My baby is seventeen today!
A couple of days ago she had the opportunity to remind me that she is no longer a baby, and I replied that she will always be MY baby, to which she replied, ‘I will never again fit into a pushchair’.
Exactly seventeen years ago, I was in my very first labour. It was supposed to be a planned caesarian but this one decided to come a few days early, eventually saving me from an unnecessary surgery. A normal labour at the time meant I could leave the hospital a day or two after birth but I ended up spending four days in hospital because this baby was simply too content with life. She simply slept ALL the time and wouldn’t even wake up for a feed, which interestingly was a cause for concern for everyone including the nursing team who needed to ensure that she had fed before seeing us off home. I had to stay in hospital day after day and this baby wouldn’t even open her eyes even to feed.
We must’ve forced something down her reluctant throat because eventually we left the hospital on 15th January. I’ll never forget the feeling of coming back home with this bundle of joy that neither my husband nor I had a clue what to do with. I do remember our joy though, as we huddled together in our small one bed-room flat and made a promise to do whatever it takes to ‘make her happy’. Clearly, if going through this divorce and its issues is anything to go by, we have obviously reneged on our promise.
Nana, I like to think though that I have done my very best to keep that promise to you. It was a joint promise but in our own single ways we may be able to keep that promise.
Nana, you are everything I want in a daughter. You have come into your own as a young woman. What I really love about you is your aura of calmness you exude around you. Looking back, you have always been cool, calm and collected since the day you were born. I remember getting you ready at six weeks old for one of the tens of photo sessions I organized for you as a baby, getting you all ready and driving all the way to the studio only to find that you had a different agenda. You simply wouldn’t open your eyes for the photo session because you were yet again fast asleep by then. The photographer had pity on me and was happy to wait up-to thirty minutes to delay the session in the hope that you will wake up for your photos. But you continued to sleep through. In the end, we decided to still take those photos with you asleep. Those photos so remind me of your essence as a baby.
Whatever the world throws at you, please do not lose this cool. Some people, including me might hasten to encourage you to become otherwise but that will not be you so keep your core calmness for therein lies your strength. You came into this world content, not needing anything, not even a feed. And everyone was running around you frantic, but you were you, and that is what I have to always remember. YOU are just as God created you.
You have never caused me any concern as other parents have experienced, or indeed I have with your own siblings. In fact, I am still waiting for your teenage defiance, which I somehow know will never come. I truly enjoy the relationship we have developed, the bond that is so evident, and the mutual love we share. You often need more hugs than I am ready to stop to give in my fast-paced life. I constantly need to remind myself to stop and notice the moment, but you don’t need to because you are in the moment.
I love you so,
Happy Birthday to my Pumpkin, my Nana!
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