Mama La Vida Lanka: Learning from My Mommyology

Sorry I won’t mince words here but being pregnant away from home sucks.  Especially if you live in a country where you don’t even have family or even relatives.  So to ease the anxiety and even the general feeling of not knowing what to expect, I asked the help of my My Mommyology cousin-in-law who has not only gone through the same experience once, but twice!  So she gladly accepted my blog request and summarized 10 tips on how to survive first time mommyhood away from home.  Check out her post!

And here’s where I am in that.

My Pregnancy Answer Book (photo courtesy of amazon.ca)

#1: Thank God for my inquisitive nature and I always ask!  Thank God for officemates and Sinhala classmates who serve as wonderful resources.  But most especially for What To Expect When You’re Expecting (and What To Eat When You’re Expecting).  My other cousin-in-law lent me her books (the first of which incidentally was a gift from My Mommyology cousin-in-law!).  It is filled with very relevant information in question and answer form that pretty much provides information for your concerns each month.  If all else fails, I have my Dr. Nalini to ask of course!

#2: That has not happened to me yet! But if it does, I will throw my pride out the door and say YES!

#3: I wish I was in a country like the US where a lot of free and quality services are offered…

#4: This is a tricky one… it gives me great relief when I’m in touch with my friends and family back home.  But being in touch with my family has been quite a stressful experience.  One, I am not sure that they even want to come when I give birth (this being a third world country and my brother graduating from his Masters in a much nicer country like Australia during the same time, coupled with that kind of statement when we broke the news) – I really need them here and I really hope they figure something out.  Two, I feel like in grade school again.  With don’t do this and don’t do that.  Specifically my planning a trip back home in my 2^nd trimester.  They don’t understand how it feels and I really need that trip to survive this.  More on this later! Haay… hope our next conversations would be better…

#5: One of my most important learnings especially during this time that I can’t be as productive as I would love to be!

#6: I realized that I married the right man.  I swear! I don’t need to delegate to hubby.  A lot of it is his initiative.

#7: That’s my exact fear, “your pre-disposition while pregnant affects your baby’s disposition as well.”  I felt I have matured over the past couple of years, but now I have regressed to my overly emotional self! So this tip, I will definitely need to learn.  Plus, I find it hard to allow myself to indulge especially when I haven’t been as productive. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

#8: At least Dr. Nalini speaks very good English!

#9: Another lesson to be learned! But somehow I don’t have any choice but to just take it day by day.  Or rather the objective is to just get through the day.

#10: I’m on it!  

Thank you My Mommyology for accepting my blog request! Your post has put a lot of things in perspective for me and reminds me of my gifts (a wonderful hubby for one!) and things I need to learn (allow myself to indulge) in the “greatest journey I’ll ever take.”

Check out mymommyology.wordpress.com for more thoughts on motherhood away from home.


Note: After 6 months and a dose of creative inspiration, I've changed the series title from Mommy Diaries to Mama La Vida Lanka :-)