Have you ever seen a mother cat preparing to have her kittens? I remember watching the Parrott’s farm cat (aka cat mom to the greatest cats in the world: Skittles & Bonkers) get ready weeks before her kittens arrived. She had already scouted out the place which was the back horse stall of the barn that was empty except for hay and hay bales. Hidden behind tall stacks of hay, she had started making these little hay bowls. I think she would kind of paw the hay around and then lay in it over and over until it made a little bowl shape dent. She made several of them trying to get it right. It’s almost like Goldy Locks syndrome: This one is too big, this one too small, but this one is just right. With any mother animal, cat or not, they are determined to make ready a home for their babies and if you tamper with it or try to rearrange their homes, they will fix them back or move it elsewhere. Whether a foxes den, birds nest, or the perfect hidden nook for delivering kittens, a mother is adamant on where her family will be. She picks a safe place, a comfortable place, and once all arrangements are made, she feels at ease and is ready for her babies to come. In the human kingdom, this phenomenon is known as nesting. Most women nest to a degree. I just read that nesting is most typical around a month or so prior to baby’s arrival. For some of us though, those of us who will remain nameless, you find yourself organizing closets and deep cleaning your home several months in advance. Some will express this need to prepare by zapping items for a baby registry while for people like me, I mean nameless people, it becomes an instinctual urge and to make proverbial hay bowls all over the place 16 weeks before the baby comes.
Other than the major things that a mother would provide for her child, I find myself through this nest making phase being certain that there are things I strongly desire to make ready and set in motion for my baby.
A comfortable bed, a beautiful room that she can play in, traditions at Christmas time. Truthfully, I find myself wanting to recreate the things I admired about my childhood which were all a mark of a mother bird who tended to her nest well.
I asked for a Lowe’s gift card for Christmas this year, not just because of my exemplary carpentry work, but because I really wanted to put a shelf in the laundry room to be more organized for the increased amount of clothes I’ll be doing. Because of my urge to make ready my home, I was as excited about this shelf as I was the designer diaper bag I opened that made me cry uncontrollably in front of my husband’s family. It’s almost like I feel that if I can have all shelves stacked and stocked, toys in place, base boards wiped, carpets cleaned, driveway sealed, etc. etc. etc. THEN I will come to the climatic moment where I sit back in the glider, look at my stomach and say to her, “Okay. It is time.” Then she can proceed with the birthing events.
It’s silly in a way, I know. I’m nesting hard. Like a cat making hay beds before she’s even pregnant silly when you look at the degree to which I feel like I’m doing this. This maternal drive I have coupled with the fact that I’m an obsessive planner keeps me satisfied task at time, piece by piece. The silliest part of all of this is that I know you can’t really be totally prepared and even if the house wasn’t “ready”, would it even matter? God is gonna sock it to me and give me this baby 4 weeks early to prove a point. In my mind I’ll be screaming, “Not before the childbirthing classes, Lord!” Women have been squatting in fields for a 1000 years dropping babies into the wheat fields and I’m cleaning out kitchen cabinets and signing up for birth classes like these things MUST be done. I do, however, feel that I could use a childbirth class. There’s nothing quite as discouraging as going to the potty and not being able to even push out a number 2 successfully. Has a way of making a girl nervous about producing offspring in an effective manner.
BUT, if this little lady will give me enough time, I’m sure I’ll make effective bathroom technique part of my nesting activities.
Me oh my, Becca’s gone crazy.
the first hundred. 