For a Type A person like me, one of the more challenging aspects of parenthood is the lack of feedback about how I’m doing as a new parent, especially during the phase when my kid is still a non-interactive potato (don’t tell Billable Baby I called her that). In my day job, I am used…
Month: June 2021
How I’m Feeling on the Eve of My Return to Work
“I’m in the hospital and will be offline for the coming weeks. My water broke this morning (two months early). The doctors are monitoring me and trying to figure out if the baby wants to come out.” It feels like a lifetime ago when I sent this abrupt out-of-office message from the triage room of…
Fire, Flood, and a Month-Long Hospitalization: Making Sense of Billable Baby’s Birth Story
It all started with a fire. A flood followed, perhaps foreshadowing a rush of water of a very different kind. Over and over again, I found myself telling the story of the birth of my daughter. The story flows out, in drips and dribbles at first: a pause, a sigh, and a hint at a…
Everything I Learned about PPROM (Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes)
“I think my water broke.” I told my husband one chilly morning early in my third trimester. I knew the signs because I had grown up hearing stories about how my mother’s water broke a few weeks early when she had me. Baby Me made a dramatic entry in to the world, and everyone was…
8 Pieces of Parenting Advice I Would Tell a Five-Months-Younger Me
A friend recently asked me if I had any advice to share with her friend who is pregnant and expecting her first child. I thought about what I would tell five-months-younger me. Here is what I came up with. 1. Take all the help you can get. Friends or family members offer to drop off…