Preparing for Baby

I've got a newborn on the way. A newborn. Squishy, mysterious, wiley little beasts, they are. Now that the time draws ever more nigh, I am starting to reminisce over my time with Z as a newborn and prepare myself the best I can.

Things to remember about newborns:

1. They hate life.
They just want to be back in the womb where things were warm, cozy and predictable. All this light and having to eat and breathe to survive is so overrated.

2. They have no sense of time.
There is no night. There is no day. There is no, "You just ate! (pooped, went to sleep)" in their world. They do what they want, when they want to do it. It's best to accept it and move on. And try to get them to understand night vs day.

3. They cry for no reason other than being alive.
It's so weird. I think I blocked most of that out, but I do remember seemingly endless bouncing, singing, swaying. Of course, then Joe would arrive, put Z on his chest and the child would immediately fall asleep because life is not fair.

4. This newborn will not be Z.
I know that I can try the strategies I came up with when Z was a teeny and some may work, but others may not. A whole new ball game awaits.

5. Boy, do they smell and snuggle soooooo good.
I have to confess that even though the newborn stage is not my favorite due to the feeling like a zombie and the baby being needy and often angry, they are still awfully sweet in their neediness. I get flashbacks when my almost 2 year old (!!WHAT!?!) is all sleepy and lets me squish him up in my arms and rock him. Hard to believe these babies will be big boys in no time who have no interest in squishing up with their mama.

6. Savor the madness.
It sucks, but it passes so fast. I remember at the end of the first week feeling like it was the longest week of my life. But now, looking back, it all happened so fast. Z isn't a baby anymore and that makes me so sad sometimes. Those baby days are gone in a flash, so even though I know some days will be awful and stressful, I'm going to gather them up in my heart and write about them in my journal (my paper one) so I can take out those memories when my boys are big and the baby days are long gone.



I'm not even going to get into all of the other issues that come with a newborn like postpartum recovery and breastfeeding. Postpartum recovery is something I have no interest in writing about in a public forum and, for me, breastfeeding holds an entirely separate level of anxiety on top of the normal difficulties, so I can't really talk about that in an impartial manner.