they were essentially inert lumps (okay, maybe not quite inert lumps, but basically sessile) for the first couple of months.

Learn something new every day, I guess.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

That is SO SWEET.

I am ridiculously happy for you.

[purplepaisley.livejournal.com]

I'm so very happy for you. It really is a love like no other. I once heard someone say that having a child is like having a little piece of your heart walking around outside you. I say, having children means the kind of love where they are never entirely gone from my mind. There is always a little candle of awareness burning for them.

Enjoy your babymoon.

[boxofdelights]

Yeah, that.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

See? I told you. A very romantic time.

For what it's worth, a big factor, they think, is your voice. After all, she has been able to hear you for months. They have proved that a baby will turn to the mother's voice over any other person's right at birth. It makes sense: in this big weird world, your voice is the one familiar thing she knows.

So glad you're discovering the bliss of the falling-in-love-with-baby stage.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

*wist*

I'm so so so happy for you.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

aw.

[marici.livejournal.com]

Belated congratulations! I hope you three have the best, shiniest baby-rearing ever!

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

She is far more familiar with you than you are with her. The sounds of your voice, attenuated and deeper; but noticed, the rythmn of your heart, these are familar.

So it's no wonder she would be calmed, and affected by them.

TK

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

*beam*

This is such a great post to start the day with.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

That's so geat to hear!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

No, you're right, she is basically sessile. She can sort of lunge or wiggle in a very inefficient manner, and she wouldn't be able to get herself to the side of the cosleeper if it weren't so very, very small that the distance is a matter of inches. (It's a little padded box that fits in our bed, between us, so it can't be very wide.)

They absorb their environment

[dragon3.livejournal.com]

and for a long time you were almost all of it. She loves you with all of her ability because you are the most familiar and comforting part of her world. Just imagine how much more profound it will be once she has object permanence ;-)

What amazed me even more when ours were little was that they recognized and were comforted by my voice. Make sure Michael gets his time, and not just so you get a bit of a break now and then.

Glad to hear Alex is getting hungrier and that it's working for both of you. I don't feel a need for gory birth details -- I'm reading between the lines and hearing that it went well and you are mostly happy with the experience and the results.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Aww! So very cool.