The four of us piled on Nadine's bed. Four girls in one bed sounds like licentious, if that's all the information you have. But, as was the reality and as it is with mommies and babies, while Nadine might have been wearing lacy black underwear, looking tousled yet glowing, the other participants in this scene were costumed as such:
*One of us was wearing an adorable sleeper, with wee lambs on it. She was swaddled in a flannel blanket with lambs on it too (she was utterly be-lambed), and she slept and stretched and made the most lovely expressive faces as she was shuffled from one pair of welcoming arms to another. She had one of those puffy little blisters on the centre of her lip that comes from nursing, and at one point, we had to unwrap her her a bit to admire her most beautiful little feet.
*Another of us was wearing ugly plaid shorts and a wrinkled t-shirt. She did manage to bathe that morning, but after returning from visiting and shopping, noticed that her toothbrush was dry - meaning that without doubt, she was breathing out foulness all day. Also, since the only soap in the house is "purple" Ivory chosen by her toddler when shopping with her father, the other parts of her smelled of the combination of "Grandmaesque Faux Lavender" and her husband's failing deodorant. Please note that her husband's deodorant and antiperspirant, which is strong enough for a man, is NOT strong enough for a mommy with a toddler who are running errands around suburban Toronto on a hot day in a car without air conditioning.
*The last member of the ensemble was wearing overalls that had pancake batter drips all over them, a striped t-shirt and complementary sun hat - which were accessorized with Mardi Gras beads (no doubt with a high lead content), a pink net tutu, and messy hair. She was thrilled to be able to hold the baby, and did a pretty good job of it while the grown-ups hovered nervously. This little person also let fly a sneeze right in the swaddled one's face, and the one who birthed that infant quietly died on the spot. It then came to the stinky person to explain that the sneezer didn't have a cold...maybe it was just um...dust...which was of course, insinuating.
We chatted, and smelled baby head and offered help and had a nice visit all around. Mother and new daughter are both well and as lovely as anyone would hope to find; and Nadine told me it's just dawned on her that she can get excited about all of the lovely girly things to come. One of the most lovely bits of inspiration is right there in the room with them.
The girly things are trickling in - and as we mothers realize, until we find out who our daughters really are, the pleasure of sometimes indulging in crisp cotton ruffles and wee rosettes is fleetingly ours.
Nadine also assured me that she is writing her birth story, and that we'll hear from her soon.
Um...sure...Nadine.
