Being a first-time mom was an incredibly humbling experience

I just endured the longest hour of my life. Any new mother can tell you this: When your baby cries like something is bothering him but you have no idea what it might be, even a minute feels like an hour. When it’s an actual hour of mind-numbing, piercing, desperate cries that don’t abate — no matter how you hold him, rock him, or lie with him — it seems like an eternity.

At first, I thought my tzaddik’l was hungry. He wasn’t. Just plain tired? Well, that, too. But there was something more. I watched his little body twist and contort in pain. What was hurting him? I’d already put on some baby Oragel, so if he were teething, he should’ve already relaxed. Unless it got worse just before his first tooth cut through? Maybe it was gas? Another ear infection? Something else?

Soon, I was doing a rock-coo-sshhh… Mommy’s here… dance around the bedroom, feeling more lost and less confident with each passing minute. Should I call my mother? Call his doctor? Give him Tylenol? How was it that this little being in my hands was able to make me doubt my years of built-up self-assurance? Being a first-time mom was an incredibly humbling experience. Everything was a first. As knowledgeable as I thought I was from seeing and helping family with their own little ones, nothing had prepared me enough for this.