Manuel Changed My Mind

I will never forget the day we found out we were was pregnant with our second son. Never had silence been drawn for that long. My husband and I didn’t speak a word all day. That news really did land on us like a ton of bricks. You see I had already decided I wasn’t going to have another baby for the next seven years minimum. Not only did I have a difficult birth with our first child but we were also wiped out financially. None of us had jobs and my small business was still struggling. So silence reigned that day.

Nightfall arrived and we finally spoke, our words halting and falling over each other. Babies were supposed to be blessings, we agreed. Our first son Sebastian would be thrilled to have a sibling, we thought. We would make a way. I am convinced that babies truly come with blessings. My business grew in leaps and bounds and my husband got a job. We still weren’t making much but things were looking up. When I was halfway into my pregnancy a group of friends came together and surprised me with a refrigerator. I was in shock. I haven’t received much in the way of gifts in my life and that truly humbled me.

Yet another group showered us with gifts after the birth of the baby. My pregnancy was quite uneventful despite living with high blood pressure and having uterine fibroids. Our second son Manuel arrived in January and he has been an absolute joy. There is nothing I love more than watching the interaction between our sons. As young as 4 months our little baby had already learnt to defend himself from his older brother. By 5 months he had already learnt to be the aggressor. Place him anywhere near his brother and he will try to kick, pinch or grab his hair.

This means that mummy has taken on an extra role of being referee. What warms my heart is the way they clearly love each other and try to defend each other from what they perceive to be a threat. Even simple things such as changing one of them will invite blows or shrieks from the other. It’s amazing how being a mother makes me so happy yet before I was never a fan of babies. I would have broken a leg making my usual super-fast get away from babies. I could never understand them, could never make them smile, never knew how to play with them and I felt that they were altogether too much work. In fact I was resigned to living my life childless.

My children have made me a softer, more caring person and have given me a lot of strength in very difficult times. I owe all I am now to them. Would I like a third child? No! But we will see what God has in store for us. Maybe a sister for my cheeky almost 3 years and 8 month old boys………

 

Leave a Comment