03748 - Enfield, N.H.
Eleanor Kowal was the first baby born in New Hampshire in 2008, arriving on January 1 at 1:11 a.m. She lives in Enfield with first-time parents Amy and Brian Kowal. The following is an edited interview with her mother.
I was very nervous, even the night before. I was being induced on December 31, and I was saying to my husband, "What are we doing? We're not ready!" He said, "we should have thought about that nine months ago!"
I ended up having a c-section, so I was tied up to different tubes and things so I couldn't hold her after she was born. But it was amazing, her little nose actually looked like it did in one of the ultrasound pictures. Me and my husband both cried. We were just so happy that she was healthy.
Being pregnant was an amazing journey, and to see her afterward, you're like, "Oh, you're the one that was kicking me in the gallbladder the whole time."
I don't think that you can ever feel ready to be a parent. But as soon as she was born, it all just fell into place, this mothering instinct that I think every woman has.
There's no instruction book. I think it just comes. Now that the baby is here, life just happens, you figure things out. And I find there's no one right answer, you find what works for you. I think that's the best thing to learn, that everyone's child is different, so everyone's parenting is going to be different.
The thing that I've found the hardest is that you can't just jump in the car and run out to the grocery store. Everything has to be very planned. When I left work I thought, "Oh, I'm going to have so much free time to get all the projects done around the house."
But with a baby, there's no free time. They're either feeding, burping, changing, or taking a quick little 10-minute nap, then they want to do it again. You're on all the time, consumed with baby care.
Not being able to sleep is draining, but I love to hear her cry. Getting up in the middle of the night to change and feed her, even in the most tired times it's just precious. It's indescribable. I love every minute of it.
Listen to Amy Kowal speak about caring for her newborn daughter, Eleanor.