I bet men would be caught by this title more than women
except for women who are into superheroes. I have had this thought since the
first day I brought my newborn baby home from hospital. For real, Superheroes
are overrated and mothers should be given this title. I have had this thought
but have been failing to write about it. Here is why I think mothers should be
called Superheroes:
Looking after a newborn baby requires no skill or talent. It
is an intuitive ability or rather a supernatural ability because babies cannot
talk to start with. Superman is known for his super-hearing but I bet you if he
was babysitting a newborn he will sleep through the baby’s cry and grunts. A
new mom, who has never had a baby before, can hear her baby whimpering (my baby
never cried nor screamed when he was still new. He just whimpered) in the
middle of the night or when she is in another room. A mother also knows the
different cries of a baby. She can tell that baby needs food, nappy change or
just a cuddle.
In the first two days after Olerato (my son) came home, I
thought I could not do the 3 hourly feeding because when I fed him at 11pm it
took 30 minutes to feed him, 20 minutes to get him to burp, and then another 30
minutes to get him to sleep. Then I must wake him up again at 2am. The good
thing is that he was the sweetest quietest baby ever. I cried to my husband Paul
saying I don’t believe all these many children that play in the streets, their
moms woke up every three hours especially those
whose moms were teenagers who
were on baby number two. It seemed hard. I was not aware I was in training to
use my super powers. Paul reminded me to pray for God to help me and reminded
me of the scripture he gave me when I was still pregnant- Genesis 4:3. Where
Eve, whom after giving birth to her son, said: “It is the Lord who helped me
bring forth a man.” By the third day already I was a professional three-hourly-feeding
supermom.
As a new mom you develop new abilities: like sleeping on one
side without turning because the baby is sleeping with you; breastfeeding with
your eyes closed (that’s if your baby is cool with breastmilk and is already a
month old); making the bottle in your sleep every three hours; preparing your
own food or the baby’s bottle with him in your hands while he is breastfeeding;
bathing on a cold rainy day with a door opened so you can hear the baby;
changing the nappy with one hand without putting the baby onto his back; and
many more. I have recently discovered the super power to bottle-feed the baby
while I drink my own tea.
Moms also have super strength. They can carry a baby in one
hand, car seat in another (because baby refused to be kept in it), diaper bag,
her own bag and some groceries while talking on the phone. Today’s moms can
also feed the baby, bath the baby or play with the baby while social-networking.
One super power I wish I had is losing baby weight/ dieting while
breastfeeding. Some moms have the super power to wash the baby; get the baby
ready and themselves ready; make up well done; hair in place and clothes well-fitted
and look like they are carrying someone else’s baby by the way they look. Oh
how I wish…
If a mom to one new baby has all those super powers, imagine
a mom to a teenager, a mom to twins or a mom to more than one child. New powers
develop according to age and number of children. These moms have x-ray eyes
which can see past walls and know what the children are doing, eyes in the back
to see one sibling attempting to do something wrong; ability to detect when
their children tell a lie and ability to take away freedom from their teens
when they have been up to wrong.
Well who are we to claim these super powers except to give
the glory and thanks to God. God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit
of power, of love and of a sound mind. The best weapon every supermom should
have is PRAYER because if we pray, no weapon formed against our children will
prosper and we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us.
