<p>It’s interesting, Cheers. I am no fearphobe, and have never parented by putting my precious children in a hermetically sealed bubble, making them afraid of their shadows, which many people seem to do (not CCers though ;)).</p>
<p>But something about mothering makes me kind of blubbery and sentimental anyway, so I can read something like what Audio posted, and still get a great tug at my heart.</p>
<p>When I was pregnant with my second son, we were living in Kenya and one of my “Brit” friends finally noticed. “Oh,” she said, “are you in the club?”</p>
<p>I’ve always loved that slang expression for being pregnant. It says so much about the feelings and experiences that moms share. I thought the piece posted by the OP very poignantly described the gamut of emotions that come with being both in the pregnancy and the mom club. I remember that after my first son was born, I didn’t feel the expected maternal instinct right away. It just felt like the alien that was inside was now outside – this little foreign being. On the second night, though, I was nursing and this feeling washed over me that was visceral, a wallop of love and fierce protectiveness. The thought that came into my head was, “now, I can really be hurt.” I always felt I would survive anything…people in your life come and go…you can lose parents, siblings, friends, even boyfriends and husbands and pretty much carry on. But I knew at that moment that nothing would ever hurt me as much as if something ever happened to that child. I think ES got it right.</p>
<p>“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.” Of Marriage and Single Life. Francis Bacon (1561-1626).</p>
<p>I have never felt that marriage and children were impediment to my career; au contraire. But by having children, I have “given hostages to fortune” precisely because they have been my greatest joy.</p>
<p>Never wrapped your children in cotton wool, Allmusic? If true, we may have to ex-communicate you from Yuppieville.</p>
<p>I’m no saint. I’ve wrapped mine in cotton wool (private schols = bubble) but I’ve also sent them out with the lions and crocodiles, literally. Still, fear isn’t among the top ten words I’d use to describe my motherhood.</p>
<p>I became a mother the first time when I married a man with a small child. Even when we were first dating I was ALWAYS conscious of her and the fact that she was growing fond of me, and that she was vulnerable, as she had already suffered a loss. It made our relationship instantly “serious.” </p>
<p>My husband jokes that I married her as much as him. He’s right.</p>