Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Aug/Sept 2017 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 52

The Ultimate O BY BRYNA RENÉ HAYNES h, new motherhood. Has there ever been any stage of life so raw, so real, and so utterly revealing? I dreamed of bliss and the milky smell of a newborn’s head as I waited for my due date to arrive―and I kept dreaming as I waited the twenty-two extra days it took my Little Star to finally show her precious face. 52 In those last months of pregnancy, I remembered scenes from my first child’s infancy: hanging out on the couch with my book while she nursed, moving slowly through our days as we explored this new and vibrant world where one had magically become two. I remembered drowsing in the rocking chair at midday, and taking long walks down my country road with Moonbeam in her stroller and the sun on my back. Most of all, I remembered the sense of spaciousness I experienced in those first weeks as a mother. Even though I needed to dive back into work projects when Moonbeam was only seven weeks old, those first weeks, in retrospect, were slow, open, full of possibility and devoid of expectation. I was, naively, looking forward to more of the same with my second daughter, knowing that I’d have the support of my hubby, my parents, and my in-laws. www.AspireMAG.net | August / September 2017