Getting Prepared for Baby
Bump to baby
When I had my first Child, I was all about the pregnancy and birth. Like so many mothers, it consumed me. I read and researched, I improved my eating habits, drank more water, gave up all alcohol ( I didn’t drink coffee!) and I even took up yoga.
After morning sickness had passed and especially when there was no mistaking me being pregnant, I just loved it! So grateful and excited for the family we would become. The actual bringing the baby home part – well I didn’t think much about it. Oh, I knew I would be tired and more exhausted than I’d ever been before but the rest; it would be fine. I had spent most of my teens and 20’s looking after babies and toddlers, what didn’t I know!
Practise doesn't make perfect!
Well as it turned out, I didn’t know anything but especially about how that most incredible experience would change my life forever. Being actually responsible for another human 24/7 times forever. My husband and I could not believe that we actually were allowed to take this tiny, helpless human home and then once there, although elated, it was scary.
So, it seemed all my ‘experience’ added up to nought when my baby came home. I wasn’t prepared and to tell you the truth I was mad, “why hadn’t anyone ever told me this? – I had three sisters for goodness sake! So many things were a surprise to me, I felt like we were the only ones who didn’t know what we were doing; surely everyone didn’t feel like this. Then later when I joined my mother’s group and I started talking to other parents I knew, it seemed that everyone, without exception felt the same that way my husband and I felt.
You're not alone.
It was such a relief – we were not alone; we were the rule not the exception. We had found that if you can open up and talk and share your experiences with others, you will find that there is a whole community of people out there who are experiencing the same challenges, doubts, fears and insecurities, they are called parents. The more you can draw from that community, the more you can open yourself up and share your experiences, the more you will feel supported on that journey of yours. You are not alone.
New Parent Groups
Note: Most Maternal and Child Health Centres in Australia arrange Mother’s (Parent) groups usually starting when your baby is between 2-12 weeks old. I recommend that all new Parents try them out and remember if you don’t like the one you are placed in, rather than stop going, you should be able swap to a different group.