My first pregnancy was not planned. I was in denial for most of the 9 months and hoped that by some miracle the whole situation would disappear and I would not have to deal with labor and then subsequently having and taking care of a baby.
You’ve just had a baby and everybody wants to visit! Who you choose to invite into your home, and how soon you do this after your baby is born, is a very personal decision.
For the first few months of my oldest child’s life, I was sure he barely slept at all. I spent countless hours hunched over books and websites, tears in my eyes, trying to figure out how to get him to sleep. My desperation for him to sleep more and better led to anxiety and worry about his perceived sleep problem, thus making it even harder for me to sleep when I had a chance.
I have a still frame in my mind from a couple of weeks after my first baby was born. I was walking to the kitchen, bouncing my fussing son, my back to the television that my husband was watching. I looked at my husband, thinking sadly, “I miss him.” I wasn’t sure how I could miss my husband so much, considering he had been right by my side since the moment our son was born.
Hey new mamas, raise your hand if you’ve ever been asked this question: “Is he a good baby?” Since you can’t see me over here behind my computer screen, I’ll tell you that my hand is raised high in the air. I have to believe that these questions and comments come from a place of kindness and an attempt to engage in meaningful conversation. However, questions like, “Is he a good baby” were enough to send me down into a deep, dark hole where I didn’t have to talk to or see anybody when my first child was a baby