Before I had kids, there were just so many things I had no idea about and I was crazy to think that parenting was just instinct and common sense. It wasn’t.
When I had my first daughter six years ago, nobody told me how tiny their tummies are when they’re first born so I would know that she wasn’t actually starving or anything and attempting to nurse her whole waiting for my milk to come in was just fine. I stressed and supplemented and killed my supply. Nobody told me that supplementing and pumping early on could hurt my supply, either.
Nobody told me babies don’t really sleep. I always heard “sleeping like a baby” and I saw so many sleeping babies that it hasn’t crossed my mind. I did read and figure this out beforehand, but there was really no way to prepare for just how exhausted I really was when she finally came.
Nobody told me …anything there is to know about carseat safety. Some people think it’s common sense and it probably is but I was young and in the common sense department, I’m not all there sometimes. I didn’t read manuals, it seemed like it would be a straight-forward, basic thing to do. “Put baby in carseat, drive.” Nobody said to me that the clip is called a chest clip and it goes on the chest or throw away those aftermarket head supports because they void the warranty on the seat and haven’t been crash-tested with your seat. Nobody told me to take those winter coats off because they make the straps too loose or to rearface as long as possible because it was the safest. My oldest is lucky to be alive and I’m still kicking myself!
Nobody told me that the transition of one to two children is really tough. I found that to be the most exhausting and difficult transition of all of my babies. It’s so hard to go from “sleep when she sleeps” to sleeping only when both are asleep. That transition still makes me tired just to recollect it, definitely the most difficult few months of my life!
Nobody told me that my tastes would completely change. I would cut back on my rock music with profanity and switch to upbeat, pleasant country. My favorite places to visit would become the zoo, historical sites, and anywhere I could picnic. The friend traits I would value would change and so would my idea of a “night out”.
Nobody told me that everything I ever feared would involve my babies coming to harm. Nobody told me that I could love anyone so much, that every step, every word, every stride would fill me with emotions that I didn’t even know I had.
Nobody told me that life as I know it would change completely and transform into a life that I never even knew I wanted but am head-over-heels in love with. Nobody told me that life could be so happy…
Or maybe everyone told me and I wasn’t listening and had to learn for myself! 😉