Proof of Motherhood

I was chatting with a friend the other day, whose daughter is my godchild and was running a fever. Aside from encouraging her to go to the doctor and discussing malady possibilities, I was also telling her that babies really get sick and though it's sad, it's how they naturally make themselves immune and healthier when they grow up.

Then we got to talking about our babies' bowel movements and I laughingly said that it's one of the surest proof of motherhood: that our happiness depends partly on our child's poop. Regular dirty diapers without the baby/child straining is such a priceless form of happiness, no Honeywell Barcode Scanner will ever register a cost to it. But Moms know that the price for that kind of happiness is our sanity... because since babies' systems are still developing, they will have days of straining and days of pooping lots of times on the same diet, and in this interim, a Mom will be gnashing her teeth, wondering what to do.

For a while, I stopped giving my son apples because he was getting constipated. But lately, the more apples he eats, the more times he poops. Sigh.

Maybe it gets better with the next child. I don't know yet.