The Hand That Rocks The Cradle by William Ross Wallace

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

The Hand that rocks the Cradle
Is The Hand That Rules The World
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother's first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow--
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our natal sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
--William Ross Wallace

With Mother's Day coming up, there's a lot of baby news floating around. First, my sister Heather had her baby, Anna Sophia Cosby on Saturday (I've been waiting for pictures before doing my post). If you read the comments on my blog, you may have noticed that just a few days ago, not on the last post, but the one before, this comment appeared:

Heather said...
Yay for babies! Just over a month to go!

The next day, she went to the doctor for her normal checkup and found that she was 50% effaced, and 3 cm dilated with about 4 contractions per hour. Theoretically, this stage of labor could have lasted for days or weeks, but Mom changed her flight just in case. It's a good thing she did, because the next day Heather's water broke and the went to the hospital. When they got there, they found that the baby was in a breach position, and they had to do an emergency c-section because she was so early. Heather and Anna both came through it all right, but Anna had to go right to the NICU to be put on oxygen. This is normal for a baby that's born prematurely (A lot of maturing happens for the lungs in the last month) and for a baby that's born by Cesarean (the fluid isn't squeezed out of the lungs during labor). The doctors all say that she should be just fine once she gets a little older, but it sure is hard on Heather to not be able to cuddle and hold her baby all day. I know it was horrible for me when we had to take Elizabeth to the hospital for the flu and see her hooked up to all those wires and tubes. It must be even worse when you haven't had 6 weeks of healthy and strong before that.

I will admit, and if you read my blog posts from December you'll see, that I really wanted Elizabeth to come early. All the books said that with modern medical technology, even very premature babies grow up to be perfectly normal. I was so ready to be done being pregnant, I didn't really consider that "modern medical technology" meant that the baby would be in a little isolette incubator with tubes and wires all over for the first several days. Hearing about Heather's trial, and how she had to go home without the baby, makes me really glad that I didn't get my wish.

Boy, this sure is turning into a depressing post. I hope Heather doesn't read it and get all sad. So let's all remember that Anna is HERE! She's been born pretty much safe and sound, and in a short time, she'll be bouncing off the walls like any other baby!

And for some more good news, My sister-in-law Helena has just announced that she's pregnant again! They had their first child, Kate, three years ago (while Peter and I were engaged) after trying for a looong time. I had hoped that she'd eventually have a sibling, but knew that there were more factors involved than just my wishing, so I never asked about whether they were trying again (I know from experience that no good can come from asking somebody if they're planning to get pregnant -- either they are, and something is in the way, or they're not, and they don't need you making them feel guilty for making that choice. Take my advice: NEVER bring it up. Let them announce it when they're good and ready).

Since Peter's other sister, Barb, also has a little one on the way, that means that Elizabeth will have three cousins all born within a year of her--and at least two of them will be girls. I know that having cousins your own age makes life a lot easier when you're at family gatherings, so I'm glad that things turned out so well for Elizabeth in that department :) I'll also have three close friends to share the joys of motherhood with, and to commiserate with about each stage the little ones are going through at any given time.

So in honor of cousins, I thought I'd post a pair of pictures that show that great minds think alike. When you see that many little daisies, the natural thing to do is take a cute photo of your daughter laying in them.