lions

I've found it! There is a bit of us in Zoralee. Our lion genes are coming through.

The image of a lioness was important to me during my last trimester, when I was envisioning giving birth. She represents unwavering strength, stability, grace, and efficiency. From what I read, a lot of laboring women are helped by imagining or looking at pictures or artwork of certain animals.

When Zoralee was a week old and we were first adjusting to sleep deprivation, I had a dream that Jason and I were riding along in a Jeep over rough back roads, hunting. Then I had an overhead view of the scene and saw a dead lion and lioness in the back of the Jeep. I knew that they were us too. When I awoke (probably within an hour of konking out), I thought about how fitting it was that we were both the hunters and the hunted; we'd put ourselves in this situation, essentially killing ourselves. Ha! Reminds me of a Jerry Seinfeld sketch about his newborn baby. The idea was that babies look innocent, but they're actually a reminder of your own frailty and mortality. "Make no mistake about it - they're here to replace us!"

And now, in her fourth week of life, Zoralee has turned into a regular baby lion! She cries a little less now when she wants something and growls instead. No foolin. In the night, when she's sleeping fitfully, she growls and grunts until she wakes herself enough to cry. We've been thinking it is the influence of Molly the Schnauzer, who growls as her primary communication, no matter her emotion. Could be, but I think there's a little lion in Zoralee too.