Growth Spurts: Half as Hard, Twice as Good

I’ve had three babies and only once went to the hospital with a “false alarm.” Just a couple of weeks before my due date with my son Caleb, I thought I was in labor. So off to the hospital we went! A few hours later, the doctors and nurses told us to go home–that I was, in fact, not in labor.

[Sigh] Ladies, have you been there? You’ve carried this (wonderful) load inside of you for several months, and you’re just ready to hold the baby in your arms rather than in your womb. It’s a labor of love . . . but you’d just looooove to get that baby out!

So there I was, completely depressed because I wasn’t actually in labor. My poor husband wanted to cheer me up and suggested that I join my friends for a girls’ night. Having already told my friends earlier that I wouldn’t be joining them due to the fact that I’d be in postpartum recovery, I really didn’t feel like joining them now. I just wanted to curl up in my bed and mope. But my husband succeeded in convincing me to go hang out with my friends instead of pouting.

So. Glad.

As I walked through the doorway of my friend’s house, I was greeted with shrieks of “Surprise!” by a dozen of my closest girlfriends. They had been planning this surprise baby shower for me for quite some time and were, therefore, not at all disappointed that I wasn’t in labor. And so the combination of my friends, wonderful gifts for my baby boy, and a food spread that was 95% chocolate redeemed my disappointing day.

My point? Friends are vitally important to mommies. They are our encouragers, supporters, laughing buddies AND crying buddies, our advisers, listeners, suppliers-of-chocolate, and babysitters-while-we-get-that-much-needed-nap-because-we-have-a-newborn. They can offer a voice of reason and sanity when we need it most and can sense when we’re needing to get out of the house and encourage us to do so. And if they have children of their own, they can offer true understanding.

I am ever so thankful for the girlfriends I’ve had over the past decade that I’ve been a mommy. Though my husband will always be my greatest friend and supporter, my girlfriends are still quite essential.

If you have a mommy support system in your friends, be thankful! And if you don’t have friends like these, I recommend going out and looking for them. As Sara Groves sings, “Life with [friends] is half as hard and twice as good!”

Carrie Bevell Partridge is thankful for wonderful friends on whom she can depend. Visit Carrie’s blogs: www.oncarriesmind.blogspot.com and www.stuffmamaslike.blogspot.com.