April 3, 2007

A lot of people sent me emails asking me why the hell Ruy calls cochi err Andrea “Popeye”…they cannot fathom where the name came from. Here’s my answer:

do you get it now? =)

I know I’ve only been a mother for a little over 3 weeks but here I am about to whine again. If you’ve been reading my blog you should know that I’m a whiner =)

I realized that taking care of a cochinillo is emotionally and physically draining.  The physical I suppose goes without saying. Everyone understands that staying up late, waking up every few minutes or hours in the middle of the night plus the constant carrying while your body is still recuperating can indeed take it’s toll on your body but what about the emotions?  How can a precious child take a toll on your emotions.

Contrary to most Johnson and Johnson commercial, the first few months of pregnancy is not a state of content bliss all the time. Times are not usually spent with the mother rubbing powder on the baby’s body while the baby quietly yawns and falls asleep…

Unlike the commercials, my days usually alternate between states of suspicious alertness and panicked fatigue. When the cochinillo is sleeping every whimper sends nervous signals up my brain. “She’s about to wake up” , “Is she breathing?”, “Is she choking?”, “Is her diaper wet”…and when she’s awake and fidgetty and crying her little snout err mouth off I am overwhelmed, tired and panicked. The toughest part for me is knowing that I’m now on call 24 hours a day…I’m the default. I’m the one who cannot put my guard down. I’m the one who can only take scheduled baths. I’m the one whose trips to the ATM machine needs to be scheduled… I’m the one whose life will drastically change and will now revolve around my child…wether I like it or not. Luckily enough despite my whinings…I like it!!!