the journey towards motherhood

my sister in law asked me the other day... tak rimas ke with that big stomach? i mumbled a reply as i was busy with my son. she sat at the sofa, looking at me.... i wonder what went on her mind... this is what i didn't have the chance to tell her.... pregnancy is a journey which ends at giving birth to a baby and continues until a mother's last breath in the name of motherhood. it completes her and gives her a divine status as a mother. for that, every mother endures many discomforts throughout the pregnancy in bringing their precious children into this world. it is a journey... some may feel it short while for others, it may seem forever. the experience of carrying a baby in your womb for almost 40 weeks with all the physical and emotional changes has its bitter sweetness. you carry within you, a life that is be it a boy or a girl, a part of you. you nurtured its growth from a clot of blood to a full grown baby that will be ready to come into this world with its own identity yet the divine mother and child relationship remains. you will be constantly thinking of its well being, of what he or she will look like, secretly hoping for a resemblance of yourself. you will pray to God that your child's takdir will be a blessed one and that nothing will ever harm or hurt your baby... this baby will forever be your baby regardless the age of the baby... when the baby is born and being put in your arms for the first time, you will feel the strangeness of the experience and your lifetime committment begins. the end will be the day you breath your last while your legacy in your baby continues for generations... well, i guess motherhood is so divine that the Supreme Being orders you to.... "And revere the wombs that bore you, for God is ever watchful over you." (4:1)