Welcome new moms to the marathon that is called motherhood. Dads, you are more than welcome to the club too. Your baby was born and your entire life changed. As much as you may prepare throughout your pregnancy, devouring all those what to expect when you are expecting articles – for some reason, we don’t always find the articles that describe just how different your life will be when that bundle of joy arrives.
The First Few Weeks
Whether you take a babymoon during the first few weeks after your baby is born, it is not atypical for new parents to expect life to return to normal after a period of adjustment. What they do not realize is that there is return that occurs because life before baby is very different from life after baby.
The world may look the same. You may see some of the same people. But you are not the same anymore nor is the world that you inhabit. You’ve gone from Planet Couple to Planet Mom and the relocation occurs in the space of a few moments between a push and the actual delivery – it just takes a while for the relocation to really set in.
What to Expect When The Expected Arrives
You can expect your life to be turned upside down. You can expect sleep deprivation to become a fact of your life. You can expect that your chores will pile up and there will be even more chores than you had before. You can expect to lose touch with some friends and to grow closer to others. You can expect to discover what was once important is no longer as great as it was before. You can expect to feel overwhelmed and more than once – you will likely feel inadequate.
These are all very normal emotions and very normal things that happen. There is a period of adjustment, especially for new parents with their very first child. And whether you’ve been told this before or you are reading this now – there is a wealth of difference between reading and doing. After all, how many movie reviews have you read and then gone to see the movie and found your experience was completely different?
So if this is your first child and you’re feeling out of your depth or you are getting ready to welcome a new baby into your life – remember to try and keep things in perspective. Your life is different, release expecting everything to return to normal. You will achieve normal, but it will be a new normal for your family that is now more than two and has achieved the number of three.
How did you gain a new perspective when your baby was born?
Related Articles: