New Mom Surprises

“What is that??” “No one told me about this!!” Have you said these about your baby? Some new moms have been surprised by the color of their baby’s poop (not for the faint of heart sometimes). Some have been surprised to find out they were pregnant! Others have been surprised by how their body has changed (feet can grow and not go back). Some have been surprised to find out their baby was born with teeth (this is rare but a real thing). No one is truly ever completely prepared to become a parent for the first time. Here are some new mom surprises that me and other moms have experienced.

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We all remember when we found out we were going to be a mom for the first time. Most of you were probably excited, some were shocked and some were probably scared. Becoming a parent for the first time changes everything (as it should). It can be a very overwhelming time as the decision making ensues. Which doctor to go to, who to tell or not tell, where to deliver, how to deliver, baby names, baby registry, what to buy, and so much more. For some of you, becoming a new mom was completely different because you Fostered/adopted, went through a surrogate, became a stepmom or another way. No matter how you became a mom, you had surprises.

Advice

Many people will want to offer you advice, whether you want it or not. I personally feel that I would rather hear more advice and knowledge than less because even if it wasn’t relevant for me or I wasn’t going to take the advice, at least I had the option. It helped me feel better prepared.

Becoming a new mom comes with lots of surprises. Despite getting the advice, reading books and feeling prepared there always seems to be new mom surprises. One of my first surprises (besides finding out we were having a boy) was when I was told that my son was breach a few weeks before he was due so we would need to do a c-section. I had been taking childbirth classes with my friend’s mom who is a Doula and was feeling mentally prepared to try to do natural childbirth, so a c-section was the complete opposite of what I wanted.

What was your first big surprise that you remember? (Comment below)

Coming Home

After a few days in the hospital as I recovered from the c-section, we brought my son home and reality set in. I remember sitting on the edge of my bed at around 9pm thinking, I should start getting ready for bed, but wait… what do I do with the baby now? At the hospital, the nurses pretty much tell you what to do and our hospital even let the baby stay in the nursery at night so the mom could rest. The nurses would just bring the mom the baby when it was time to nurse. (For more info on all things breastfeeding read my post.) Now I was home and yes my husband was there to help and my wonderful sister had even come to stay with us for a bit to help, but we all needed to sleep.

So how does this work? Does the baby wake up when he is hungry? Do I need to set an alarm? (I think I ended up setting an alarm for every 3 hours just to be safe but he pretty much just told me when it was time to nurse). It can be very overwhelming but it’s best just to take one thing at a time and do your best.

Surprises

One weird surprise came when my little one was still very new (probably 5-10 days old). I noticed that my little baby boy was lactating. Yup! His little breasts were swollen and if you pushed on them a little milk would come out. WHAT??? Apparently, it is something called Witch’s milk and only occurs in about 5% of newborns. It has happened with all 3 of my children, some more so than others. Thankfully it did not last more than a couple weeks but it sure was weird!

What were your weird surprises? (Comment below)

When my youngest son was about 16 months old, we got a horrible surprise of a Febrile Seizure. I have since learned quite a bit about them and other parents of young children should know about them too.

Q&A

I asked a few friends what surprised them when they first became a Mom and here is what some of them said:

“How hard it would be to sleep because I was worried whether or not the baby was breathing”

“How much unsolicited advice I would receive. Even from strangers!”

“I didn’t know hard nursing actually was. There were blisters and so much pain. Also, I was surprised at all of the blowouts from the diaper!”

“How alone I felt without help nearby and none of my friends had kids yet.”

“How much patience and pain tolerance was needed for breastfeeding.”

“I missed warm food and especially coffee. Also, I was expecting Daddy to be able to help more but the baby only wanted me.”