Oh to be a mother.

Our little man, photographed in the
Special Care Nursery by local photographer
Danielle Stahl, for all the mothers
as a mother's day surprise. 

Waking up this morning after a sleepless night with a newborn baby at our home in Cape Town, it took me a while to comprehend the reality that I was in fact now, a mother.  I have to be honest and say it is not something that I always assumed I would be.  Instead, my foray into the m-hood was the culmination of a most wonderful relationship and long marriage to a wonderful husband, one whom I finally realized I would love to have a child with.

Coming to terms with having a child, and your first at that, is an incredible journey, experience, and the emotions are overwhelming to say the least.  Coming to terms with having spent six weeks nursing a premature baby, only to realize that once you get home, he is still a 'newborn' developmentally, and that you really do not have a six-week head start on things, is also interesting.  But coming to terms with finally having that tiny little baby that once almost fit in your husbands' hand in your home half-way around the globe, is truly a blessing today.

On this day to honor mothers in the world, I would like to give my special wishes to every mother, grandmother, soon-to-be mother, want-to-be mother, mother who has lost a child, adoptive mother, stepmother, honorary mother, godmother, stand-in mother, and in particular, every mother who has to spend the day in a hospital with her child, today.

Mothers, and those who support mothers, assist mothers, encourage mothers and love mothers - I salute you!

The family right before we left the Special Care Nursery on
29 April, 2011.  (Photo: Danielle Stahl)