7 ways motherhood shocked the hell out of me
Full disclosure: I have been a mother for nearly six weeks now. I didn’t think it’d be easy, but when my pregnancy went extremely smoothly I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, my baby would be easy and being a Mom wouldn’t be too hard. Lo and behold, there are definitely a few things that shocked the hell out of me in both regards.
Baby’s got colic? Here are seven ways to help everyone survive it
Sometimes babies cry, and sometimes they cry relentlessly for hours every day. Colic, high needs, or whatever a parent decides to call it — this is a time when humankind’s coping mechanisms are put through the gauntlet. I’ve had two passionate criers, and these are the strategies that helped me be here today with 99% of my sanity.
When I fell in love with my daughter
I thought it would be like falling in love with a man, where you got a rush and butterflies in your stomach; I thought I would moon over her and love would sweep me off my feet. It never happened that way.
Have screaming kid, will travel
It all started when the pills ran out. You see, when a 4’11”, petite-in-every-place girl delivers a 10 pound baby, there is a lot of, ahem, stitching and fixing up to be done.
Normally I decline medication, but after Jonah tore into the world my doctor didn’t have to push it. In the hospital, floating on pain medicine, I was still struck by how completely unprepared I was for taking care of a baby, but I was handling it okay.
Then I went home.