5 Things I Didn't Know When I Brought My Newborn Home

I'll start out by saying that my little girl is the cutest being ever, in the history of time, and that I love her.  BUT, let's be real, newborn care kinda sucks. 

I'll admit, my little peanut is only 4 weeks old, so I'm definitely still a newbie mom.  

I've been thinking about why no one talks about the newborn stage of babyhood, and why none of my fellow mommy friends warned me about this stage. My husband and I have decided that there are certain things that no one wants to tell you about newborns, and this is because it would scare people away from having kids...causing the human race would end...  

Here are a few things we've learned.  

1.  For the first few weeks, your baby may not sleep all that much.

On average, newborns sleep 16 hours a day.  My baby, however, is on the lowest part of that bell curve.  Yes, not all new babies sleep all the time.  For the first 3 weeks of my daughters life, she was awake, like, all the time.   Sleeping only after nursing, as long as I didn't move...

BUT she did sleep like a rockstar at night, waking only once, maybe twice.   

Please tell me I didn't just jinx myself.  

2.  Your baby will go from lovable snuggle monster to screaming banshie.   

Part of this comes from you not having a clue what you're doing and the other part comes from the baby not having a clue what he/she's doing.  

On top of that, you need to get to know each other and learn all the signals and cues your baby will give you, because basically, neither one of you has any clue what the other is trying to say.  

This getting to know you phase takes time!  Especially if you're a first time mom who's never had to pay attention to the 500 (exaggeration) different ways a newborn will tell you she's hungry.  

Then once you figure it all out, he or she will grow up a little bit more and everything will change.  Again.  Yay! 

3.  You'll wonder if you'll ever have time for your husband again.

With all of your might, you will try to hold an intelligent conversation with your partner only to discover that after a day full of feeding, diaper changing, and screaming, your mind doesn't have a lot of room for ...well, anything.  

You'll feel bad about not giving your hubby the attention he deserves and that you wish you could give him... but you won't feel too bad, mostly because you won't have the energy to.  

4.  You will feel as if your only purpose in life is to create milk and then feed it to your tiny human.

Not much to say about this one.  If you breastfeed, it's basically true.  Hubby described my maturity leave as "the life of a diary cow.  Eat, be milked, and repeat."  

5.  Not all new moms will bond instantly with their baby.  

I repeat, if you did not magically bond with your baby the moment he or she was placed on your chest, that's ok!  It is completely normal.  If you're one of the FEW parents who did bond instantly, kudos to you.  But, if you're like most parents I've talked to, the bonding comes later.  After all, this little person is technically a stranger.  It will take multiple moments and experiences with your baby for that "all encompassing joyous bond" to form.  

It doesn't help that the media sells you this idea that becoming a parent is the happiest moment in your life.  Let's be real, you're going to be too tired to be that happy.  

(If it's been more than a few weeks and you still don't feel connected, that may be a sign of postpartum depression.  Remember, it's important to have someone to talk to.)

Your baby will become the greatest thing you've ever done.  BUT, do not feel guilty if you don't feel like that right away, you will! 

So there you go.  The last month feels like one long never ending day.  But it's so worth it.