We'll learn as we go

We are part of a VERY small group of parents-to-be who decided not to attend Pre Natal classes even though we were ideal candidates as we knew VERY little about babies.  We decided to give the classes a miss as I was getting more and more panicky with each baby book I read. I felt SO overwhelmed by all the info. Husband probably knew my head would explode if I had to sit in a class while the process of giving birth was explained to me in full detail. So we ventured into the world of parenting with a ‘we’ll learn as we go’ attitude.

Roll on to 13 August 2013.  

The first morning in hospital as brand new parents to a gorgeous baby boy we had to attend a demonstration on how to bath your baby. I sat there deer in headlights trying to take in as much as I possibly could of what seemed like an impossible task. The next morning we had to do it ourselves.  I did not sleep at all that night. I walked the hall to the nursery like someone on death row. A terrified nervous wreck.  I couldn’t remember a thing the nurse said the previous day. I filled up the little baby bath with a sense of dread while they rolled my teeny tiny human over. It took me forever to undress him as I was petrified of breaking him. It took me even longer to bath him as I used a new cotton ball on every tiny part of his body worried about spreading infection. While washing his hair I honestly thought I was going to pass out from all the anxiety. This very long and very careful bath routine carried on for about 2 weeks. Now I cannot even believe bath time was such a terrifying experience as I plop my baby in the bath and wipe everything with the same wash cloth without even giving it a second thought.

 

Same goes for changing a diaper.  I made husband change the first 3 diapers in hospital as I just could not handle that kind of pressure in my fragile state. Now I change the diaper of a screaming baby trying to crawl off the changing table while banging the Sterimar bottle on the pretty porcelain bunny next to the change matt in seconds without even breaking a sweat.

The moral of the story is that yes being a parent can be scary, there will be tears, there will be moments of thinking ‘I can’t do this’ but you will adapt, you will learn, and soon it becomes second nature.  I now laugh at scared new mom me who took 20mins to top and tail her baby. What frightened me so is now my favourite time of day as I watch my baby splash in the bath and chew on a rubber ducky.