Happy Mother’s Day
Posted on May 9, 2010 - Filed Under Culture Clash, Guatemala | 4 Comments
Today isn’t Mother’s Day in Guatemala . . . it’s actually tomorrow. It’s also a holiday, though our maid has asked to take Friday instead of Monday because her son is performing in a special play for mothers on Friday. (because all the teachers who are female will be out of school on Monday, of course)
Five years ago, I was teaching in Colegio Snoopy in San Felipe. I was only a couple months pregnant with Dorian, but I was included in the celebration and even given a special poem by one of the other teachers. It was really neat, especially since I was 99% certain I was going to lose this baby at any moment. It felt good that other people acknowledged his existence and considered me to be a mother, even if I wasn’t going to have a baby to hold in 7 months. Of course,we all know how THAT turned out. 
It took almost another EIGHT months, but by the following May 10th, I had a wiggling, giggling ball of fun on my hands!
The year after my first REAL Mother’s Day (which passed by completely unnoticed by certain members of this household, but my MIL gave me a flower), I was two weeks overdue with Dante, grumpy as all get out, chugging orange blossom tea with peppercorns in it to try and encourage my bundle of joy to make his appearance sometime SOON. He waited a whole six days and made me suffer even more. And, actually, to tell you the truth, he still wasn’t too keen on being born, he had to be coaxed out since he ran out of amniotic fluid. Silly boy. Interestingly enough, Dante is still the slowpoke in the family. Guess it’s just there from birth!
Anyway. Tomorrow will be a great day. No one will celebrate it here, though I’ve told the kids I expect kisses and at least one crayon drawing. My dad sent them an email explaining how special Mother’s Day was . . . after which Dorian gave me a kiss “It says right here you get just one” and asked for ice cream.
But, tomorrow, if all goes well, we are also heading out on vacation with some friends. Vacation for most, that is . .. I have a ton of deadlines still and will be taking the laptop. But we’re going to have tons of fun. I’ll post photos at some point during the trip.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms, grandmoms, stepmoms and moms-to-be and moms to angels. I hope it’s a wonderful one.
Comments
4 Responses to “Happy Mother’s Day”
Talk to Me, People!
Happy Mother’s Day to you too!!
Happy Mother’s Day to you! I hope you are having a few wonderful days with your friends (and not-so-urgent deadlines). Wishing a whole lot of sunshine! xoxo
Happy Mother´s Day!!! I already enjoyed my kids celebration at their school: lots of singing and dancing, and of course, moist eyes from plenty of moms and grandmoms.
Just a question Genesis: did the doctor ever tell you why you Dante ran out of amniotic fluid (I´m -assuming it wasn´t because your water broke.)? Both of my kids were born by C-sections because they both ran out of amniotic fluid. I haven´t been able to find out why that happens.
Cristina, the doctor never said what caused Dante’s lack of amniotic fluid, apart from “He’s been in there a little too long”. From my own research, it seems that the fluid starts going down around the end of the 8th month and if a baby is overdue, it can go down too much. It can also have to do with a placenta that isn’t working properly, apparently, an “old” placenta. http://www.ivillage.co.uk/pregnancyandbaby/pregnancy/complicatepreg/articles/0,,15_184307-1,00.html
They ended up breaking my water for me when I hit 7 cm. and the doctor (not my regular one) was surprised that nothing happened when she did! There was literally nothing left in there.