Fragile: handle with care!

I am the ninth of ten children in my family. Being at the end of the line, I had plenty of nieces and nephews by the time I got married. I'm not sure how, exactly, but somehow it always worked out that I never met the new additions until they were a little older, past the fragile newborn stage. So, while I had a lot of experience getting toddlers riled up and playing tag with the older kids, I had always felt somewhat uncomfortable holding a newborn. As a teenager I took a babysitting course, so I knew the basics: support the head, etc. I knew what to do, but it just didn't feel natural.

So when I got pregnant, I was both nervous and excited. I might not have felt comfortable holding newborns then, but surely after holding my own for hour upon hour I would get the hang of it. I would learn.

Nine months later, when the nurse put my little girl in my arms and I held her for the first time, there was no awkwardness, no discomfort. It felt so completely natural, so right. I didn't have to learn how to hold her, I just suddenly knew. It was the most incredible feeling. This was my little girl, and we fit.

Interestingly, I no longer feel uncomfortable holding other people's babies, either. My intuition with Isabella applies to others, also. I don't worry about what to do with that wobbly head, and I know so many positions other than the cradle hold that I don't trick babies into thinking it's meal time anymore (it was always awkward when babies started rooting when I held them as a teenager).

The moral of the story: if you feel uncomfortable holding babies, have one of your own, and all of that will disappear.