I seem to be surrounded at work by women who are either pregnant or giving birth. I've been very careful NOT to drink the water! Most interesting to me, as a bicultural Latina, are the key differences between the Latina and Anglo moms. And here are five undisputable signs that you and your baby are Latinos!
__Read more ¿Qué más?: I was inspired by this young woman & you will be too!
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You probably named your baby after someone in your family: My gringo was very open to using a Spanish name for our daughter (Carolina) as well as naming her after a family member (my youngest sister). My grandmother, mom, and I share the name Lucía! When my son was born, my husband was reluctant to use an "ethnic" name so we compromised and named him Michael (after my husband) but his middle name is Renan (after my father) and my family calls him Mikito.
Your baby always smells amazing: I was surprised by the response I got from my Anglo colleagues when I told them that every day the first thing that I would put on my baby was cologne. They said that they had never heard of a mom putting cologne on their babies! "You would spray them with baby perfume?!" one of them asked. "Not the way we do it as adults," I answered. "I'd put a special baby cologne that my parents would bring from Chile on their head and hair. I had to go online and show them images of baby colognes to show them I wasn't crazy!
Earrings and azabache jewelry were you're baby's first accessories! I had to drive 20 miles to get Carolina's ears pierced when she was 1 month old because my pediatrician refused to do it! In Chile the baby girls' ears are pierced at the hospital the day that they're born. Other Latinas, like my Cuban-American friend, their mamás or abuelas buy an azabache pin to ward off the mal de ojo. I remember a "friend" from Guatemala telling me that my son is deaf because someone gave him the mal de ojo and I could have avoided it if he had worn something to protect him! In Chile we have necklaces with Santos or Crucifix.
You pass on your religion religiously: although my husband and I both grew up in very Roman Catholic families, neither of us are big churchgoers. Both of our kids have received every Sacrament (except for marriage) and they attended church and school until their early teens so I feel like they have a pretty solid Catholic foundation. However, relative to my other Latina friends and to my family's expectations, the church does not play such a dominant role in our lives although Catholic principles, beliefs and certain traditions certainly do.
You pass on your cultura from conception: What is probably most unique about Latina moms is the role that our Latin heritage and traditions play the minute that we find out that we're pregnant. We go into total panic mode! How do I make sure that I pass on what abuela and mami taught us? How do we make our kids proud of their Latin herencia and roots? Will they speak Spanish? What if they don't like Latin food? Gracias a Dios we now have the internet and we don't have to go out and buy hundreds of books.
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