Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got Pregnant & Had A Baby:


*A note, I ran this by Kyle before posting, he deemed it risque and funny. So don't say you weren't warned.

1.       This scripture. It is at the beginning, how could I have never read this?!?!? Every Old Testament lesson seems to omit this scripture…
2.       Birth smells. Like seriously where did ALL that smell come from? There is no way there was enough room in there for that smell. I think that was like 10 of the 15 pounds I gained.
3.       All the blood. OK I knew it wouldn't be all clean neat and tidy but wow. My sheets look like I am covering up a murder; I would hate to have seen the load pre-washing. And it doesn't stop there, oh heavens no. For weeks it was like I was competing with the baby who can soil themselves more, pads and diapers were about even in the garbage.
4.       You don’t just become a mom overnight just because you've had a baby…not even a month later. I haven’t been OK with blood EVER, I see it and instantly I am checking to see if the place has a basement. But moms are OK with everything, and now I am a mom so therefore I am OK with it. Wrong. When the doctor asks if you want to wait in the other room during a circumcision don’t say no, you can’t handle it, you aren't prepared. If you are stupid enough to stay, when they offer you a stool, don’t say no, that is their way of saying you are pale and we don’t have a basement so there is no point in checking. Your mother is only good with blood after years of practice; and you don’t get that over night.
5.       Pocket contents change. Before a baby they were clean and were used to store needful things. Post baby, they become the place your baby keeps puke.
6.       TV and movies lie. I had my suspicions at various times in my life, but all became clear when within a few minutes of saying “I don’t think I’m in labor, it looks different in movies, you get faked out a couple times then at a comically inconvenient time you have the baby for real” my water breaks and I feel the need to push. TV your lies almost meant delivering my first child alone. Next time I listen to my body. HOWEVER….
7.       TV and movies depicting various body part spontaneously exploding that you think there is no way that would ever happen, become true and real. Hello day 3 engorgement! So that’s what stretch marks feel like when they grow. Any liquid trickling feeling will be followed by tears and screams of “They have exploded! I feel blood running down my front”. Bested again….well played TV, well played.
8.       Things leak, even before a baby comes out. “Why is my shirt so wet? Am I so lazy I no longer dry myself enough after a shower? What the what??? Body we are still pregnant there are still MONTHS before baby why are you leaking colostrum?”  And that isn't the worst of it…
9.       Sleep anytime after the second trimester is more make believe than Santa, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy combined. However the toilet seat is always warm during the third trimester, so there’s that.
10.   The first few days after birth when you pee it is like Austin Powersafter being thawed….where did it all come from? Seriously body where did you find all this liquid? I don’t remember drinking Lake Ontario.
11.   Hormones will make you cry out things you are really feeling, followed by “said no one ever” because somewhere under all those tears and hormones is the logical brain you used to have and a funny bone that nothing will break. Examples? “Why do my boobs have to grow so big? I like them small. A is better than D”, “I wish I was still in the early days of post delivery because then you could go to the store and buy me a surprise.”, and best of all “These contractions don’t hurt enough, I am never having this baby”. That last one was seriously said 30 minutes before delivering Henry while trying not to push him out on the hallway floor.
12.   The two words you will use to describe your body post baby? Painfully pornographic. Seriously how did all those ladies on Baywatch run down the beach and still smile?
13.   No matter how much you love your baby, you still love sleep. Yes you will hear your baby cry at an hour than should only be followed by pm and you will pull the covers over your head and say “Nope not dealing with this I am sleeping”.
14.   That silly book you loved, Go The F To Sleep, will become a painful reminder/detailed journal of your life. However this will not stop you from keeping the audio book of it, as read by Samuel L Jackson , on a playlist that your baby sleeps with. “Who knew our baby would listen to Samuel L Jackson and just go the f to sleep” will be said and it will make you feel like a bad parent. However…
15.   Anything that makes you feel like a bad parent will at least 50% of the time be punctuated with “but who cares because the baby is sleeping”. Example? “The book says not to leave them alone in your bed in your covers. But who cares he is sleeping and I can finally pee and eat and maybe sleep”.
16.   You will look at your husband and seriously feel the need to kill him. You love him and you created life with him and you need him now more than ever. However looking over as he sleeps while you nurse a screaming baby who just puked on your freshly showered body and pooped in your hand while your nipple sprayed down anything within 5 feet of you including very puzzlingly things BEHIND you, the thought crosses your mind that you could kill him right here in bed and not even ruin your sheets. After all they already look like you murdered someone.
17.   Stretch marks. You can be happy all you want about the fact there are none on your belly but when your chest looks like you were attacked by a bear…it is little consolation.
18.   You will realize that even though all these not very nice things happen (and many countless more) you are over the moon in love with this person you just met but you feel like you have known forever. You will understand the meaning of love and mother bear. You will cry because every day brings new growth and you just want that little baby forever. Getting up in the middle of the night for feedings won’t be so bad because it is the time when you and your husband find that quiet moment together and cuddle. You realize you are truly happy.

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