Sunday, November 13, 2011

Smashing Heads

I used to bump P's head into doorjambs on a regular basis. Not on purpose, of course (no calls to CPS, please). But I'd be carrying him from one room to another, trying to remember where I'd left the thermometer or his shoes or his bottle and then. . .THUNK. . .followed by. . .Waaaah! To be followed by the internal tongue lashing at my self for being such a rotten mom that I'd cause a head injury to this amazing child that I was caring for until the state officially made me his parent. To then be followed by the worry that I really did hurt him and that I would have to bring him to the emergency room and CPS would decide I was too careless to be a mom and take him from me. Fun times, those were. Eventually, I got better at figuring out how to enter and leave a room without giving P a concussion.

It occurred to me recently that there's the possibility that my clumsiness may have something to do with adoption. I think that maybe part of the reason pregnant women get big (other than carrying a child in their uterus) is to prepare them for parenthood after. If you've become used to maneuvering carefully through doorways for a few months, perhaps that carries over to maneuvering carefully as you carry your infant. . .who grows a bit every month during which you become accustomed to his size and shape and adjust accordingly as you carry him and so avoid walking him into doorjambs. Maybe because we adopted P I just needed a few extra months to get used to his space in my arms. I needed to catch up.

Or maybe not? Maybe all my friends who gave birth to their children caused them near-concussions on a regular basis, but never told me? Maybe it's not an adoption-related issue at all and I'm just clumsy. That's a real possibility.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

we've all done it...even us bio moms LOL

Mindy said...

Ditto what Lyn said. I did the same thing more times than I care to recall. So much that my husband still gives me grief about it!

Barb said...

Yup. Good theory, but I bumped E's head all the damn time. Not so much now b/c I don't carry him as much, and he's smarter and moves to avoid stuff like that. haha. Though I still bump his head on the car ceiling and door sometimes.

mygrl said...

I done it to my sons and for a while was bumping my grand daughters head too.

Anonymous said...

I wish you would post again! My husband and I just got got open 3 weeks ago for 0-2 and we're waiting for that "first call" ! So excited! 😄