iMom by Lisa Duggan

"You had to dunk the diapers in the toilet to remove the, um, contents," my mother recounts un-fondly, "then rinse them in the sink before you could even put them in the washing machine."  In the winter the cloth diapers would freeze into solid sheets on the clothesline. The disposable kind would not come on the market until her second child, my brother Tony, was born. "They were such a godsend! You have no idea."

She's right. I really have no idea what it's like to accomplish the many, daily chores of parenting without the endless number of machines that we all take for granted: refrigerators and freezers, washing machines and dryers, microwaves, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and, of course, television — that great, uncomplaining babysitter. Not to mention literally lifesaving equipment like nebulizers, diabetes monitors and car seats.

These electronic servants leveled the playing field between women of means and ordinary housewives, but more importantly between them and men. They allowed women to pick up their heads and wonder what lay outside their windexed view.

I am reminded of their hard work and sacrifice as I stand at the Apple store, here to replace my essential mothering-machine, the cell phone. 

My iPhone is a purse-sized phone slash computer that allows me to mother from wherever I have to be that day, without worrying that I'll miss a call from Alice's school or an email from a potential advertiser for my business. So, although there was some initial, perhaps exaggerated, panic and frustration of having to be "offline" for twenty-four hours until I could replace it, I get how lucky I am.

It beats dunking diapers.

And I can say again with confidence, "Alice, Mommy's right here. You know the number."

Lisa Duggan is the print-publisher in exile of The MotherHood Magazine, and posted this entire entry standing in the Apple store at the Short Hills Mall.

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COMING SOON:

FATHER'S WEEK

New research shows that fathers get some of the same cognitive and physical benefits from their own altered biochemistry, as mothers do, once the baby arrives.

We'll be asking a few Dads we know if there is such a thing as a "Daddy Brain".

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