I've noticed this. My son is 6 today (in about 28 minutes) and I feel like since he hit 5, I look back at his birthday and remember with more emotion than I did the first 3-4 years of his life. It's interesting and sweet.
How do you look back at the birthday on their birthday?
:)
So sorry for the moms who went through a hard time! Didn't mean to stir up tough stuff.
I was just struck by the wash of feelings at his birthday this year vs. when he was younger. We had a pretty easy birth (just a bit of meconium), and only 9 hours of labor for my first and only. He is so very sweet, and it's amazing to think back to that day.
I know what you mean.
Mine was hardly a "unicorns and rainbows" birth experience, but we LOVE to tell the whole story every year. It does get sweeter.
Where did THOSE ten years go???
mine are 8 and 11 and no I don't.
Both were traumatic and full of pain. I seriously have no idea how some women "forget the pain"
I look at my soon-to-be 19 and 16 year old sons and try to remember those first hours - the sweet smells, the awe, the precious baby clothes. And then I'm jolted back to the present by two large men wanting to know what's for dinner. :P
It is so funny to see them grown up and remember the babies and little boys that they were. Birthdays are VERY nostalgic for me.
Every year on my daughters birthday i remember fondly the day of her birth. i never want to forget it, it was one of the happiest days our life for my husband and me. We will a tually reminisce and retell the story to each other saying remember when this and that, and try to recall asmucg detail as we can, we get teary eyed and emotional and its like reliving it. I do think as the years go by we get more nastalgic because she just keeps getting more and more beautiful and gives us more and more love, with each year we are even more happy that we had her. Our daughter turned 8 years old this year, and now that she's 8 she was really impressed with her birth story and we could see how happy and proud it made her to listen to us tell the story and see the joy it brings us. We all just melted into a love puddle it was great. Hopefully her dad and I will get to tell her her birth story together every year for many years to come.
It is a date on the calendar.
One I mess up from time to time because I have four kids.
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Okay, no one forgets their kids birthday but I can assure you when you have more than one and someone asks you a birthday you are not going to prattle off the dates correctly.
Nope.
But I have a lot of nostalgia for toddler years. I miss those.
Mine's 11 :)
Not really. She and I both almost died. It's an experience I would just as soon forget.
Yes:) especially about my sons birthday. I went through hell for 4 days. 3 hospitals and was told my boy had less then a 10% chance of surviving. But 7 years later he's here, and even when life is hard with him, I wouldn't change it did anything! Because he wasn't supposed to even be here and I'm so greatful he is
My daughter will be one on Monday and my son will be 5 next month. It has gone so fast and I find that recently we both feel like we are at a place to just stop and enjoy them.
Do I think of their birth with more nostalgia? Definitely. The drama of those two days is fuzzy, but seeing their little faces and holding them is crystal clear.
Nope. Their births were, although perfectly uncomplicated and healthy, hard and painful, especially the first one, which was also very long. I am happy for women who have these warm and fuzzy births with water and classical music and chanting but that was never my experience.
When I was giving birth to my son I wasn't cursing my husband for knocking me up I was cursing the birthing class and books that glossed over the reality of what it would REALLY feel like!
I am in complete and utter awareness of how challenging their births were. Not nostalgic about births at all. BUT each year I do try to tell them the best parts and the funny parts so they know how much they are loved and have been from second 1.
I think less nostalgic at birthdays, but new skills well up sentiment in me. I see my kids racing across the ball field and I think "I remember when they learned to walk, now look at them" or the losing of teeth. Weird, but I think back to how excited and wonderful it was when those sweet little baby teeth came in and those goofy baby grins. Now the tooth is out and under a pillow.
*Sigh*
No not really.
But my youngest, my son, is 6 now.
And he is my last child... seeing him grow up, and as his 1st grade year is nearing an end... it is really bittersweet, seeing him grow up... and I wish he were still young.
Gosh darn it... the kids are growing up.
Its just another "Rite Of Passage" for a Mom... mom phases... that we all go through, as we see and observe our kids growing up.
Then my oldest child, my daughter, will be going to middle school next year. Gosh darn it. She is 10 now, and still will hug me in front of her friends at school and will still call me "Mommy" versus just "Mom" or "Ma." Don't know how long she will keep doing that. But I cherish it. One Mom told me, that per her daughter once she hit middle school...they change... their mannerisms and gestures and way of talking, changes. They are not "little girls" anymore.
I just hope my daughter will still have her child's heart... even in middle school....
But yes, it is emotion filled.
I love recounting the story of the day of their birth with them. Kind of letting them know how amazing it is to have them in our lives. And this is kids over 18!
I forget MOST people's birthdays, but not my children's!
My daughter's birth was in all actuality a bit traumatic, for me, and not at all how I planned however due to how things ended up I would not change it. My daughter is going to be 10 and wow has time flown. I love to share her birth story with her every year.
My son's birth is a different experience and while I had things the best I could at the time I find I do enjoy it more and more as time passes. He's 6.
ETA: I recall all the pain and issues I had during each birth but being that I fought hard to bring my two into the world I look back upon their births as nostalgic and happy as I possibly can in spite of any negativity and actuality of how things were. Oh, and yes I had each of my children sans medication so no worries I did literally feel each and every pain. I have no glossed over view or subdued idea of having a pain-free birthing experience.
Yes, definitely. I actually have sweet, warm-fuzzy memories of even the hardest times -- my bout with PPD, my son's truly terrible 3s. Sometimes I can turn into the most ridiculous ball of mush.
That changes from year to year depending on what's going on for me. When life is good and hectic not so much. When I am jolted by how much they've grown and pulled away....... ouch!
My son will be six next month. But, no, I don't look back to the day of his birth with nostalgia. Like some others, I didn't have a great birth experience and have some regrets about a few things. But I can't believe how big he's getting and I do love looking back at the pictures from his first few days.
I have fonder memories of my daughter's birth. She's almost 2.5 so it's a little more recent and, in a lot of ways, she's still a baby. Still though, I don't have a wave of emotions from her birth day either.
Happy birthday to your son!
