The Mommy Diaries - bringing up new baby far from home

What to do when family are 3,000 miles away and baby is born?

Irish Voice reporter APRIL DREW is loving her life as a new mom in her adopted hometown, New York, but as she explains in a new column that she’ll write on her experiences of motherhood, it can be tough being so far away from home without family to share in the joy.

On Monday, November 29, 2010, my husband and I welcomed our son, Colum James Mooney, into the world.

After 30 hours of never-doing-this-again type of labor and an emergency c-section, our little man came out kicking and screaming at 1:08 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

Clap on the back for mommy and daddy, job well done we told ourselves. I think we smiled from ear to ear with pride for 24 hours solid until we crashed with exhaustion. 

Then came the overwhelming feeling of love that other parents had warned us about, a love they said that would know no bounds. I certainly wasn’t prepared for such intense feelings.

I was shedding more happy tears than pounds in those first few days (hormones hard at work) and snapped more “oh-so-proud-mommy” photos than the paparazzi tracking Charlie Sheen in LA. It was a trip into the unknown, but we’re glad we went there.

Today Colum is 12-weeks-old and growing at a rate too fast for mommy’s liking.  He has just begun sleeping through the night and communicates with us through smiles, babble and cries.

He has recently discovered his hands and feet and knows how to use his cuteness to get what he wants! In fact today he chuckled for the first time when I tried to teach him some sign language. John and I are have fallen hard for our little man, and every day we count our blessings. 

If someone told me when I arrived in New York seven years ago that I’d be married to a Limerick man, a mother to a baby boy and still living in this country I would have said the following: “As much as I love the buzz of New York I’ll definitely be having my kids back in Ireland.”

The plan when I came here back in 2003 was to stay a year, maybe two, take on board all the opportunities that came my way, enjoy life in the big city and return to Ireland fulfilled, a plan many immigrants reading this today had.

I guess we all know by now that this city and country has a way of sucking us in, captivating our hearts and never letting go. So after seven years of loving every second of our time here, John, and I decided to have our son in New York.

Did we make the right decision? There is no question in our minds.  Everything from doctor’s visits to the birth and after care has been fantastic. Doctors, nurses and even their receptionists have shown us nothing but professionalism and respect. 

However one thing was missing from the whole experience -- family. Like every big decision in life there are pros and cons, and having a baby away from home comes with one big con -- the lack of grannies, cousins and siblings to share in the joy of our newborn and his diaper changes!

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