It’s amazing the things that change when you become a mother. There is a new intuitive nature that seems to take over your entire body. Things that you never noticed before become so prominent they nearly slap you in the face.

When you’re away from your child, your intuitive nature kicks in and that feeling in the gut of your stomach that something is wrong or something is amiss becomes so overwhelming that it nearly knocks you out. If you breast feed, then your breasts will start to hurt when you’re away from your child for too long or they will attempt to signal you when your child needs to be fed. I’m even convinced that I know when my son is ill or has a tummy ache, even if I’m 15 miles away sitting in cubeville (aka my office) while he’s corralled within the confines of daycare. My husband seems to think this is a farce and an absolute anomaly and that I couldn’t possibly know my baby’s cry.

On my first day back to work, I called my son’s daycare at 9am (the day hardly underway) to check on him. This was to be his first full day without me around and as a matter of fact the longest amount of time he and I had been without each other was an hour and that was only because my husband refused to take him with us and he was left with my sister-in-law. As the phone rang, I became more and more antsy and sick at my stomach. Something was wrong, I just knew. I could sense an uneasiness with my son, or as Obi Wan would say…a disturbance with the force. His teacher answered the phone and at that moment I could hear nothing else except for my son’s crying in the background. I felt my throat close as the solid lump of emotions quickly formed. My heart skipped a beat and I clenched my teeth tightly as I tried to compose myself. After all, I had no desire to display my emotions as if on a newstand. Extra! Extra! Read out all about crazy mom sensing her son’s tears and emotionally collapsing at work. No thanks!

After a moment, but what really seemed like eternity, I said to his teacher, “that’s my son crying, isn’t it?”

His teacher replied that yes it was and he had just woken up and was getting a bottle. I sighed for a moment and told myself to relax and that my son was going to cry at some point.

That night after I got home, I told my husband about calling to check on Davey. I told him about knowing his cry and my husband laughed. It just wasn’t possible to know his cry because all babies sound the same! Spoken like a true father, I suppose, but a mother knows her baby and before becoming one myself I would have been on the same ticket with my husband. Not anymore. Not only do I know his cry, but each cry sounds different and I love each and every one of them.

And I’m so happy to know that my maternal instincts are so strong I can pick my son’s cry out from a room of caterwauling babies.

*Sigh*