When a baby is born, so is a mother

On my way to a meeting the other day I passed a huge wooden yard sign with a stork on it announcing the birth of a new baby. I always thought big yard sign announcements were a bit over the top but today this goofy stork with its happy and exuberant neighborhood announcement made me smile.

Just as my car was passing this house, the mom came out and was walking her dog. According to the sign the baby had been born three days ago. Mom was on the phone, walking her dog and looked tired but relatively comfortable. There she was, three days into bringing this new little human in the world, and she was already up on her feet multitasking, the huge wooden stork behind her announcing her new daughter to the world.

Modern moms lucky enough to have friends and family nearby ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in are less and less the norm these days. Our proverbial village of motherhood is fractured and studies have shown that moms today are more stressed, frazzled and depleted than ever before. The postpartum stage is a time for rest and restoration. A time to nourish the mom as much as the baby.

I love the unabashed welcome sign for little Emma Catherine and applaud the family for shouting it from the rooftops, goofy stork and all. We may not all have huge wooden signs in front of our homes announcing our recent life milestones but we can get in the habit of speaking up and sharing our news — good and bad. Because one thing we can all use more of is support, no matter what.