My ego is bruised. Rather than moping around and eating worms, I really should be feeling a sense of relief and freedom. After all, this recent development means there are less demands on me and me alone. It means that I don't have to panic if I work late and miss the kids' bedtimes. Best of all, it means I can pee without a shadow.
Nevertheless, I do feel bad. I feel second fiddle. I feel like screaming that I was the one who carried him in my own body for 39 LOOOOONG weeks during which I gained 50 pounds, suffered from hormonal hell, couldn't stay awake in the day and couldn't sleep through the night, and couldn't stop sweating and peeing. I was the one who suffered through a full weekend of labor pains, including 14 hours of horrendous back labor and ultimately a second round of slicing up my already scarred abdomen while I lay alert behind the sheet freaking out that I couldn't feel a thing below my neck for 40 loooooong minutes while the muscles of my belly were stretched apart and a screaming human being was dug from the depths. I was the one who woke up every couple hours to feed him around the clock immediately after the slice and dice experience while hooked up to tubes and wires with my belly stapled shut. I was the one who stuck it out through scabby nipples and clogged milk ducts while trying to nurse this child. I was the one who ended up with hypothyroidism when it was all said and done.
ME ME ME ME!!!!! IT WAS ME WHO DID THESE THINGS!
And who does the child prefer?
DADDY!!!!!!
He wants Daddy to put him to bed. He wants Daddy to hold him. He wants Daddy to sit up with him all night when he doesn't feel well or his teeth hurt. Well, okay, that part I can totally deal with.
I really should just enjoy this. I really should. Daughter had a total Mommy preference, and I had to be the one to put her to bed every night, complete with holding her until she fell sound asleep. I was the one who had to settle her when she woke up at night. I was the one who had to be her Velcro twin for two and half loooooooooooong years. It was, if I had to choose a single word, exhausting.
But it's still painful to be chopped liver!
5 comments:
I know what you mean and man can I relate to you, my daughter will normally prefer her Grumps over me and has always been like that. There are many times when it hurts because I was the one doing everything for her. Now granted there are times when I'm glad I get a break but overall it hurts. But lately she's been wanting me more and she really misses me when I'm gone so it's nice not always playing second fiddle. As for my little guy he's all mama's boy and I love it.
My youngest is just like your daughter except that she is 9 and is still velcroed to me!
As you know, I have a similar list of reasons why *I* should be the preference. So far, most of the time, LB will ask for mommy. But? When O gets here? And decides daddy is D'BOMB? I'll secretly be crushed. But don't tell anyone. ;-)
And, ahem:
http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/13436
Oh my gosh! We are going through the same thing! LOL How funny!
I didn't mention the c-section, lol. Or how I made the anesthesiologist HOLD a mirror over the sheet so I could WATCH the whole thing so I wouldn't miss his birth and have trouble bonding with him. Or how I was so desperate to get him out, I broke my own water trying for a natural birth, hehe. (time was ticking for the c-section, and the other kids were acting REALLY, REALLY bad, I was insane)
So, yeah, I deserve the love, and I'm chopped liver, too.
I went through those feelings with all three of mine too. Before they switched teams, I remember thinking "Lord, could you just give me like five minutes without a baby attached to my hip?" and then when they switched teams, I didn't know what to do with the now free area where once a baby had been attached.
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