Push Prize! SO ME!

When I was pregnant there was a lot of talk about Push Prizes for mothers. The debate was over whether mother's should get a push prize for popping out a baby? Pregnant mothers gasped in shock, "My healthy child is the true gift. She is the prize". My response, "NOT ME!! I'll take the prize too". Hubby and I both have the blessing but I have a mangled abdomen and a tilted uterus. Now does that sound fair? Are we really even?
So what is the perfect push prize? It really depends on the mom but it does not have to be expensive. Keep your diamonds. After the birth of our first daughter I just wanted food. Hubby brought me dinner to the hospital. It was steamed crab. He cracked it and fed it to me by hand. Then he sliced open large strawberries and sandwiched them together with marshmallow cream. Despite the pain medication and the hospital ambience it was worth a million candlelit dinners in swank restraunts. It is still in my top five of most romantic moments of all time.

So a self sacrificing mother who expects nothing but her post birth glow? Well that really is NOT me!! I will not be hopping up to cook dinner just hours post baby. Nope, I will be propped back in bed waiting to be hand fed. That is soooo me!! Am I spoiled? Absolutely, I don't mind fessing up to it after enduring hours of labor and pushing drug free just to be wheeled into an emergency c-section, doped beyond consciousness then stapled back together like Frankenstein.
But here is the thing... let's not call it a push prize because that belittles the whole process. Besides what about the other mother's like me who had cesareans. Am I ineligible for a push prize just because my internal slip and slide malfunctioned? Then there are the adopted children that find their way into their mother's arms via adoption. I think they are just as deserving of a "push" prize. And then again maybe push prize is fitting. As mothers we all push, pull and fight for our right to be mothers regardless of how we accomplish it. "Push" prizes are the celebration of the quest. I think it is also a great start and tradition for first time mothers. Mothers have a tendency to give and self sacrifice with total disregard for themselves. By accepting push prizes we start motherhood with the realization that it is okay to occasionally reward yourself and indulge in a world outside of diaper cream and booties. This post was inspired by "Not Me Monday". Just click on the link below to join in...