Pregnancy evokes friendships, specifically ones with my old and dear friend, Fear and new acquaintance, Excitement. I really believe that three is a crowd when it comes to friendships. Like many relationships in our lives, every friend has a purpose and you have to take the good with the bad. I am learning to make the best of what Fear and Excitement have to offer me.
Along with the normal Fears of your baby's health, unruly mood swings and keeping your marriage healthy post-baby, comes a Fear I never really considered: Fear of the wilting speech-language pathologist... But then an epiphany occurred.
I mean, can having a child affect my career, my first "baby"? Sure, my new baby will cause me to lose sleep. I may not feel like my chipper self everyday. I may need a cup of coffee or two to get me through 8 treatment sessions and scoring the CELF-4 in one day. I may not be able to fit back into my old clothes. I may have a day or two (three or four, who's counting?) when I come to work with spit up on my favorite black shirt, my hair pulled up in a high bun and minimal make-up. But experiencing my baby's language blooming and growing from birth through adolescence and beyond....
Bring on the Excitement!
I will finally be able to see language development, God willing, from such a truly different point of view in my life, not a text book's version. My baby's vocal play, precious babbles, calling my sweet husband dada, combining two words.... How can these new experiences coming my way not make me a better SLP, and how can being an SLP not make me a better parent? How are the words SLP and parent not synonymous? I am about to embark on the single greatest journey an SLP could ask for...
If you know me well, Fear hardly ever takes a back seat in my life. It's the driving force of most of my decisions, which is why I think I am pretty practical... But letting go and giving Excitement the wheel in my life, health and career, is so freeing...
See ya Fear... there wasn't room for you anyway!
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