I Would Never Do That

If there's one thing life has taught me since I became a parent, it's that just about every time the thought, "I would never do that" came across my mind, I'd end up, eventually, doing just that thing. 

"I would never let my baby sleep in bed with me!" That's much too dangerous. Right? Maybe? And then my firstborn wasn't yet twenty-four hours old and he would scream every time he was put down and wouldn't sleep unless he had physical contact with a human being and I realized that the only way I was going to sleep was to sleep with him with me. Upon our arrival home, I slept with him on the futon, as it wasn't the same as bed-sharing, was it? Finally, my husband and "The Family Bed' by Tine Thevenin convinced me that my Mama instincts were operating properly and sleeping with my baby was a perfectly safe and biologically normal thing to do. And I loved cosleeping with all of my children. 

"I would never sit my kids in front of the tv just to get some peace and quiet." There are so many other quiet activities they can do - reading, crafting, writing, drawing - that I'll never have to resort to using the tv as a babysitter. Enter real life, five kids, multiple autoimmune diseases that cause extreme exhaustion, and "let's watch a movie" can quickly morph into "let's have a movie night" and then into "let's have a movie day." Some days it's just necessary for my entire household to turn into zombies for 24 hours so Mama doesn't turn into one permanently. And I love the peace and quiet and naps I can sneak while the kids are entertained enough not to wreck the house in the meantime.

Then there's the collection of breastfeeding I would nevers: "I would never breastfeed a child who can talk;" "I'll never breastfeed two/three children at one time - that's crazy!"; and "I'd never breastfeed another person's child." I did all of the above. Many, many times. I nursed a child who could do algebra, for heaven's sake. Admittedly, he was quite precocious in that area, but still. And I loved just about every moment of breastfeeding my kids, no matter what their ages or how many or whether or not there was a queue.

Have you seen those commercials on tv for prescription drugs where half of the commercial is a list of the warnings and scary possible side effects? So many times I thought or said, "Why on earth would someone take that? You'd never catch me taking something that sounds more dangerous for you than any illness!" Then psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis reared their ugly heads and poof I was practically begging to take a drug whose pages and pages of warnings and adverse reactions and contraindications scare the carp out of me. And I LOVE love Love this drug. It has changed my life in so many amazing ways, though it is still crazy scary. 

"I will never, ever, drink soda again." Now, this I was one-hundred percent invested in. I cringe every time one of my children drinks soda, not that that happens very often. Soda is damaging, toxic, destructive...and the only treatment we've found for my migraines. One Coke (why it has to be Coke, I have no idea, but it's the only one that seems to work and that I can keep down - and no, coffee doesn't work), and around eighty percent of the time, I get a break from my migraine. It's horrible. It's gross. But it's better than nothing, as my doctors have yet to be able to find a medication that will get rid of my migraines and not kill me or make me incredibly ill in the process. 

Taking all of this into consideration, I'd like to say that I will never, ever, get a hot tub, as they cost too much and are too high maintenance. Nope. Never.