What is "bonding" really? I'm tempted, before I continue, to look it up on Wikipedia. But I will tell you my definition first: Bonding is something that you hear a lot about during the time before and shortly after the birth of your baby. It has something to do with how the mother and baby (or father and baby) become attached to one another, and recognize the other for what they are: "Mama" or "my precious little baby."

Bonding is very, very important. You have to be very diligent in making sure bonding happens. You certainly do not want to be a mother who is not bonded with her baby. You must guard against that. Did you speak to your baby in the womb so that he would know your voice? Did you have enough skin-to-skin contact with your newborn? Are you spending enough time with your baby pressed against your chest, feeling your heartbeat? Are you breastfeeding your baby, because, as anyone knows, nothing is more intense than the bond between a mother and her nursing baby? When your baby cries, are you at his side quickly enough?

As you can see, there are a lot of things to "do" in order to bond, and you have to make sure that, not only are you doing those things, but that you are doing them "enough." Bonding is very scary. It just seems so easy to mess up.

And then I think a little harder about what "bonding" is, and I realize that it is just another word for love. Oh. I feel my heart un-clench and my shoulders drop away from my ears.

Love? That, we can do.